the boys i mean are not refined

yesterday's round of shearing was a little less idyllic.. i thought it was too early to shear the twins since they were just born in august, but i'm told it's best to go ahead so they'll be on a spring schedule. the fleece is long enough too, and lamb-soft.








there were some mishaps... we had a lot of trouble getting them to relax. it was their first time after all. lovey bleeehhhh'd the entire time and made me a nervous wreck. pokey poked me in the eye with his horn, and he also lost his fourth horn which was barely hanging on. i cut myself and bled all over part of a fleece. still, they are frisky, scampering around and happy, and i'm so relieved that there's a whole year before the next shear. off to wash some fleece!

what's really going on...

intakes and outtakes of my usual late-afternoon etsy photo shoot..




Castro, our oldest great-great grandpa rooster, has taken to hanging out on the front porch, sometimes roosting on the futon which is outdoors at the moment, sometimes crouched right in front of the door, sometimes snacking on doggie leftovers. I think his wife was swiped by one of his kin, and he figures he's in his retirement. It's nice having him close.

At the very bottom you might spy Victor, our last remaining goose. He misses his brother and gazes longingly into the barbecue grill where I think he sees his reflection.

Gretta's haircut

i'm still loving shearing. the other day we finally got ahold of Ms. Gretta, the trickiest of the four-leggeds around here. hands were in use, so no photos of us, but i continued to bliss out with it, and i think i'm already improving. here's her fleece laid out for skirting and i've labeled it so you can see where the parts came from...

unreal that all that came off one little sheepie, isn't it?!

she has long, primitive Shetland locks. i love spinning this sort of wool.


and here is the clean and beautiful cut side... almost no second cuts!


her wool is a gorgeous gingery colour, called mioget in Shetland parlance.


for my master spinner's certificate, one of the projects is to spin and knit up a swatch from each part of the sheep!! so i sorted it into these piles to be washed and prepped. should be mega-interesting!

there's also belly wool and that's another category, but there wasn't a whole lot of that and it's outside the frame...

Cindy:s Core

I feel so lucky to have Cindy:s Core sitting here next to me as I stitch. This piece of Cindy:s is going to be featured at the upcoming show at the Hotel Hadley Studios, see the flyer below.

I couldn:t resist photographing Core to show it off here, and for when I have to send it back.. all this heart-full and intricate art work done by our Cindy of Handstories...

Our Moon

Here's a sneak peek of the moon in Cindy's Core which I have my greedy paws on... more soon!


And the pink moon last night, which coincided with my first real, official shop update. I even got all fancy and made a newsletter announcing it (subscribe here!) It went so well, I'm swamped with orders, which makes me happy, happy.

It was cool how many instagrammers were shooting the moon last night, that same moon.
Like Grace said, it's really Something.

And despite a setback in my plan for blue immersion, I'm still dipping..

I've not usually dyed angora. I only want to work with natural dyes, and the natural colours of the rabbits seem plenty interesting to me. I read that the luxuriousness of the angora fiber can be sort of at odds aesthetically with the earthiness of natural dyes - whereas on wool it is rustic and lovely. And on the whole, I have tended to agree...
But with indigo, it's a wholly different matter.
Indigo-dyed angora = magic.
The fiber is from Alvin.

another wheel story involving incredible luck

i was reminded of this story by katherine's post... it happened back on feb. 15 and here's what i wrote to cindy that night [with a few asides]:

oh my goodness, we just got home from a flat tire marathon. of course we didn't have a spare or a jack with us. but there was a sign across the highway in front of an old house that said "mechanic on duty". so this guy came out and he said he'd call a friend to bring a spare. that guy took an hour, and then he didn't have the right kind of tire, so he had to go back somewhere, and then he came back with one, then it blew out after we drove a mile! then he went and got a tire off his nephew's truck [while his nephew was in the shower!] and followed us home to take it back. AND it turns out that the people who live down at the road are his grandparents [and his sister lives on the other side]. what a weird, nice, small-town thing! so the country is looking a little less creepy tonight.

i had been feeling as though my hood was unfriendly. our immediate neighbors have always been nice if not enthusiastic... but the general area, and especially the gas station/convenience store which is the closest business (amidst many empty buildings) always feels hostile. i'd been verging on agoraphobia, not even wanting to go to the grocery. this incident really helped me feel more connected to our area, giving me more context, as if our little farm is not just plopped down in an unknown land. but more like a home.



and it's so good to be back home.

home, process

funny how little figures are emerging from the cloth and the dye and my memories, from the morels to the outhouse to the old rusty tiller to the bloodsucking butterfly my ex-roomie created to patrol the property. and slowly each memory is becoming lighter, less wound-y, more happy.

**is anyone having trouble commenting? please email me, drucillapettibone@gmail.com. i've had a few people say they were, so i'm thinking of moving my blog over to my wordpress site. but i'm used to it here and wonder if i won't lose more discussion by moving than i'll gain with a better comment interface. what do you think?

and just before i left..

i had one of the best thrift scores i've ever had, and that includes some miracles. at the pta thrift store behind the bojangles, where i almost did not even stop, but it was as if there was a tiny voice in my ear urging me on, despite my complete lack of need for stuff of any kind... and i indulged, fully expecting to find no-thing, especially because this particular thrift is junky and racist, or at least it used to be...

but in i walk, and look who was waiting for me..


a fricke! a wheel i don't have! and for a mere $30. it had been waiting for me since 3/8. some of you know i have quite the herd of wheels, and i'm not sure why other than my hoarder collector urges. although they are all different and unique tools ... yarns are not the same produced on different wheels. and i so enjoy tinkering with them and learning their histories. and i do use them all. this fricke is, weirdly, the only double-treadle i have at the moment, and fits well into my collection as a smaller castle-style wheel than my louet s-10, and i'm really impressed with its action.. it is *so* nice and smooth. also - and i didn't realize this at first - it came with a woolee winder, a very nifty (and expensive) upgrade. perhaps all this crazy luck is a sign that i should consider starting a spinning school, or a cottage industry.

i'm waiting for this wheel to tell me his name. i feel that he's my first boy wheel, but he's being shy. i keep thinking freddie or fergus, but i must wait for him to clarify. i brought him to my parents' place with me because i couldn't bear to leave him so soon.

i've been corresponding with katherine about the i-ching and luck and synchronicity... and not only has she been good enough to gift me a copy of the richard wilhelm translation of the i-ching, because the i-phone app is really not ok... but i think she's also sent some of her good fortune my way!

flowing

the view from my new home studio window... i'm loving having all my things right there to be gotten into in the wee hours, and my sofa and kitty. i guess i needed to have a studio outside in order to meet people and feel sort of part of something in this area (since we moved here with no real connection, no work, school or church outside the home). and it also made me very aware of my own working style and patterns. and i finally know that having it right here under the same roof works so much better for me. and just as i get everything settled and start to get in a groove, i leave town..

i've just arrived at my parents' place, and am helping them liquidate an estate. it's the estate of a friend of theirs that has passed, a delightful woman, and her daughter. my mum is an antique dealer and appraiser so this is what she does. but i've rarely seen a place like this.... SO MUCH STUFF that one can't even move around. i might be able to take some instagrams if it doesn't feel disrespectful.. so there's very much work but satisfying. and how is it that my 70+ year old parents have so much more energy than i do? sigh.

good thing that late-night stitching always follows me, no matter where i am. a few small bits of my "home" piece which is materializing.

new calling

now that it's in the 80s(!), we can't put off shearing any longer. yesterday i sheared georgie, and it was the first time i've done it by myself. it went well! and i loved doing it! and today, i sheared gabbie, our black sheep. only one to go, greta (the lambs won't be sheared till next year)... and she knows we're coming for her.

i've been wanting to learn to shear, since, you know, i'm all about the dying arts.. and we only have such a few sheepies. plus it's nice to not be so dependent on having a shearer come to us. the few that are left are so busy this time of year. last year, after he drove an hour (in june no less, the first opening he had) to get here, we couldn't catch the little buggers. it was a total sheep debacle.. they are really crafty. i'm not sure why people think sheep are stupid.. at least ours have outsmarted us many times.

i've tried electric shears, but they are so heavy and noisy. a shepherdess friend suggested hand shears, and also said that sometimes she even uses fiskars - which seemed right up my alley since i use a small pair to clip the rabbits... and this was a good excuse for a beautiful pair.. and especially with a 40% off coupon at michael's, a much better deal than electric shears... and they work great, at least for our little shetlands.




the only other issue is my sheep are so messy. i'm afraid i'll be picking hay out of this fleece until next year .. but still, like grace, i think i may have found my métier (besides watching downton): i want to become a shearer!

prayer beads and indigo altar

Lapis Lazuli by Yeats, my very favourite poet

I have heard that hysterical women say
They are sick of the palette and fiddle-bow.
Of poets that are always gay,
For everybody knows or else should know
That if nothing drastic is done
Aeroplane and Zeppelin will come out.
Pitch like King Billy bomb-balls in
Until the town lie beaten flat.

All perform their tragic play,
There struts Hamlet, there is Lear,
That's Ophelia, that Cordelia;
Yet they, should the last scene be there,
The great stage curtain about to drop,
If worthy their prominent part in the play,
Do not break up their lines to weep.
They know that Hamlet and Lear are gay;
Gaiety transfiguring all that dread.
All men have aimed at, found and lost;
Black out; Heaven blazing into the head:
Tragedy wrought to its uttermost.
Though Hamlet rambles and Lear rages,
And all the drop-scenes drop at once
Upon a hundred thousand stages,
It cannot grow by an inch or an ounce.

On their own feet they came, or On shipboard,'
Camel-back; horse-back, ass-back, mule-back,
Old civilisations put to the sword.
Then they and their wisdom went to rack:
No handiwork of Callimachus,
Who handled marble as if it were bronze,
Made draperies that seemed to rise
When sea-wind swept the corner, stands;
His long lamp-chimney shaped like the stem
Of a slender palm, stood but a day;
All things fall and are built again,
And those that build them again are gay.

Two Chinamen, behind them a third,
Are carved in lapis lazuli,
Over them flies a long-legged bird,
A symbol of longevity;
The third, doubtless a serving-man,
Carries a musical instrument.

Every discoloration of the stone,
Every accidental crack or dent,
Seems a water-course or an avalanche,
Or lofty slope where it still snows
Though doubtless plum or cherry-branch
Sweetens the little half-way house
Those Chinamen climb towards, and I
Delight to imagine them seated there;
There, on the mountain and the sky,
On all the tragic scene they stare.
One asks for mournful melodies;
Accomplished fingers begin to play.
Their eyes mid many wrinkles, their eyes,
Their ancient, glittering eyes, are gay.

i'm finally getting somewhere. breaking open and spilling out. the new therapist, the move home, the blue hands, they are all working. the beads are from mum. and this is my first indigo vat, thanks to glennis!!

i left my home in georgia

i think the new home studio is going to be productive.
i did more work yesterday than i have in ages.

this is a hard piece for me, my old homeplace.
i could hardly bear to leave it.
i still can't think about it without hurting.
so i'm stitching it.
and the cloth takes it, and holds it and keeps it.

this is just the beginning, and with bits of cloth from cindy and nancy.

ps...i'm going to new hampshire in august to study with india!

more yarn nests

i'm loving playing with yarn nests and batt nests, and imagining all sorts of variants for spring.

but oh my, i've been moving my studio all week. finally claiming a room of my own at home. i'll miss the hotel and seeing sarah in our shared space, but i just don't seem to be one of those people who work well in a studio outside the home. i'm too nocturnal, too disorganized. plus the kitty has settled right in at home, and it's so nice having her here. there is a crazy amount of stuff everywhere and it'll take me a while to dig out.

and.. cindy and i have the most amazing news. are we ready to spring it on the world?

milord

My first portrait of 2012: Edmund, Lord Blackadder.
Blackadder was a much-loved rabbit and soulmate to a lovely artist.
Their relationship was very unusual and special.
He is deeply mourned.
I was so humbled to be asked to do this commission.
**some of the techniques i used were inspired by arlee!