Summer Shares

Returning from a blog hiatus and a trip to spend some time with my family and friends on the seacoast. We celebrated a very special birthday. My niece, Lilly, turned 1. And okay, I'm a little biased, but I'm telling you she is the cutest, happiest little girl in the world. It is such good fun being an Auntie. 

Going on vacation is an amazing amount of work. List making, shopping, packing, instructions for the house sitter, instructions for the farm – it almost doesn't feel worth all the effort until you actually get away for a few days. I was exhausted by the time we'd packed the car. But once we arrived for a week of sailing on a friend's boat in Maine, Mike and I really began to relax. I am reminded that it's so important to unplug for a chunk of time and truly take a break. I let the guys do all the work and enjoyed the ride. And while I'm physically feeling up to more activity, I can still fall asleep at the drop of a hat. Mike says it's allowed.

And so now it feels good to be back and to see all is well on the farm. Summer is slipping by so fast. Here are some snippets from the past two weeks.

Scenes from the field:

Lambs pasture 

The lambsters are eating and growing like crazy. Although it's been hot and dry, the pasturage is holding up really well. No complaints from this crowd. It looks like we'll be starting on second cutting hay during the next stretch of dry days.

It's very hard to stand far enough away from Mistral to take a good picture, since she would still rather climb into my lap or stand on my feet. I wanted you to see how much she's grown. Here face is getting longer, more lady-like, and she's losing her roly-poly lambiness (but is still so sweet).

Mistral

The ram lambs are up to their shenanigans, harassing the ewe-lings and each other. This fellow is trying to impress the girls with his charming he-man face.

Rammy face ram

Scenes from the garden:

Squash blossoms, morning glory
squash blossoms & morning glories

Sunflower
 sunflower giants

OMG, the garden is a jungle this year. It's the one area I've had to let go. Although Holly has tried to keep up, the weeds are having their way. Squash has gone wild. There are enough herbs for half of Franklin county.  I have some serious tomato picking ahead of me later today.    

Dill flower
dill

And scenes from the dye studio:

At last, the colors for the summer yarn shares! I took my time with this palette, thinking about colors that play well together for intarsia, fair isle, entrelac. Although several colors here were seasonally inspired, I was thinking ahead to the when garments will be worn: fall and winter. 

This yarn, Upland Wool & Alpaca, is a blend of my flock's wool (Cormo-Cross, Border Leicester) and Alpaca in a light worsted weight. The natural color is a soft grey. Sheep Shares members, please keep your eyes on your inbox, I'll be sending thumbnail color swatches for your perusal later today.

And once members have received their shares, I'll post a note about whatever's left.

Upland wool alpaca colors 2
Foxfire Fiber Upland Wool & Alpaca Summer 2010: 

bluebird, spruce, great blue heron, green tea

Upland wool alpaca colors aug 2010
Foxfire Fiber Upland Wool & Alpaca Summer 2010: 

morning glory, sugar bush, garnet, oak 

Keeping all of you in my thoughts – sending wishes for a fun and relaxation as summer winds down.

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