Getting ready

What a weekend! We had a week of rain, topped off by a monsoon on Thursday night. Though I didn't suffer through having a house flooded (we are way up on a hill, thank goodness), parts of our farm lane were damaged and the creek crossing just washed away. Our farm lane is lovely, very picturesque, but challenging, to say the least. It turns in sharply from the paved road, drops down a hill, through the creek and then up a hill on the other side and it's a quarter of a mile long. In the years since we moved here, we've had thousands of dollars worth of grading and gravel work done and we still end up losing parts of it every year (sometimes more than once). Mike has figured out a way to use a tractor with a grader blade to maintain and repair most of the damage. This time was not so easy, mainly because Mike has not been here for the last few days. He has been on a hiking trip in the Smokies, and while I am confident enough on the tractor to mow the fields, I am not adept at using the grader blade. So, I have been having a little "alone time" here at home. I love being here on the farm (see Oh Joy! blog post), but knowing I couldn't leave if I wanted to puts things in a little different light.

Actually, it's been fine because I have used the time to start preparing for the Kentucky Wool Festival that will be happening this coming weekend. At this very moment, I'm really glad that no one can come in to the farm because my house looks like a wool explosion has taken place. I've been dyeing roving and yarn and spinning and weighing and pricing and just generally making one glorious mess. (I am so looking forward to having a studio/work space where I can keep all my supplies and equipment together and can leave work in progress. Construction is supposed to start in about a month.....but that's a topic for later.) I'll be sharing a space with Sylvia Yawn of Shepherd's Place Farm (sadly, no website) and hope to see many fiber enthusiast while I am there.

This business of dyeing roving and yarn in colors that other people might want to buy is somewhat challenging for me. I'm an autumn person and rusty reds, olivey greens, browns and muted golds are what I go for every time. So, I'm having to stretch myself a little here to come up with some different palettes. Otherwise, I could end up bringing everything I take to sell right back home with me! (Which, if it's all in my colors, wouldn't be such a bad thing!)