Dyer’s Rants

Greetings Everyone-

I sit here in an Autumn Wonderland-I am so enjoying the overdose of color. It is a brilliant reminder of why I enjoy dying yarn-playing with color-so entrancing. I am sooooo lucky to get to live and work here, to live with such inspiration. Later in this post will be some wonderful views I get to see as I start my day. This is my very favorite time of year-and am reminded that life is so fleeting as the leaves fall and then disappear into the greyness of Winter. I do like the calmness of Winter, but now -just for a moment-I relish in vibrant oranges, reds and yellows. Some farm activities include canning the many pears that are coming in on our 2 trees. So far my son Ian and I have made 7 quarts of pickled pears and 14 quarts of Pear Pie Filling. We also have made 12 bottles of Hot Pepper Vinegar from the bumper chili pepper crop we had. (More to do- Christmas is coming!) I grew up in Louisiana and crave hot stuff-add a few drops to Red Beans and Rice or stew or chili and you have a party in your mouth-trust me!

Animals are a big part of daily life here-with goats, chickens, dogs and rabbits.  Somebody is always needing to be fed. We have a few newbies to the farm family. We have 2 new baby cochin chickens I got last weekend at a farm day at the local feed store. And one of our bantam chickens had a yen to be a mother-she would not stop setting. So I let her have 1 baby and here she is-meet Sassy!

new chickie

Ian, Ginny and I went to the Fall Fiber Festival in Orange VA a few weeks ago and came home with Purple Rain-a lavender English Angora Bunny. Might consider introducing him to Fiona and Enya-but not for a while. He is a sweety who likes to be held:

While I owned Holly Spring Homespun-our mascot, our little boston terrier, had many fans. In fact-we have named Scarlet Fleece after her-here is a pic of her, and her favorite daddy and little sister enjoying a Sunday morning.

Progress is moving along on the dye studio. The electricity has been added along with plumbing, a double sink-with HOT water (yea!). The rest is up to me as I painstakingly add trim and baseboards-almost done. I am horribly slow at trim work-not my area of specialty. And I am trying to work it in as I do dye orders. But I plan on starting to apint the interior this weekend. I want to move in in about 2 weeks. My kids are worrying I will not get done in time to decorate for Christmas. You see, currently the parlor is being used as office, storage, drying area and shipping zone and they want to put the Christmas tree there. So I struggle to get all the work done.

I am also working on some small patterns for Silk & Ivory as well as 2 new yarns-Grassy Wool and Scarlet Green. Scarlet Green is a bulky organic merino yarn that is as soft as a teddy bear-and I am working on a shoulder scarf and matching hat-I’ll be putting on the site soon. The Grassy Wool is a fingering weight washable merino and bamboo blend lending an elegance to socks, shawls and anything lacy. I am starting a lacy shrug soon. And the designers are starting to design for 2009 using all the yarns-many yummy things coming, including new color ways-so stay tuned! But here is a scarf in Silk & Ivory in the Easter Basket colorway that is currently available as a free pattern at your LYS:

Ok-that is it for now-need to get back to dying. As promised-here is a little slide show of views of Sweet Tree Hill Farm:

Liz :

Date: November 7, 2008 @ 1:21 pm