Friday afternoon, I went with my mom to pick up our first sheep from Hobby Knob Farm.

Since we don’t have a trailer, we used my mom’s minivan to bring them home.

This is no easy task, as sheep don’t understand the whole “hop in” concept.

(if these pictures are shaky, it’s because I am laughing SO hard)

Once in the van, they calmed right down and gave one look back to their former farm.

I was intimately involved in getting them OUT of the van, so there aren’t any pictures of that. (Imagine me holding onto the leash, trying to talk the sheep into jumping down).

Once they were out and into the yard, the youngest one (we haven’t decided on a name yet – I call her Shera (Princess of Power) and the brothers call her Baby) started munching:

The older one, formerly named Itsy Bitsy, is decidedly UN-itsy. My 8 year old brother promptly renamed her Fatty Maddy.

At her age, she deserves more respect, her official name is Madeleine.

Shera/Baby is still a lamb (born this spring) and is 3/4 Cotswold, 1/4 Border Leceister with a super curly fleece. Maddy is 4 years old, always twins and is a Shetland/Romney cross.  Her fleece is the first I ever worked with (last fall!) and it is just lovely and fine and squooshy.

The girls were sheared (shorn?) last week and I’m going to get started on their fleeces this week. If you want some of their fiber, let me know in the comments!

The ladies will be living at my mom’s house, a short drive my place. I go over there a few times of week to babysit my little brothers, so I’ll be taking care of them a few times a week. I just came in from wrangling them, right before writing this!

If you’d like to weigh in on the Shera/Baby debate, let me know in the comments! What do YOU think we should call her?

Last week you shared wonderful stories of learning to knit. (If you haven’t read them yet, you don’t want to miss it!)

I’ve taught all different ages and abilities to knit (from 8 yr old boys to their grandmas!) and it seems everyone has a different perspective on what was (or wasn’t) difficult about the learning process. Some learned from a book and couldn’t get the “scooping” part of the stitch (that would be me!). Some learned from a family member that insisted you were doing it “wrong”. Some  know how to knit, but if they go too long between sessions, they completely forget what to do (hi Mom!)

What did you find challenging about learning to knit? Did it come easily? Or slowly?

Please share your challenges in the comments!

(Not a knitter? Think you might be? Sign up for the Maybe-Knitter e-course (free!) to find out)

Happy First Day of Autumn!

I’m celebrating  with an uncharacteristically autumnal color: Plums. I usually dye and spin crazy bright colors, but these rainy first day of Autumn (and, I’ll admit, a dyepot mistake) inspired this deep purpley gray.

I’m stocking up on Autumnal inspiration by reading about everyone else’s fall crafty-ness. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Blair celebrates the color of plums (this post inspired the name of the yarn above)
• Cosymakes talks about transitions
• Soulemama shares the color of the season with gorgeous photography
• Angry Chicken rounds up  Autumn crafts (and baking!)

I don’t know if I’ll be dyeing many more autumnal colors, because I still love my brights, but I love soaking in the colors of the season!

This week I didn’t post a lot of new yarn to the Boutique. I spun a lot, but I’m saving it all up for next week.

This week all the focus was on the new yarn club. You can read all about it here.

In case you’re wondering what you’d do with monthly yarn, here’s some ideas for using yarn (not knitting):

1. Tie up a pretty package.
Want that the birthday girl to know the package came from you? Wrap it in shiny paper and tie a great big yarn-y bow on top. The non-knitters will laugh, while the knitters will try to squirrel away the yarn for a future project.
2. Measure without measuring tape.
Want to know if that couch will fit in that space? Whip out a ball of yarn and measure it!

And the THIRD thing to do with yarn (that’s not knitting)? Drumroll please!
3. Use it as decor!

Take it out of the stash and drape it around your house. Bowls, vases, any sedentary animals. Bring a pop of color into the room with a well-placed skein!

Ok, so you might not use up your whole yarn stash like this, but do you see why you can NEVER have too much yarn?

If you sign up for a Monthly Yarn Mail, I promise you that it won’t sit idle.
http://moourl.com/MagnificentYarnMail

How can I be sure? Because every month you’ll get the yarn, but you’ll ALSO get an email brimming with pattern suggestions for using what you received!
The first month you’ll get ideas for using one skein, the next month you’ll get ideas for using 2 skeins and so on.

Of course, if you want to just drape the yarn as decor, you know I fully support that, too!

It’s a brand new kind of yarn-club.

You can get the fiber YOU want.
You can get the color YOU want.
You can cancel ANY time.
Even better, if you sign up by Thursday (that’s tomorrow!), you’ll get your first 2 months 25% off, so you can try it out to see if you like it!
This discount is ONLY good until tomorrow, so don’t put it off!

Get the details and sign up here!

If you have any questions, email me at taraATblondechickenboutique.com.

Banana fiber is a super-unusual, super-fun fiber to spin. It usually flies out of the Boutique before I even have a chance to tell you about here.  But there’s still a few colors left (and I have about 2 lbs undyed), so I thought I’d talk a bit about spinning with it.

Peacock Banana

If you’d like to know more about how eco-friendly and fair-trade banana fiber is, be sure to read this.

Spinning Banana Fiber

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, this is a funky, funky fiber. I don’t spin it straight, I tend to blend it in with something a little more spin-able. I usually spend a few minutes teasing it apart and then cut it up as I add it to a batt.

If you don’t have a carder (or handcards), or if you want to make it really funky, you can add it in while spinning something else. Start spinning with your “main” fiber (wool or something sticky will work best). Pull apart a chunk of banana fiber and hold it in the hand that ’s not holding the main fiber. Let the banana wrap around the main fiber as you allow the twist to travel into it. Tuck the ends of the banana fiber into the unspun portion of the main fiber (or let them fly out for extra texture).

One of my customers is spinning a very fine, smooth yarn out of the banana fiber at a high twist with a lot of drafting.

If you’re ready to experiment with banana fiber, buy it here.

As summer winds down, my farmer’s market is still bursting with inspiration, color and plenty of tasty treats. This week I was inspired by the market to spin a few colorful yarns.

Fresh Bouquet

Summer Skies

Sweet Bouquet

Jam

You love yarn
You love mail.
You love when yarn comes in the mail.

So do I.

This love of yarny mail has inspired many Yarn Clubs, in which you pay once and get yarn for 3 months (or more!)

But…

You might not have enough money to buy 6 months of yarn right now.
You may not want to commit to more than a few months.
You may want to just test it out and see if you like it.

And that’s smart.

So what’s a knitter to do?

When you love yarn-y mail and are yearning for a year of yarn? Or  maybe just your monthly yards of yarn?

I’ve come up with an answer for this yarny conundrum and I’ll be sharing here, next Friday.

If you’d like to hear about it first (and get 25% off, before anyone else even knows about it!), sign up below.

Today, as I work on writing my “Learn” page, I’m thinking about how many different ways there are to learn to knit.

I’d like to ask you (yes, YOU!) how you learned to knit.

Please share your story below in the Comments!

(Not a knitter? Think you might be? Sign up for the Maybe-Knitter e-course (free!) to find out)

It’s almost time for wooly sweaters and pots of tea, but for one last week, I’m celebrating the last twinkly moments of summer.

This week’s yarns are inspired by walks on the beach, picnics in the park and summer nights at the carnival.

Pool Party

Fresh-Mowed

Picnic

Strawberries

Farmer’s Market

Cantaloupe

Carnival