If I could say that to 2011 I would.  This has been a “memorable” year and I don’t mean that in a good way.  Actually the last two years have been less than good.  I want to change that in 2012.  Some of it was waaay out of my control.  I lost two good, highly trained dogs to cancer, lost my job, and generally didn’t do much.  But I did get a new job, finished a couple projects and went to Stringtopia.

I’ve also planned some goals for 2012.  These are how I posted them on Ravelry:

1. Weave more. My looms have been too silent.
2. Knit more. Make more time for knitting.
3. Spin more. I havn’t felt much like spinning. Even when I was laid off, I did pathetically little spinning. Time to figure out why I’ve been so apathetic (other than depression).
4. Train more. Not just the dogs (who need it) but also others. I’ve been too silent with offering advice and observations.
5. Live more. I have a marker that shows how depressed I am. I realize now when I start playing solitaire, I’m sinking into depression. It usually starts with boredom. Seriously, there is a lot I can do to keep busy, but it’s easier to play solitaire sometimes.

How do I know if I’m reaching these goals? Well, I have to keep track and that’s something I actually LIKE doing. I love dates and spread sheets and paper binders. Statistics I consider a friend, not an enemy. I don’t have much of a baseline for the weaving and spinning, and offering advice, but I do for the dog training.

Speaking of dog training, we also have a new addition to the herding crew.

Meet Emsket’s Diamond In The Ruff aka Shiloh.  A dog rescued from neglect only to have that family have to give him up due to his fear of the children.  He’s still very much here on a trial basis.  He has a lot to learn to live in a household with other dogs.  We are happy to have another Aussie in the house, but not happy about some of his behaviors.

But for the most part he is a perfectly normal Australian Shepherd down to helping me geocache.  What’s that on his head?  It’s a head collar called a Gentle Leader and I’m using it because he pulls like a mule on lead.

I’m also learning to make cheese.  Yes I said cheese.

This is my first Gouda I made.  It’s now in the fridge aging.  It takes 3 months from when I make it to when I can actually try it.

This looks a bit fuzzy because it is a bit fuzzy.  It’s Camembert ripening.  It’s a mold ripened cheese and I hope it will be ready soon.

Tonight I will welcome in the New Year with open arms.  Come on 2012 and please don’t suck!

Santa Cruz Sheep

Originally uploaded by tall2night

I first encountered the Santa Cruz through the pages of Spin Off Magazine. Deb Robson wrote an article about these sheep who had been fending for themselves on the small islands off the coast of California. It is uncertain where these sheep originally came from. There is certainly merino blood in them. Possibly Rambouillet and Spanish Churro in there as well.

In 1978 The Nature Conservancy (TNC) purchased the islands and in 1980 because of the restoration needed, started removing and eliminating the sheep from them. The American Livestock Breed Conservancy (ALBC) convinced TNC of the importance of these sheep and some were spared. These ended up and have slowly trickled into the hands of concerned shepherds. Best estimate I can find, there is about 200 breeding age sheep scattered around the US and on the island, not all were eliminated.

Recently I have seen Santa Cruz fiber for sale so who knows what the future will hold for this island breed.

But it’s dawned on me how much I have at my disposal. Fibers and dyes and time it would seem. But honestly I don’t know how I ever worked and had time to do anything else. Things like training dogs, spinning, weaving. I could easily keep myself busy just at home. However that is not my reality. I have dogs to take care of, a puppy to consider purchasing, and bills to pay.

Some things have been sold, such as fibers, and more fibers are for sale. Some equipment has sold as well.  I’ll miss the Victoria wheel and the Majacraft Alpaca wheel, but I didn’t use them very much.

I’ve taken a long, hard hard look at things and realized that some other things had to change.

I started by creating a home office in my basement. I am no longer as heat tolerant as I used to be so it’s been miserable where my home office currently is. Moving downstairs was a no brainer following The Great Power Outage Of 2011.

July 11 a Derecho moved through the area leaving major damage to the power grid. Luckily we had the basement  and got our hands on a generator but not before losing the contents of my fridge and freezer. The basement became our living quarters. But we had hot water and are on city water. The dogs were confused but did well.

After being down here and staring at bags of unprocessed raw wool and a box of roving, and fleeces I’ve watched I started questioning what I wanted to do.

Wool is a very important part of my life.

But I have A LOT of wool.  More than I can ever use.

So I finally took the plunge and opened an Etsy store, Emsket’s Fiberworks.

I am going to be focusing on three things, small farm fleeces processed into roving, dyed wool locks, and weaving kits for both 4 harness and rigid heddle looms.  I’m excited and scared all in one.  It’s a big, new responsibility.  Taxes to collect, a store to advertise and eventually packages to ship out.

Oh yeah and advertising to get out there.

On another note, the dogs have not been idle.  K9 Nosework has taking over my training time.

I entered Masi in his first National Association for Canine Scentwork (NACSW) Odor Recognition Test (ORT). We attempted two odors, birch and anise. He had 2 great runs. He was on the right track with birch but I called an alert before he got to the right box. I was devastated. But Sara had me enter anise too and once again he found it quickly. I missed acknowledging his first two indications and I brought him back around again and when he gave me the third I called alert. I was in tears. My little reactive Aussie just passed a test at his first ORT. I entered him in anise because my instructor asked me to. He was ready, I wasn’t.  I needed experience.

Wow, now we still need to pass birch before we can enter a trial.  But you bet your booties we will work hard to pass the next one.

So if you excuse me know, I have wool to wash.

Almost two weeks ago we said goodbye to Luke. Flyball champion, expert at “creative” Rally Obedience, and simple dog.

He was my first sheltie, my first pedigreed dog and my first clicker puppy.

He also taught me that my plans for a dog may not be what that dog excels at.

We will miss you Lukey.

P.S This video was taken less than a week before we had to say goodbye to him.

I’ve had the yarn spun for this for a coons age, but I never could get to the point of taking pictures.  Well, I just went and did it and while it’s not the greatest photography in the world, it could be worse.  I purchased this wool from The Spinning Loft.  Seriously, if you want wool, call Beth…she’s got the goods!  She doesn’t have all the the wool up on the website so don’t hesitate to call and ask her “What do you have that I don’t?”

This fleece is a lovely light brown/gray color.  Almost a cafe au lait, just a tiny bit darker.  These locks were about 5.5″-6″ long

Here is the combed top.  I used my double row viking combs to produce this.

Here is the spindle spun product from the combing.  If I had gone back and re-spun the yarn, I would have given it more plying twist.

It combed easily giving me a rather disorganized and loose rolag.

The yarn was very similar thanks to the length of the fiber, the effort of carding was lost and it produced more of a worsted yarn.  And this one is better plied.

Based on what I have experienced with this fiber, I would be tempted to use it in something like a coat or other outerwear.  It is also appropriate for tapestry, where the luster of the wool is an advantage.  I will probably comb the rest of the fiber, but am uncertain what I will actually do with it project wise.

Life has been, um interesting to say the least.  It’s been a spring of tornado activity, much of it serious.  Much damage through the south and in the nations mid-section.  At this moment I am watching the situation developing in Central Indiana on (5/25/11) with trepidation.  My idea of storm chasing is to watch it on the computer as other people track the storms and if I am local to it, to look at the resulting damage.

I have a severe weather plan, I have crates in my basement to house my dogs in as safely as I can.  We put that plan into action three times last year.  Luckily, no tornadoes, but you never know about the next.

I’m still puttering around here.  It looks like I might be teaching a rigid heddle weaving class…I’ll let you know the details as it becomes available.  Other than that not a whole lot has been going on other than going to Clicker Expo in March.

I have no really good pictures from Expo, but that is Emma Parsons.  She rocks!  Masi and I attended her lab and had a good time.  That is saying a lot because Masi is still reactive to other dogs.  I’m very proud of my silly Aussie!

I’ve done a bit of weaving.

Yes, Olga was warped.  This is the sample of a rag rug I wove on her.  I’m now tying knots, lots of knots…

I had just finished twisting the fringe, it’s now washed and once I trim ends it will be ready for it’s intended recipients.

Also I have been spinning.

Sock yarn anyone?  Yeah, it’s a bit thick for sock yarn…

Stringtopia?…um yeah…What about it?

Pictures?  Um yeah, there might be some.

So I guess I’ll have to post again soon to show you what happened didn’t happen in Ohio.

Luckily, my job is not my career.  My fiber and my dogs are here waiting for me to straighten out my mind.

Then again I had commitments I already paid for.  Like Abby Franquemont’s Andean Backstrap Weaving workshop at The Spinning Loft.

I didn’t take many photos as I was too busy WEAVING.

Beth kindly took the above photo for me.  She played her many hats over the weekend, weaver, shop owner, mother, consultant.  I honestly don’t know how she does it.

We got a chance to wind our own warp.  In many parts of Peru two weavers generally wind the warps such as in this video.  It is a  short section at about 30 seconds into the video.

Since Beth’s shop doesn’t have a dirt floor, Abby brought a board with some dowels we could use.  My warping partner was an experienced weaver so warping went smoothly for both of us.

And I walked away with a warp that is now has heddles and is ready to start the pattern I was sent home with.  After a while you get really good at tying heddles, you don’t have much choice if you want to keep weaving and not fighting with the warp.

I have now finished my first band.

I by no means am ready to move on, but none of my current supply of 8/2 cotton is tightly twisted enough to deal with the abrasion that happens while weaving these.  Luckily I still have two more warps to finish.

On the way home, my mind was not on my sock, I was now looking over the patterns again in Nilda’s book discovering I was beginning to read them.  That is a powerful tool.

Sad to say, my spinning has lagged.  I’ve been spinning on the same bobbin of Bond for way too long now. I’m almost filled the first one, but I need a lot more if I’m going to be making the Elizabeth Zimmermann Nether Garments.  Of course everything has lagged over the past several months.

Luckily I can put it all behind and forge forward.  Onward!

Over a week ago I arrived excited with the anticipation of what was to be my second SOAR.  A SOAR without the crazy expectations I put on myself  last year.

Please excuse the lack of photos this year.  I have some, some iPhone, and some from my camera.  I’ll still be working on the videos so I’ll be adding to the set some stills I’ll be pulling off the Flip.

My workshop was Goat Fibers with Robin Russo who with her husband Pat own The Spinning Studio in Vermont.  Rarely do I take the time to spin so many similar types of fiber in various ways.  We spun cashmere, mohair and pygora.  Oh glorious pygora!  I even managed to make some kid mohair embroidery thread while I was at it.  Robins class was full of wonderful people.  Ingrid from Sweden, Carl from Southern Illinois, a lovely lady from Grinnell, Iowa who’s name escapes me right now just to mention a few.  The pygora made me sing as well as some fine cashmere imported by WildFibers magazine.  I don’t know if there is still some available, but its lovely to spin!

Too soon, the workshop was over and I found myself shopPing!  Well, first thing I hit was The Center For Traditional Textiles of Cusco where I found gifts for others and myself.  I’m in love with the bags I bought! Then to Morgaine of Carolina Homespun for several different things including AbbyBatts!  Snagged a few special things elsewhere.  I didn’t stand in the huge line for Rovings, but I did pop in there a couple times and both some gorgeous Polworth locks that had been dyed in intense colors.  The ladies at Abstract Fiber where a delight to meet and discuss our dogs and dog training with (and I still owe one of them a clicker!!!!).  Said hello to Toni Neal of The Fold and a number of other vendors who where also there that I do business with.  Also met up with some friends and overall enjoyed my day.

I never did manage to take pictures of the gallery, oh well.  My humble little pieces were well displayed.

I also did some geocaching.  Here is a picture taken near one of the caches in Delavan when a young seagull decided to perch on a sign and hang on for dear life in the high winds we had, but what I really captured was the sky in it’s late October glory.

Friday arrived with the Retreat sessions.  Now what was I thinking?  Margaret Stove and fine spinning in the morning then off to Jacey Boggs with Thick and Thin spinning and coils in the afternoon.  Luckily I was able to keep a straight head between the skills!

Margaret Stove is a very gracious and generous lady.

Here she is with her test knitter with one of the shawls from her new book Wrapped In Lace.

And here is Ingrid looking at one of the lovely shawls shown her second book, Creating Original Hand Knitted Lace.  This shawl has been used as an everyday shawl for two of her grandchildren and the spinning and dye has held up well.

Here is a closer look at the edge.

Jacey Boggs is fun, loads and loads of fun!

She shared techniques for making those iconic coiled yarn.  While my coils were not great, they were identifiable as coils.

Saturday brought the new Open Studio.  The mentors that joined us included Margaret Stove, Jacey Boggs, Stephanie Gaustad and Judith MacKenzie.  Everyone had something to share.  Margaret and her test knitter (who’s name escapes me!) showed the shawl, Judith brought some “Wolf” yarn, the yarn she makes and sells “to keep the wolf from the door”, Stephanie brought her knitted Nudibranch scarf and shared the pattern with all of us and Jacey brought her thick and thin yarn in both wool and cotton.  The cotton one made Stephanie’s eyes bug out!  Judith wins the “woman with the most stash” award.  She has me beat by, um, several tons!  But then again, fiber is her business.

My final retreat session was with Demetrio Bautista Lazo about dying with cochineal!

Sometimes the effects were subtle.

Others were screaming red!

I had worked with it before, but I learned some major hints about using it from someone who dyes a LOT with it.  Looks like I’ll be buying some lime juice from the local grocery soon!

We wrapped up SOAR with a silly contest to make a hat in an hour.

Hilarity soon took over.

But team Strip It And Stuff It Up Your Orifice made it before the 1 hour mark and made a great show, despite not winning the people’s choice award.

There are so many people I got to see.  People I know from Ravelry, mentors I know and respect, people like Margaret Stove, Deb Menz and Sara Lamb who I have admired for close to twenty years.  Phredde and Dan who kept the swill flowing.  Denny who seems to make fun wherever she is. People I met for the first time here and people who I’ve corresponded with for years and now finally get to meet, people who I know well and live locally.  SOAR is more than just learning new techniques, its meeting people, learning about who they are, sharing a cordial filled chocolate with them, watching them knit like the wind.  Sharing and caring.

The learning is much much more than what is written down on the page, or a sample in your hand it is the friendships that form, the feel of a shawl, the roving passed around.

Will I be back at SOAR next year?  I sure hope so.  I’m going to try my hardest to get to New Hampshire.

SOAR starts on Sunday and I’m in the throes of packing the junk of doom to take with me. I’m driving because I can and I can’t wait to have a car available to me. I missed that last year.

I have a lot to do and I gotta go do all those things…like find a flier for one of my spinning wheels…

We lost Roo to hemangiosarcoma of the heart at.  He was only about 8 years old.  Such an ironic end to a dog who took such a big part of my own heart with him. My blue merle piece of velcro is no longer at my side.

ARCHX URO1 UCD Emsket’s Cold On Ice CD CD-ASCA CD-H RE RL3 RL1X RL2X CL1

Perendale, not a breed that comes to mind to most North Americans when you mention long wools. Lincoln, Romney or even Blue Faced Leicester do for most spinners, but not Perendale.

The Perendale breed was developed in New Zealand at at Massey University during the 1950′s. Cheviot’s were crossed with Romney’s to produce a sheep suitable to the steep hillsides with marginal grazing areas of the islands. Easy lambing, high fertility, good mothering instinct, and medium coarse wool provide farmers with a rugged dual purpose breed of sheep.

I raise a glass to the memory of Prof Peren and the legacy of wool he left behind.