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?

Usually, on Thursdays, I post manifestos, love-letters to the season, but today, my Jay’s birthday, I want to post a little manifesto for him.

I’m often asked “What’s a Blonde Chicken? Where’d that name come from?“.  It’s an adorable little story, so be forewarned: Cuteness lies ahead.

Jay has a huge family. Over 15 aunts and uncles (not counting their spouses, their children and their spouses). Huge. One day they all came to our college campus for a big family thing for Poppa, the family patriarch.

Jay and I had been dating…maybe 2 months? And he wanted me to meet the family.

When it came time to meet Poppa, I leaned down (he was in a wheelchair), gave him a “kiss on the jaw” and moved on. I might have said “Hi, Nice to meet you”. Maybe.

Jay was behind me and Poppa grabbed him and said:

“Don’t let go of that blonde chicken!”

As a proper young feminist, I was appropriately disgusted with the nickname.

Of course, Jay used it to relentlessly tease me.

Months passed, Poppa passed away and Jay kept calling me his Blonde Chicken.

We fell deeper in love, graduated, got married, got jobs and when I started to think about maybe, sorta opening a business, Jay insisted that I should do it.

When I faultered for a name, Jay offered up “Blonde Chicken”.

When I doubted that I could really, truly put all the parts of a business together, Jay insisted.

When I considered quitting my day job, Jay insisted.

At every step, at every opportunity for me to turn back, Jay’s had my back, insisting I could do the Thing.

And for him, it isn’t even a big deal. It’s just the Thing, Tara’s Thing She Needs To Do.

He’s just quietly certain I can do it. No big pep rallies (even when I thought I wanted one), no big deal. I can do it. Period.

Today, on his 27th birthday, here, in this space he’s helped to create,  I just wanted to acknowledge his insistence, and to thank him for not letting go of this blonde chicken.

(PS. The real tragedy – Jay’s red/green colorblind. I work with color all day and he can’t even enjoy my current favorite color, an enchantingly juicy Cherry)

In one week, I’ll be self-employed.

In one week, I’ll be responsible for my own health insurance.

In one week, I’ll set my own schedule.

In one week, I’ll live in a new house.

Next Wednesday is not only my first day of full-time Blonde Chicken Boutique shenanigans, it’s also Moving Day!

The whole family + the whole Boutique is moving (just across town).

To say I’m overwhelmed in as understatement.

Excited and nervous and scrambly and full of oh-my-goodness-what-did-I-forget sort of thoughts!

Last night I couldn’t sleep and started thinking about ALL the yarn and fiber I need to pack before moving. And the unpacking! The new place will have a dedicated fiber studio (yay!) but I hate to be apart from my fiber for even a day or two.

So instead, instead of moving all that yarn across town,  what if I just send it to you?

How about free (domestic) shipping on any order over $50?

You’ll be cheering up both of our weeks by heading over to the Boutique and stocking up handspun yarn, organic cotton and Spinnables.

(to get the free shipping, just place your Etsy order (of over $50) and wait for a CORRECT Paypal invoice)

This little moving sale will be on for just ONE WEEK and on July 1st, I’m going to close the Boutique until I’m all settled in my new studio.

When it reopens, it’ll be filled with new and different yarns, so if you like what you see, snatch it up now!

A few months ago, I shot some videos on How to Dye with Easter egg dyes. At the time, it answered the most common question I got:  How do you dye?

Since posting those videos, the questions have switched to  “where can I get those dyes?” “Are THESE the right dyes?” I’ve always answered with a general “Well, this is where I get mine”, but when I got an email from someone in Japan who loved the videos, but couldn’t find the Easter egg dyes at a good price (they go for $4/box on eBay!), I knew I could provide the answer.

I was telling Jay about how exciting it was to send something so American to Japan.

He responded said “So why don’t you offer kits to EVERYone who didn’t stash 1000s of boxes at Easter time?”

Duh! (I’m going to promote him from “tech guy” to “Product Development” although it occurs to me now that this might have been a sneaky plot to “help” me part with my huge stash of Easter egg dyes!)

Quick as a lick, I put together everything you need to dye some fiber using a pack of East Egg dyes.

12 oz of fiber, already divided into the size you need for each tablet + pack of dyes + instructions!

You can find the Make Rainbows kit right here!

And you really lucked out, because the dyes I have the most of come 6 to a pack (last year I only found 5-packs) and they are HUGE. Each tablet dyes 2 oz of fiber!

Your resulting fiber will look something like this:

(of course, if you don’t want to try dyeing, you can find the already-dyed fiber right here)

This week I’m on vacation on the lovely shore of Emerald Isle. But because I love my work, the Boutique is still open with new yarns everyday and I’m still talking to customers via email. So I’m away but still checking in. Each day I’ll be posting a few pictures from the vacation, especially the yarny inspiration.

Today was another beachy-day! Knitting, reading, swimming, shelling. Ending in some cake (tomorrow’s my birthday!) and in-bed reading. The beachhouse has a TV in the bedroom, which feels like pure luxury – to lay in bed and knit and watch TV and read all at once!

This week I’m on vacation on the lovely shore of Emerald Isle. But because I love my work, the Boutique is still open with new yarns everyday and I’m still talking to customers via email. So I’m away but still checking in. Each day I’ll be posting a few pictures from the vacation, especially the yarny inspiration.

Today (Saturday) we got up early and drove the 8 hours to the coast of North Carolina. We stopped at a…colorful fruit stand, unpacked in our gorgeous beach house and hit the beach

View from the living room

Beach
house at sunset

I’ve tried to write this post for weeks.

I can’t figure out how to say it in a way that conveys the big-ness for me and for Blonde Chicken Boutique. This is a huge, scary, exciting step, but it’s just so hard to express.

So, how about I just say it:

I quit my day job.

June 30th is my last day working in an office, for an employer.

July 1st, I wake up to…Blonde Chicken Boutique!

I’ll be a full-time fiber artist, yarnie, fiberista, spinster – whatever we’re calling it that week – it’ll be my full-time job!

Even though I handed in my resignation a month ago, it still feels crazy and new and exciting!

This will allow me to do SO many new things with BCB, things you’ve asked me to do and things I’ve been waiting to do. More craft shows, more in-person lessons, more yarn!

As I transition into this new role, I’ll be sharing more and more about the business-side of BCB: what systems I use, how I decided to go full-time, all sorts of stuff! I know only some of you might be interested in that, so instead of bore the blog readers, I’ll be writing about it in a little newsletter-y thing. Sign up here if you want to learn more biz-stuff.

Thanks for helping me make all of this possible!

From the moment I got the directions “just past the big red barn”, I was delighted with this farm visit. Mom and I piled into the car and took off towards Asheville for a day of fun: Rammings Farm for a few fleeces, downtown Asheville for Jamaican food, EarthGuild for dyes and The Chocolate Lounge.

We got a bit turned about on the way to the farm, but the visit was worth it. Jennifer and her family live in a restored farmhouse and “for fun” they keep a flock of heritage breeds of turkeys, chickens and various fiber-y animals.

The fiber-y animals include very friendly angora goats (they make mohair),

a bold cashmere goat,

and some shy Jacob and Romney sheep.

The Jacobs are the smaller guys with horns, while the Romneys have black faces (Angora goats are in the foreground).

All of the animals are protected by this sweet dog (I completely forgot his name) who prefers the Angoras to the sheep – he’ll let the Angoras eat first and only when they’ve had their fill will he allow the sheep to come close to the food!

Jennifer  keeps a small flock which she doesn’t breed and raises them as naturally as possible. When her stash of fleeces and roving began to overwhelm her, I was happy to visit and take some of it off her hands!

I picked out a Jacob fleece, an Angora fleece, 8 oz of mill-carded roving that’s a mix of her Romney and a neighbor’s alpaca and 4 oz of cashmere roving. If you’re part of the LocalSpun Club (currently closed) you’ll have received either yarn or fiber from the Jacob fleece. Tomorrow I’ll show you what I’ve made with the cashmere!

I’ve gotten a little behind on posting the Farmer’s Market Project, since being out of town for a few weekends, but I’m back, baby! Renewed determination and commitment to see this through until the end of the season.
This photo was taken 7.19.08 at the Johnson City Farmer’s Market. You might recognize the tablecloth from past photos, as this is my favorite booth – always filled with color!

Bright red and yellow shades on mill-ends wool was handspun ultra-fluffy, thick and thin. Plied with a handdyed green hemp thread, the yarn became even fluffier and soft with a squiqqly, fun-in-the-sun vibe.Yellow Tomatoes, available here

I was happy with it, right until my husband looked at it and said “Hulkamania, brother!“
Oh, uh yeah, it does look a bit like it could be knit into a boa for the Hulkster:

Hmmm…