Sheep In the City and March Madness!

Well, we've recovered from the Sheep In The City fibery goodness fest the last weekend of February. Long, long weekend, but so many great people and soo much great fun!

Here's a shot of our booth space -- what do you think?? Pretty cool, huh?

The March Madness is under way. First we were vendors at the Madison Knitting Guild Meeting March 8. We were vendors with our great friends Heather and Melissa from The Sow's Ear in Verona, Wi. If you've never been there, you definitely need to check them out, it's a great shop!

Of course I forgot to bring my camera and take pictures, but fun was had by all Monday night.

My husband and daughter R1 were helpers and I sure needed their help!

Melissa Leapman was the speaker for the evening and she stopped by our booth for some fibery goodness. She spotted R1's legging she knit from our oatmeal Icelandic yarn -- she's tall, so it's long and not easy to miss. It's R1's first lace project -- right up Melissa's alley, of course -- and she gave R1 great praise and encouragement that last night she picked up legging 2 and started knitting it again (she was suffering from single leggingitis) . I've always liked Melissa's books, but I really like her as a person -- so encouraging and just a great personality!! I only wish I was able to take her class last weekend at Susan's, but I was busy dyeing. I guess you'll se the results of that on Saturday!

See you at the Knit In!!!

Getting Ready.........

Well, gosh yarn it, I'm back!!!!!! You know how life keeps you crazy busy sometimes? That's been life here at Sun Valley Farm for quite a bit. We did get away over the holidays to the beaches of Florida for 2 weeks -- fun was had by all, and everyone back at the farm survived with the help of DH's brother Chuck -- thanks Chuck!!!

But on the very near horizon we've been getting ready for Fiber Festivals this spring, and it's been taking up all of the spare time we can find around here..........

This weekend, February 26, 27 and 28 we're off to Oak Creek, WI (near Milwaukee) for the Sheep In the City Getaway -- a wonderful fiber event put on by Jan of Just 4 Ewe fiber shop. We're loading the truck and trailer up with Icelandic roving, Icelandic yarn and Merino blends we've hand-dyed into the most gorgeous colors!!! I say we've been dyeing because DH is very much the dyer -- he comes up with the most beautiful colors!!! There's no way I could get all of this done by myself, working off the farm all day and everything, that we have decided to divide and conquer to accomplish everything. It's all quite simple, really.... We take turns! Really! And it works beautifully and harmoniously. Too bad we can't get the girls to do that -- but DD1 and DD2 are 14 and 16 now, so what can I say?

This is DD2 in all of her glory!!! Quite the character, don't you think? This was taken by DD1 at a local antique car show, and was one of the rare times out and about they didn't argue -- at least not in our presence!!!

Anyway, I digress. Getting ready for Fiber shows has started extremely early at SVF -- we're also vendors at the Madison Knitter's Guild meeting on March 6, then we're vending at the Madison Knitter's Guild Knit In on March 13 -- so 3 shows in about 2 week's time is a lot to prepare for. Not much time in between for restocking, so we'll see what happens!

Thankfully we'll have the sheep sheared later in March this year -- no lambs this spring at Sun Valley, we've felt the need to take a year off. We're expecting some beautiful fleeces from everyone this spring since the girls don't have to worry about growing babies, and they do look spectacular, that's for sure! When I find the camera, I can upload some recent pics of yarn and sheep, but right now I'm stuck with what's on here, and it ain't much!

I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with Bea, my Lendrum DT spinning wheel this weekend. Seems going to a Fiber show is the only time I get to sit down with her, at least for a little bit during the day, but extensively at night after the show back in the hotel room. We're always joined by a nice glass of wine, nice food -- life is good!

First days of school! Lamb separation.

Well, today was Rachel's first day of school. Boy, was it strange to have everyone up at the same time. The house was sure noisey. Good thing the neighbors don't live so close by. We're the only ones with school-age children for a good mile or so. Not that we're THAT loud!! But I swear the sheep can be. They are especially loud if they are protesting something -- i.e. which pasture we're letting them graze in.

Renee starts her sophomore year tomorrow. She can't wait. We're fortunate, in more ways than I can count, but going to school has always been something my kids like to do. They love it. I'm so glad it's not a struggle. I think it's more of a struggle for George and I to keep up with all the things the girls are doing lately.

I think we're about ready for WSWF in a week. We sold some sheep recently and they're going to their new home on Monday. Yeah!!!

We're also starting to separate the ram lambs from the ewe herd. All of the lambs were separated from their moms when we weaned everyone. But now that the nights are getting cooler (downright cold if you ask me!!) it's best to start the sorting process so make sure there are no oops babies in the spring.

It's always cute to see the little rams act like "they're all that". The big rams let the pretend, at least for now, until they need to learn their place in the herd.

More on that later, and hopefully some pics soon! There's not enough time in the day!