Apples are picked!!!

This year it was a race between me, the woodpeckers and the wasps!!!  It took me two days to pick but now the apples are cleaned sorted and stored.....sigh.  Later this month I'll start processing and juicing.  I'm planning on using most of the soft cider to make hard cider and then to vinegar.

We did it!

We just got our Certified Commercial Kitchen certification.  We are now a small foods processsor!  We did our Mayne Island Saturday Market to introduce our newest products. Apple Cider Vinegars made from our own apples!

 

Sold the Boys Yarn!

I sold all of the Boys Yarn. I had 100% Alpaca and a Alpaca Blend of 90%Alpaca 10% Wool for each Boy! I spun their yarn into 100g cakes with descriptive labels for each one.
I'm sure proud of Rudy, Robbie, Shogun and Buttercup!! Well done!!!

Ulrieke Benner - Art You Wear workshop on Saltspring Island

Here I am home again, on Mayne Island after spending 3 hardworking days felting with Ulrieke Benner and four other gals on Saltspring Island. It was a wonderful experience. Certainly, new appreciation for anything felted that I have seen! My challenge was to learn to felt with my own alpaca fibre. Pros and cons, there, but that's another blog day. I'd like to share some of our Third Day Projects. Beth was creating the fabric for a poncho. Lynn was creating the felted fabric for a summer tunic. Lovely green colours! Janet was working on creating the felted fabric to make herself a jacket. The blues were brillant! Rachel was her own creative self creating scarves, even angel wings! Thank you Ulrieke for teaching this workshop! I learned lots!

Day 3 at Salt Spring

Good thing I left early at 2:30. Ferry traffic departures were frantic!!! We certainly dont get this experience on our own 'wee' island. I worked nonstop today to try and get this last piece finished, but not quite done, so its coming home to Mayne wrapped around the noodle swaddled in plastic. It still needs more massaging and rolling before I can felt it. So, I'll work on it again back up in my studio this evening. Hmmmm. Maybe.....after a glass of wine I may just wait until tomorrow.....

2 day at the Salt Spring workshop

Okay, here i am day 2. My first shawl is completed and dry. Im starting my second alpaca shawl today. Im going to felt the alpaca thinner and layer more silk collage with silk ribbons, yarns, and silk pieces. Today i learned to make sure i rinse out all the soap in cool water. Making sure all water is squeezed out and then to soak the piece in a vinegar water solution that closes the fibres and brings the pH back to normal for the piece. Then lay the piece on a towel and roll it up to assist in the drying process.

At the end if the afternoon i began thinking about my third project. One of the gals brought her linen top that could be an interesting template for a felted garment. My new challenge!
So measurements were taken and plans were made.....tomorrow is day 3, my last day. I have to leave at 2:30 to make the ferry connection back to mayne. Ill have to work right thru lunch to make sure I get finished.
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Day 1 on Salt Spring

Today is my first day at the felting workshop I'm attending here on Salt Spring Island, BC. It is such a beautiful, vibrant island! Im here because i want to learn how to felt with alpaca onto silk. I took a bag of Buttercup's alpaca rovings with me, plus silks, natural yarns and threads.
Today i started a silk scarf. It started out
as a piece of white china silk 90 inches long by 20 inches. Im anxious to see how much it shrinks!
First step
Lay out the alpaca fibre onto the silk.
I added some threads of a blue silk yarn.
Then the labor begins.
Sponge wetting the fibre on the silk
Rolling it tightly on to the 'noodle'. Roling it to a count of 350. Unroll. Reroll from the other side. Repeat rolling to a count of 350. Repeat whole process two more times!!!
Then check to see how the fibre is felting. If too dry rewet and message with dove soap. Rewrap and roll 2 to 3 mire times. Check.
If ready you now rinse in hot water squeezing out soap. Then throwing it onto table. This agitates the fibre and gives relief to the felter! At this point i bundled up my wet piece and put into a plastic bag. I wonder how much it will
Shrink over night???

Alpaca Fibre for Sale 2013

Alpaca Fibre for Sale 2011 , a set on Flickr.

The Boy's newest fibre is back. have a look. It is lovely!!