New Merino solid and multi colored fibers.

All the fibers are fully restocked with 2 new merino solid color additions, Lime and Dijon. Yes, more greens...I do like green. The 4 new multi colored merinos have such color nuances that was a challenge to photograph. Even more of a challenge to descibe in words so following are their pictures.

Merino multi color Fernwood, rich earthtone shades of brown.

Merino multi color Granite, more natural shades from the skys to waters and earth.

Merino multi color Laurel, subtle blend of greens, browns and red

Merino multi color Primrose, soft blue shades with a hint of pink.

Another Nuno Felt Class at Reflexions Plus

A week ago I had the privilege to introduce these ladies to nuno felt.  I even remembered to get their scarves in the photo.  As said, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I needn't say more.

Full of Thanksgiving...before "the meal".

I shared this photograph, titled God's Smile, awhile back .  It represents how I feel about our life and all the blessings we have.  We are thankful first for each other, as we have grown in experience, we have grown together.  For our families, most of them are on one coast or the other, still our relationships have deepened and are more meaningful than ever.  For our friends, since we don't have "relatives" within an hour or so drive we truly appreciate the friends close by who have adopted us into their family.

For our health, we may take longer to do some things occasionally, we can still do what we want most anytime.  For the country we live in, the news is full of the strife in other parts of the world yet there are those fighting to keep our freedoms, I pray we all remember this. 

For our life, when visitors have commented about our farm, I usually reply that we know we live in the best of all possible worlds.  I truly thank God for bringing us here.  Over 30 years ago we completely changed our lifestyle to move onto a farm that had been vacant for 13 years and showed it.  I think we have made a big improvement on the looks of this land and I know it made a big improvement on us.

I hope all of you have an opportunity during this holiday time to reflect on your blessings.

Felters Occupy Reflexions Plus in Allegan

Reflexions Plus is one of the Specialty Shops in and around Allegan, they offer reflexology, massage, acupuncture, Reiki, hypnosis, auricular laser treatments, aromatherapy, yoga, and more.  Last night it was invaded by new felters learning to make Nuno Felt Scarves.

We had a great time and the final scarves were outstanding.  Unfortunately, my talents do not include photography as the colorful layouts and unique designs weren't photographed.  You can see that at times the ladies were deep in concentration (probably counting) but the overall atmosphere of the evening was full of fun.

Another group of ladies will be learning these techniques next week, I will try to get the scarves pictured as well. 

October's Activities

October is a gathering month; when you have trees all around your home, nearly every free minute is spent gathering leaves in the fall.  The summer's weather created a bumper crop of leaves, as well as walnuts, grass and other growing things.  This was good for many - our neighbor baled a late hay crop and the numerous varieties of great Michigan apples are in abundant supply so it is totally lame for me to complain about a few extra leaves and walnuts.  We will finish gathering leaves, squirrels will gather the nuts and some will gather extra foods to put away for winter.

It is also a time to  gather supplies for our crafts, knitters need yarn and felters or spinners need fiber.  Four new colorways of hand dyed yarn are posted to the website; purples and blues .  Merino fiber selections are restocked as available and new ones added.  This is Lemon, softer yet deeper in shade value than the Yellow and blends well with Gold. I hope we can help with your gathering for winter wool creations.

Felt United 2011 projects

This ensemble was made especially for Felt United 2011, the wool is from our merino rambouillet sheep with 25% kid mohair from a friend's angora goat, all blended and dyed at Zeilinger's of Frankenmuth, Michigan.  The dye colors are red and blue.  When overlaid in the felting process they create the 3rd color of this year's Felt United color scheme. The individual pieces will be shown on the Felt United website along with felted creations from all over the world.

We had a wonderfully sunny day, a little cool but it did not slow down the enthusiasm.  Suzanne Higgs taught our visitors how to felt soap bars while Sue Pufpaff helped them make felted flowers.  Pictures of our event are shown on our website.

Fall and the Allegan Co. Fair

You can plan on fall weather arriving during the Allegan County Fair.  The Fair opens the first Friday after Labor Day and lasts for 9 days.  This year, we had lovely weather for me - in the 70's until time for the big parade Tuesday eve, it dropped 20 degrees.  Still we wouldn't miss it.

Tuesday before the hour long parade, I shared an Elephant Ear while walking around all the displays in the Ag and Commercial buildings - saw a pumpkin that weighed over 800 pounds!  Wed. during the Harness Races, I gave in to a bit healthier fare - smoked almonds, oh, almost forgot the vinegar french fries.  Maybe all the walking through the animal barns balanced that out.  Great fun for any age and durn, only a day and half left.