Alba Ranch’s Continuing Face Lift!

Since I have been tearing the web page, blog, and email addresses apart like a mad woman the last week with the help of DH Charlie Morrison and Ashley of Neauveau Fiber Arts  I have not been spinning or weaving much.  Dust has been collecting.

Today I planned on focusing on fiber as I have a Spin Fest this weekend and need to load up the Bug and test out the actual capabilities of what you can stuff in a 1974 Super Beetle.  I have only managed to spend 3 hours on the computer so far and that was mostly on Face Book trying to figure out how to link and post things the way I want to on my Alba Ranch – Art by Melisa and Charlie Morrison fan page. It is amazing what you can figure out if you find the instructions..duh!!  Ashely also told me about a super neat Fiber Freak group called Fiber Artists and Yarn Spinners   and it is really a fun busy group.  I do so love being a Fiber Freak!

Fiber Strut Show and Sale Table

I decided to take some of the Starter Kits for Greener Shades Dyes to sell as well as all my Fiber Grab Bag individual bags.  I know that many times spinners like to get a small bag of a few ounces of a new and exotic fiber to try out before commitment to a large expense and full fleece.  I have a lot of these that are mohair locks, mohair rovings, long wool locks specially Lincoln, dog wool mostly in Border Coolie and Great Pyr, and various fleece breeds.  Send me and email if you would like anything in particular and I can see if i have it.

Yesterday I was at a spinning group.  Then met a friend that I had been conversing with on Face Book for over a year face to face finally.  That was another several hours of fiber fun time along with a lovely lunch.  Tomorrow is all fiber fun time…yahoo!!  comptuer BE GONE!!!

“Strut Your Stuff” art show local news article….

“Strut your Stuff” art show at Fremont Art center opened on June 5th and they chose Charlie and I for an article in our local paper. I thought it was to be an article on the show, but it turned out to be an article on Charlie and I. you can see the article here but know that there are a few misquotes. We do not have 29 sheep. We have 9 sheep and 20 goats! haha but she did get the number correct! The yarns that I have available in the show are NOT handspun this time, these were sent off to a mill to be spun very evenly, strongly and finely into lace weight that I could use for warping and weft on the loom.

See the Article Here

Little April, Monty, Ringo, Blue, Star and all the others are still with us. Some are in varying stages of recovery but no one has given up the fight. I hope to sell a few more angora goats this weekend a local shop as I have to make room for some of my lambs next spring. I didn’t keep any lambs this year except one, but I sold her mom so we did not increase in sheep size at all. We actually went down numerous sheep as I culled the meat herd and put them in the freezer.

Hope to have hay in the next few weeks and that will be us started on the way for getting ready for winter already. funny saying that as it is 81 degrees outside right now but winter IS coming!! 🙁

Recently we have been selling a lot of the fleeces and rovings from the online store. www.albaranch.etsy.com in case you forgot the link. hope to see you there buying up fiber and photographs. we are having a clearance sale on many items in the shop, so go have a look and see what bargains you might be able to score! 🙂

4 Seasons and premature Doeling

Since my last posting,  Emma did finally kid.  She had a very lovely marked bouncing boy!  we named him Monty and he literally bounces around.  He can be seen at times catapulting through the air, and landing in his favorite spot…on the broad back of Brownie the sheep!  He has attempted it on various other smaller sheep with varying results. 🙂

The little premature doe, April, is sitll with us.  she has not been feeling well so we don’t know how she will go.  she has scours and we have no clue why.  Tried various medicines and so far she seems to be determined to keep the scours.  I did wean Jet, Ringo and Blue and put them in the big boy pen a while ago.  The weaning may not have been too premature, but the big boy pen I think may have been.  I do not think they got enough food even though I thought they were.  Ringo was down in the pen at the beginning of this week and than his brother Jet was.  Charlie just said that Jet died during the night.  They were weak from lack of food, so we made them a special pen out of alfalfa hay bales and have had them separate with unlimited food for days…I thougth they were coming on, but Jet gave up the fight.  When Ringo got knocked at the beginning of the week, I thought he was injured internally and would not make it.  He has however still been with us for another FIVE days..so there is hope with him.  We took Blue out of the big boy pen even though he was thin but not as weak as the others.  he has been having fun in the doe pen but he is so close to that age where he could be too fertile.  When we remove the last of our sale animals this week, we are going to separate the really big boys into that far pen and leave the smaller boys in the middle pen so that they can be separate from the girls but still be safe from being in with the big boys until they grow a lot more.  I hope this helps the issues.  sometimes the angora goats just grow so slowly.  Monty is at least a month younger than them and is probalby twice their size and 4 times more energetic!!

After working night and day on my fiber entry for the show, they cancelled it!  🙁  so it won’t be displayed but here is it.  Four Seasons:

It starts at the left with the white one as winter, than spring, than summer and than fall going clockwise.  I used Wensleydale, Lincoln Long Wool (coloured and white), alapaca, mohair (coloured and white) throught out the weavings.  there is raw fleece tied in, rovings, hand spun yarn, mill spun yarn from my rovings, but there is no synthetic yarns from any shops or anything other than pure fiber as even the hooks to hang it were braided from left over warps.

I listed six different listings last night on www.albaranch.etsy.com so go have a look and enjoy! it is a great collection of fine yarns that I had got back from the mill.  Mohair, Merino, and some merino/mohair blends.  some white and some colours.  I finally listed some of the red yarns, a medium and a dark fawn mohair yarns!

I have been making goat cheese every week recently, and boy it is certainly nice to have it again.  Sales are starting up on the etsy shop again, go stop in and buy something!! 🙂