I found inspiration at the farmer’s market:
(inspired Peachy)

(inspired Watermelon)

(inspired pumpkin patch)

I found inspiration at Dollywood:

(inspired Sky)

(inspired Rainbow Stripe)

I’ve got lots more inspiration photos to share, but I’d love to know:
what inspires you?

PS. Don’t forget to share your favorite handspun patterns to win 15% off  your entire order!

Carrots and peaches

Watermelon

The result of the inspiration, which you can use to inspire your summer.

Yesterday, the very first day of spring, my mom’s dairy goat, Emily, gave birth to two sweet little babies:

We all went in to check on Emily in the midst of celebrating my little brother’s 11th birthday. We had no idea that she had just given birth, until we saw sweet little brown kid standing there shivering:

Next to him was laying his little white brother, still, uh, shall we say, freshly born?

Within 30 minutes they were both trying out their new legs, mumbling to their mama and searching for their first meal.

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 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!

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)

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!

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