Last week's spinning......

The county fair is over for another year - we had the best time spinning everyday and visiting with the public...…and chatting and chatting amongst ourselves.  It's amazing that we never run out of things to talk about after spinning together all day long. 

I was close to finishing up spinning some other fiber so didn't want to take that as I'd have to ply and didn't feel like plying the entire time.  This is the last of my hand-dyed roving in my stash, it's a merino/bamboo/nylon blend in a colorway I call bandana. I am ready to ply 2 huge bobbins I spun on my Hansen (electric) mini-spinner which was so easy to roll in and out each day in it's Zuca rolling tote. I have no clue what it will grow up to be, it may have to sit on the shelf and marinate for a while until the perfect project comes up. I wasn't sure what it would look like spun up, I really like it. 

It's that time of year again......

It's that time of year again, county fair time. This morning we put up our spinning display - come Wednesday we will be sitting in front of it in a big circle spinning the days away. Always fun to visit with the public but by the time the fair is over I'm exhausted from being 'on' for days on end. 

It's County Fair Time

It's county fair time again - always easy to tell when it's fair season - it's hot and smoky. Luckily we demonstrate in an air conditioned building but we still have to walk from the parking lot to the building - yuck. The fair runs Wednesday thru Saturday and my spinning group will have a big group of spinners there each day to spin and talk to the public. It's always lots of fun.

Here's our display this year. Spinners sit in a circle in front of it. There haven't been many fleece entries in recent years but we do have 7 fleeces that one of our group will judge on Wednesday.

Friend and spinner Shirley is also a bobbin lace maker and brought her display of different types of bobbin lace and bobbins to share - I'm not sure where in the building they'll be, they are incredible.

I'm unpacking cones of yarn now, making headway at emptying boxes and bins but still have a ways to go. I worked on it today after making a couple batches of blackberry jam from blackberries we picked right over the back fence. While we were picking the other night the cows were on the other side munching on them...........so how come they weren't complaining about being stuck by thorns on their noses and lips.......we were sure complaining on our side of the fence as they stuck our hands and arms.

The Taylor Creek Fire and Klondike Fire, which are one now have grown to over 100,000 acres. The part that had been the Taylor Creek Fire is in pretty good shape with containment lines on the east side between it and homes. The Klondike Fire part is a real challenge, there are homes in danger as I type. This two fire complex is a long term fire fight so we've got to get used to smoke although we did have two clear days this past week when the wind shifted. Unfortunately thunderstorms are in the forecast this week and here they are generally dry which leads to lightning strikes which leads to fires like the 170 that were started on July 15th like these two near us.

I will admit that I was concerned when the US Forest Service took command of this fire because their fire fighting history in our region is not good - they tended to let fires go until they became monsters. Well, I guess being sued by the county to the west of us and county to the east of us has been instrumental in changes in how they fight fires.......and for the better. And they're doing a tremendous job of keeping the public informed of what's happened between several online videos each day and many community fire meetings. We are the guinea pigs, first in the nation, for this new pilot program with the online video briefings - and they are getting great response from the community. There is incredible technology being used in finding spot fires using big drones when it's too smoky for aircraft to fly, the drones can also drop little 'ping pong balls' filled with accelerant to start fires that will be used as containment lines. Fire fighting has changed.......for the better. Unfortunately it's still a very dangerous job for the fire fighters.......there's no getting around that. I send good thoughts their way each and every day to stay safe..........

The county fair........

Here's our display at the county fair - we sit in a circle in front of it spinning every day, all day long and have a great time visiting with the public. Everything on display is made of handspun or felted wool. I took this photo set up day so the fleeces were still closed up - now they're opened up, judged and ribbons adorning some of them.


So, I've been trying my best (ha!) to not think about fires but new ones pop up every single day. There were a couple new ones yesterday, thankfully put out quickly. Late this afternoon I walked out to my car after a day of demonstrating and looked to the right to see huge smoke plumes, then looked to the left and saw big smoke plumes. I figured the ones to the right were the Chetco Bar Fire exploding - it's been burning since mid July. I quickly checked online to see what was happening to the left. Fire right off the highway, where I was planning on heading, copters and planes flying and dumping, ground resources hard at work fighting the fire, homes nearby. Didn't take me but a second to change my plan to make a quick stop at that end of town to pick up something for dinner and just head home in the opposite direction.


At least 6 more weeks of fire season, not the official end, but maybe there will be some rain by then to lessen the chance of wildfires..........I may have an ulcer by October!

Sunrise and other tidbits

 Sunrise this morning was spectacular although our trees are growing too much and obstructing the view of Mt Sexton. You'd think there were a new fire in the area with those colors in the sky.

 Saturday we put up my spinning group's fair display, the fair opens tomorrow. None of the finished items or skeins are in the fair for judging, they're for display only. The fleeces will be judged tomorrow morning and ribbons awarded. For the next 4 days we'll all be sitting in a big circle in front of this display spinning, carding, knitting, felting, whatever. It's always a great time visiting with the public........and each other. It's hard to believe that we can sit there for 4 days and never run out of anything to talk about.  Unfortunately tomorrow looks to be the only day below 100, forecast to 'only' be 99 tomorrow - the following three days will be anywhere from 105-108. We're in an air conditioned building but we have to walk back and forth from our cars to get there which will be a killer come afternoon. I wonder how this heat will affect fair goers.

 When I met friend Linda at the fairgrounds today (to add the tablecloth I forgot to bring on Saturday) she brought me some of her home grown tomatoes. On the way home I stopped at the Ft Vannoy Farm Market to pick up other veggies. I made one of my favorite kinds of sandwiches, fresh tomatoes, banana peppers and fresh sweet onion. Ft Vannoy has the best corn around here - it's still not as sweet as corn back east but it's pretty danged good - at least it's not field corn to feed the pigs, as my father would call the rest of the corn here. We'll be having fresh corn tonight with a tomato basil salad (my homegrown basil) and northwest salmon.

It would have been perfect if the farm had the hot banana peppers but they only had sweet so I added hot pickles to my sandwich. Yep, I know this would kill some people's stomach's but not mine. My Dad used to make sandwiches like this - I come by it naturally.

Dropping like flies........

We're dropping like flies in the aftermath of the county fair. The majority of us demonstrating at the fair have come down with a respiratory ailment - one has already gone to urgent care and  got a diagnosis of pneumonia - two others are going to urgent care today and will report back to the rest of us. It was very strange that we suddenly got sick within a day of each other. My professional weaver/spinner's diagnosis was legionnaires' due to the cooling system in the building........and based on the fact that I recently saw an update on the news about it in NYC. But, honestly, I have no business saying that - it just sounded like something that could happen to us all very quickly. As of right now I don't have it as bad as others - headache, scratchy throat and a cough - my cough isn't as bad as it was 24-48 hours ago. On my way home from taking down the fair display this morning I did pick up another bag of cough drops and will be relaxing and drinking hot tea with honey today.

County Fair Display

This year's county fair display is much different than year's past. I issued a challenge to our spinning group to get more of the group motivated to have something for our display rather than just a handful of us - 17 of our group participated which is incredible.

Back last fall Iput several roving color combinations for everyone to vote on their favorite to use as this year's fair theme. The colors that got the most votes were Hyacinth, Berry and Kiwi (Ashland Bay rovings). Rule #1 was that these three colors had to be used in a project - they could be blended, spun on their own or other colors or fibers could be added to them. They could be spun, felted, knit, crocheted, woven, whatever - the sky was the limit. Look at the incredible collection we came up with all starting with the same 3 colors - all different techniques. I think it was a huge success. Yesterday was our first day demonstrating spinning at the fair - the public seemed to really enjoy looking at our display and visiting with us.

The highlight of this year's fair are the sea lions - they have a show several times a day, other times you can have your picture taken with them.....for a fee. I watched a couple getting their picture taken with 3 sea lions hanging over their shoulders, big smiles on their faces hamming it up for the camera........the sea lions, not the couple. I'm trying not to think about whether or not the sea lion show is humane - hopefully they aren't constantly traveling and get to spend time in some big tanks as opposed to the ones at the fair.

County Fair

This is the colorful roving I was spinning today at the fair - it's Superfine Merino from a dye day last month.......only I didn't dye it.  My friend Kathy G wanted to come over to help me dye only she doesn't spin and has never dyed roving.  I made her pick colors and dye 2 pounds on her own and this is what resulted - it's very fun.  I'm spinning up 8oz of it for her.  If you want to see what everyone was doing today at the fair go over to our spinning group's blog to check it out.

Rain !!!

As I was laying in bed contemplating getting up I started hearing the oh so rare drops of rain hitting the ground. This is usual for us in the summer and very welcome - by the time I got this picture taken and started writing this post it is letting up but that's 30 minutes of light rain - so much better than the dry lightning fire starting storms that have been coming through.

Many new fires started around the region the past couple of days from lightning strikes - one near a friend was thought to be under control at 100 acres but when the winds picked up yesterday afternoon it took off - this morning I heard on the news there are evacuations on order..........but exactly where? my friend? or at the other end of that road? The past few days fire reports are vague and spotty on the news, nothing much on the websites - maybe they're too busy getting on these new fires but sure would be nice to know what's happening. The Northern California fires just over the border are very scary, yesterday three firefighters didn't have time to get out of the way of the wall of flames and had to resort to using their fire shelters (a special blanket to cover with while laying on the ground as the fire passes by). They were lucky and made it through that experience.  Have I said yet today I hate fire season???

Today is the start of the county fair - I have to figure out a way to cover my wheel for the walk from the car to the building we're demo'ing in case it's still raining.  I'm only 15 minutes away but it's nice to know that Sam and Bailey will be holding down the fort at home in case of fire - I hate living under this threat all summer long......yeah, yeah.....whine and snivel - we could be dealing with the flash floods other areas of the country have been dealing with yesterday and today, very scary stuff.

County Fair 2014

This morning we set up our display at the county fair. We all sit in a big circle in front of it while demo'ing spinning but occasionally carding, felting, knitting, whatever. We used to get so many fleeces turned in for judging that we filled the table and two tiers in front of it.  No fleeces entered for judging by the time we left, friends Margie & Karen brought these just for show from their stashes.  I think a major problem is that last year they started charging a fee just to enter a fleece for judging. The display is getting a little worn looking with nothing much new other than Virginia's new hooked rug in the center.  So.....I have an idea for a theme for next year that our spinning group can work on during the winter - maybe we can get everyone to contribute something to show other than Linda, Virginia and me. More on that in a few months when I pull it all together. The fair runs Wednesday-Saturday - should be a fun time.

A little of this, a little of that........

This week I decided I better start on a few holiday gifts, I didn't get too far but it's a start......unfortunately only dribs and drabs of them will show up here as I don't want the recipients to see them.  I love knitting and felting Lamb Pride yarn - very fun project - knitting in progress.

 

And a bit of inkle weaving for this years inklings - bet no one will be able to guess the theme looking at this blah inkle band.  I love my LeClerc Floor Inkle Loom - I have a 5 yard warp on here, the second warp in this grey color this week, this loom can hold another couple yards........so much more than a table inkle loom.

On the home front much of the week was spent in prep for painting, then the put the house back together mode. Three quarters of the inside of the house is now a pale grey - I love it. The guest/computer room and guest bath would have been done too except I love the wallpaper border and special paint job below that border too much to get rid of it. The two rooms that comprise the studio will never get painted unless we're moving - way too much crap to move out of the way....and the walls don't show anyhow.....and the paint still looks new.....where it's peeking out from behind cones of yarn.

Tomorrow Linda and I set up our spinning group's display at the county fair. The fair is Wednesday-Saturday and many of our group will be there every day demonstrating/gabbing/eating fair food. This is the 100th anniversary of the county fair.

On the fire front - Firefighters are doing an incredible job of keeping these fires from exploding even more and gobbling up additional acreage and homes, that's here in SW Oregon. There are still different levels of evacuation orders in place but they've been downgraded. Right over the border our neighbors in Northern California are having a tough time, more evacuations every day.  This weekend more dry thunderstorms are predicted area wide -it will be a 'hold your breath' environment the next several days. Have I said yet today I hate fire season???   7 more weeks of fire season, give or take.......most probably give.......

Can't you just smell that piglet breath???

Ok, so I don't really know if piglets have yummy breath like puppies do but I want to imagine that's the case. I would have loved to have snuggled one of these 2 week old piglets today. There are actually 12 of them in the pen at the fair with momma. What is it about piglets that makes everyone ooh and ahh over them?

Today after lunch I walked down to see some of the 4H livestock - slim pickings this year on goats & cows/steers - more pigs and sheep.  I didn't go in the bunny barn or the chicken/rooster house. Thanks to those that commented on my post from yesterday on their county fair experiences. Our fair was busier today because between 10am-noon it was half price to get in but still not as busy as it used to be......and really there is so little to see it's not worth half price. Big disappointment with fair food this year, our spinning group's guilty pleasure, not much to choose from.

On the fire front - fires still burning, some folks still evacuated, some on evacuation notice, fire fighters building lines and working hard, they're here for the long haul. There is lots of back burning going on and today I heard they were using Helitorch Aerial Ignition - I don't know exactly what that is but I'm imagining flames shooting down from a copter lighting areas to back burn where it's too dangerous for fire fighters to be in......but maybe it's dropping something that explodes?  I don't know - anyone else out there know??? 
Countdown - 46 more days until rain.

County Fair

Yesterday morning some of us went over to the fairgrounds to put up our display for this year's county fair. It looks pretty good other than the table cloth being a bit crooked, which I'll fix. All of us spinners sit in a circle in front of the display and spin - sometimes there is needlefelting going on, sometimes drum carding.  Usually we also have a 2 step wooden structure in front of the table to hold more fleeces for judging, so many fleeces that there are 3 levels of them and they're spilling out onto the floor. Last year they started charging to enter items in the fair, so in response entries are down. Linda (our very own personal wool superintendent) pleaded with 2 in our spinning group to bring these. Being there for judging very early one morning won't be very exciting this year but it's always a learning opportunity.........we whatever judge has been brought in from out of the area to judge 4-H sheep.

It's fair time again.....

It's that time of year again - county fair time, and as normal it's hot, over 100 with 105 now forecast for the remainder of the week.....thank goodness we're in one of the two air-conditioned buildings.  This is our display....I guess I should have moved the chairs but we were already setting up our spinning circle when I remembered to get out the camera. It's a sparse year for fleeces turned in for judging - just two of them, then Linda convinced Karen to bring two more which showed up later today. Usually the table is loaded with fleeces as well as 2 tiers in front of the table. Guess those new fees to enter items in the fair are having an impact....and not just in fleeces.....there looked to be half the entries in all the arts/crafts. There were over 10 of us there spinning for much of the day, two more coming later for early evening spinning. Lots of visitors, very fun day, I'm exhausted......

County Fair.....day 2 & 3......

First thing Wednesday morning this year's wool judge showed up. She was great, she explained how she judges a fleece and then proceeded to talk about each fleece in depth. At first there were just a few of us there that needed to be there early for her but gradually more and more showed up and were standing around listening to all she had to say.

And here are the fleeces with all the ribbons. There are some beautiful fleeces in the bunch. Since I'm still trying to find new homes for stuffed fleece sheep I brought in 8 of them today for the champions and reserve champions - the dark fleece in teh center with the biggest ribbon is the grand champion - she got a big stuffed sheep!  ......sure hope no kids swipe those little sheep this evening while we aren't there to guard them.....

And on another note - just as I feared, temps increased to like normal and we have fires. As I write this there are 10 fires burning in-between Gold Hill and Rogue River, one right across the river from a friend, and not terribly far from several others I know.....one person I need to still contact who is right in the middle of it. I heard the copters out here near our house but not going over our place like usual, they were leaving where they sit not too far from us heading in the direction of Gold Hill. Hubby was caught in the fire traffic as they closed the highway and alternate route but he's now home safe & sound. If I haven't said it yet today.....I hate fire season.....

County fair recovery

I feel like a truck has hit me after spinning at the county fair for the past five days. We all had such a good time visiting with the public and with each other at the fair but I'm sure glad not to be sitting on one of those metal folding chairs anymore! Today is recovery day getting weekend fiber orders ready to ship and possibly taking pictures of new handwoven scarves to list in the etsy shop. I desperately need to work in the flower beds but the back won't allow it after the week at the fair........there's always tomorrow.

The forest fire keeps growing but it's really very controlled....well, the occasional blow-up occurs but it's been happening within the lines being formed. All the fire fighters are doing a great job with containment lines and controlled back burning. Of course with that back burning comes more smoke and yesterday morning my windshield was covered with ash.....although hard to tell from all the dirt and dust from the fair parking lot. So far this morning it's clear over our house, maybe the wind is blowing the other direction.

No pictures today but two announcements to make that may be of interest to those here in Southern Oregon/Northern California.

First I will be teaching another beginning drop spindle class at Llamas & Llambs Boutique in Jacksonville, OR on October 28th from 1pm-4pm. Cost is $35 per person, cd spindle, fiber and handout included. Please contact the shop to sign up at 899-9141.

Second, there is a Fiber Farm Festival coming up next Saturday. Unfortunately I already had plans when it was organized so I can't be there selling my wares, but I have it on my calendar for next year. It sounds like a very fun event, my friend Karen from Liongate Farm is pulling it together.

First Annual Fiber Farm Festival

Craft & Fiber Artisans

August 28th 9am-6pm

14314 East Evans Creek Rd., Rogue River, OR (there will be sheep signs showing the way)

Meet your talented local fiber artists and producers

Wander through the fiber farm merchandise. Includes raw and processed fibers, yarn, fiber arts and crafts, pelts, felted art, folk art, sewn items, farm produce and more.

Experience the demonstrations. Spinning, felting, carding, knitting, rope making and more

Be inspired!

Enjoy the farm atmosphere

Relax and work on your projects with us (or enjoy your new stuff)

Enjoy a snack from the starving college students refreshments

County Fair

Our county fair opens on Tuesday. Some of us from a local spinning group went to the fairgrounds Saturday morning with woven goods, dyed roving and handspun skeins to set up our exhibit. In front of the exhibit are all the wool fleeces brought in for judging that will happen Wednesday morning. During the fair we'll all sit in a circle in front of the display demonstrating spinning - fun week filled with spinning with friends, talking to the public and eating fair food!!! So needless to say there will be no weaving done here this week..........but lots of spinning.