Outside the Wool Market Vendor Barn

If you think that going to wool market is all about the vendor barn, you are so wrong. There is so much more to enjoy on the grounds. It's a chance to roam through various barns, view unique animals, see contests, smell the fragrant air, and speak with many interesting people from different states and walks of life--all with one thing in common--they love animals and their fiber.
Poor little fellow! He looks so forlorn after losing his coat to the shearer.
We came upon this sheep under the shearer's shears--just plain scissors. She says she cuts the coat twice a year. Now, we stop to visit with this interesting lady.
Eighty (yes 80) years young from Potosi, Missouri. We were viewing her lovely angora goats or Mos that were in the four pens along the front walkway. We commented on her wonderful sweater with goats knitted along the bottom hem. She said that since the weather had been so chilly and she hadn't brought any warm clothes with her, she went to the thrift shop in town and found two sweaters, this one included, for $1 a piece! Can you believe??? After wool market and her return home, she was having heart surgery--now, can we say that she has a true love of animals and fiber.
Up close and personal on angora goat or 'mo'. Below, more of the wonderful ringlet goats.
To show their animals worthiness, ribbons are proudly displayed on gates and fences.
Give a look at this big dude--Rambouillet breed. He was quite regal and wearing his finest coat.
Walking through the aisles you might come upon an owner exercising their alpacas.
In the arms of this new owner, was two week old alpaca.
Okay, just a short detour--off to the side entrance is another smaller tent where bags of fleece are spied! Look at this gorgeous alpaca fiber!
Owners were picking up their fleece after judging. Of course, the question was asked "were any of the fleeces for sale?" Nope, all sold or have intended purposes--ah, shucks!
Nervous animals are place in a true headlock as their owners wash and shear their hindlegs before judging.
Seriously? Yes, suris dominate the show.
We visited with this vendor who was using her loom frame to knit her suri fiber. She had made several scarves and other wearables with this frame. She said she didn't like to knit but loved this form of creating lovely handmade items.
Exiting the one tent, we notice that the rain had stopped but the skies weres till dark and gloomy looking.
On the grounds we find a baby yak being fed. Just like any baby, he moved when his photo was to be taken. There was also a small herd in one of the front outside pens.

Estes wool market is a great place for youngsters to participate and display their showmanship.
The next blog we were discuss the sheep to shawl contest.

Estes Park Wool Market

There is nothing like a day at the wool market even if it's raining, the grounds are muddy and it's the day after the wool judging. Actually, this is the best day to attend--you see, there is always the temptation to observe wool judging and then buy one, two or more of the ribbon winning fleeces. The day after opening is even better because the sale barn is less crowded. Here is my knitter friend, Judy, smiling under her umbrella. She knows there are all sorts of woolly goodies inside the barn. Inside the door, the small crowd is dressed in their fashionable raingear which includes wonderful knit wool hats.Vendors to the left and right of us--decide on the route and charge! Creatively Dyed came all the way from South Carolina with her brightly dyed yarns.
Brooks Farms from Lancaster, Texas bring such lovely yarns that we both found a nice lightweight yarn (wool/bamboo blend)that we neededto buy. Deer Valley Alpacas were located in the back row.
Magpie Woodworks displayed a wonderful collection of their handcrafted spindles, shuttles and other sundry items. Wooly Walkers had a huge selection of felted hats. JWM Fibers had a wonderful selection of handwoven wearables.
Up front is the most entertaining vendor! Who can resist her delightful paintings?! Connie Togel from Charisma Art Gallery
Woodlake Woolies had sparkly roving! This was just a partial list of all the vendors on site. There were two area knit shops-- The Stitchin' Den , located in Estes and Your Daily Fiber from Fort Collins.
We met some familiar faces along the aisle walk. Knitters up for the day and the opportunity to shop. Vendor friends from years of yore!
There was one of the 'wild women' bunch, Marilyn from South Dakota. Marilyn said her website was 'under construction' so we'll watch for it.
There was Suzanne of Fireant Ranch assisting a customer on the spinning wheel.
Robin with her wonderful buttons. She was excited to share that her garment was juried into the fashion for the upcoming Convergence fashion show. We will definitely watch for that on the runway!
Next blog will include outside activities.

On Track--we hope!

We are continuing on our American Barn Quilt Trail through the countryside via these quilt blocks thanks to Becky at Golden Thimble
These have some paper piecing and regular piecing involved which makes them a challenging block to work.
We are all caught up now with the completion of June barn.
Thank goodness, the jelly roll sampler is up to date and should soon be finished! My jelly roll is getting down to the bare minimum with dark strips.
This kit was purchased last summer and has definitely aged enough to be sewn up just in time for those sunflowers to raise their heads to the sun.
The machine quilting isn't the greatest, that's for sure. The sewing machine at the summer house didn't have a walking foot. So,on the next visit to Jo-Ann's store, a walking foot was bought--and that's a big chunk of change! But that little foot is worth it's weight in gold when doing any quilting.

Beads!!

We are gathering our supplies for some beadwork. Why, you ask? On a recent visit to LYS (local yarn shop), this little booklet was discovered. "Gee whiz, there is no way you could miss out on working with bright shiny beads", the mind voice said. So that is why we are gathering the necessary supplies for this project. The yarn is handspun (properly aged), one ply merino, one ply silk--all from the same colorway--thinking here.......oh, yes, these rovings were purchased in 2009 at Southeast Fiber Forum conference in Asheville, NC. Vendor bought from? we have to think on that one a little bit more. The beads are from Art Beads There was a wonderful little 'needle' with the booklet but somehow, that went missing after the first day of browsing through to figure out which pattern to knit. The patterns included seven scarves and one shawl--which one to knit? Okay, got to find more of those 'needles', order beads and of course, spin the yarn! and you thought this process was an overnight sensation?--Ha, fooled you! Never!!!!!
Finally, yarn is spun and we are adding beads to the yarn. Pour out the beads on a flat container lid and thread the long flexible needles with the yarn. Slip on the beads.
Pull them down over the yarn--thought that part was going to be hard, but the beads went on quickly and easily. But, it is the most time consuming part of the whole project--Sliding on those tiny 10 mm beads. A dear friend had given me one of those bead machines that is suppose to spin the beads onto the thread, but it didn't work with the handspun. Or maybe, we just didn't try hard enough.
Beads are strung and we are knitting! It is little awkward at first, knit a stitch, slide a bead, knit to lock in the bead. But, once you get the hang of it, the process becomes second nature to your fingers.
and oh, yes, love those interchangeable harmony needles from Knit Picks . We are still working on this scarf--ran out of beads!!

Goof-off Day!

Don't we all need a good goof-off day once in awhile? Saturday was our goof-off day. We hopped into the car and took off for who knows where, deciding as we drove along- but first, we stopped at our coffee shop for liquid refreshment and enough caffeine to keep us going for a short while. Onward, we travel! Let's have some breakfast to compliment the coffee. Next stop- Cherry Creek farmer's market, located in Cherry Creek shopping area. This 'market' is held every Saturday and Wednesday through summer months. As far as farmer's items go, this market is on the upper scale--organic produce, fresh made dog food, flower vendors, gluten free baked goods, grass fed beef, free range chickens & eggs and lots of food vendors!
We spy the Denver Biscuit company truck. Yes, a truck that serves biscuits loaded with all sorts of goodies. Before we reached the Biscuit truck we passed the pizza man, who had his own special clay oven on wheels. He was making wood fired pizzas right there. Certainly looked delicious--maybe, that will be another goof-off day! Let's order! How about scrambled eggs, smothered with sausage gravy, on that giant biscuit? The next tent over had breakfast tacos and down the lane we found Venezuelan arepas! Must have one of those--nice crusty on the top & bottom and creamy soft in the middle but alas, no queso de manana so had to settle for plain mozzarella! The sign said the owner/baker was born in Venezuela but in our conversation he said he hadn't been there for 20 years. Well, the dude didn't look but 27! Anyway, moving along with the stream, we purchased a variety of mushrooms from the 'fungi guy'. Onward we go! Look there are tamales--maybe, one of those just to taste--pork with corn and green chili poured over the top. And the last booth--the chef was preparing a seafood paella. This was certainly a trip around the world. Our journey continues as we turn onto Colorado Blvd and pull into a small shopping strip which has hidden amongst its storefronts, Great Harvest Bread Company. Ahhh, the perfect stop. We hadn't been here for years. Step through the screen door into the bakery where aroma of fresh baked breads greet you. The best part about this bakery is the sample. Ask and you should receive a huge slab of fresh baked bread of the day; slap on some fresh butter, pour on some local honey and enjoy!! We couldn't resist purchasing two loaves--the special of the day (apple, cherry, berry) and Dakota, loaded with whole grains and nuts. These are no ordinary loaves of bread or air bread as we call them. These are hearty heavy loaves!!
Onward we continue--we had heard that the local children bookstore was having a sidewalk sale--why not stop in to see? The Bookies Any book lover would truly LOVE this place! Shelves loaded with children's books; pull out drawers with any title you can think of; need teacher supply books--they have them. Enjoy reading bios, mysteries, adult fiction, non-fiction--you'll find them there as well. It was hard to leave this store without at least two books in hand (as if we didn't have plenty to read!)
Homeward bound now--our goof-off day is coming to a close as we circle the block and head to the interstate. There will be other days to explore, feast and enjoy!

Quilt Coverings

The brown headed daughter requested a purple/green quilt to cover her bed. Do you know how much purple is NOT my favorite color?? Is it possible to bite the bullet and work with purple? Going to the quilt shop and asking for P fabric was out of the question--so, shopping online was the right solution. At least that way, saying the word "purple" didn't come out of my mouth! Browsing through several catalogs, this pattern from Keepsake Quilting appeared--magic! This was perfect! Green and p........ An order was placed for two kits with the thinking that two could be combined to make a nice queen size top. Kits arrived and sat and sat and sat. Okay, it was necessary to pull out that P fabric and actually touch and feel it. Time was running out to make the top and get it to the quilter. We would be leaving for summer home within three months and since this was to be a birthday gift for BH daughter the challenge was to finish on time.
The top was completed but didn't measure up to queen size with some drop down. Now, what to do? Oh for Pete's sake--must order more P fabric to make an extra border!! Darn it! Solutions on where to place the extra border went out to the expat quilter friends. And so, the quilt top sat around for another few days, waiting for the P fabric to arrive and when the P fabric did appear in the mailbox, it sat again in the sewing studio!! A decision was made on where to add the extra border and work began again. Oh, joy! It was necessary to work exclusively in P fabric!!
The bottom line--the top was finished and rushed from my hands into the capable hands of Sandy, the long arm quilter! Out of sight for now!! But, Sandy was quick with the quilting and it was back in my hands within two weeks. Now, to add that P binding and off we go to summer home with quilt placed in white plastic bag--out of sight again!

Now, that quilt is covering BH daughter's bed and she is quite happy to have an early birthday gift--just what she wanted--a P/green quilt!

Cupcakes or Muffins??

The question has been posed--what is the difference between cupcakes and muffins? The reason for the question? There are cupcake bakeries popping up everywhere. There are even cupcake trucks that roam the streets to vend their delicious oven treats to the masses that are willing to shell over $3-$3.50 a cupcake. This soul has been among those masses who have forked over big bucks for one small cake. So, the inquiring mind wants to know--what is the difference between cupcake and muffin? The best way to define that question is google it! Good ole Google. The world at our fingertips! The answer comes straight from one of the many cupcake blogs Cupcakes Take The Cake
"The quick-and-dirty answer on this is that cupcakes have frosting, whereas muffins do not. However, in researching, I found an excellent formulaic definition of the difference courtesy of Diana's Desserts: "A basic formula for muffins is 2 cups flour, 2-4 tablespoons sugar, 2½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 egg, ¼ cup oil, shortening or butter and 1 cup milk. When the fat, sugar and egg ratio in a recipe reaches double or more than this, you have reached the cake level." So, there lies your answer.
Let's make some cupcakes. Recently, there was a sale on the Bing cherries of the season--small and not dark in color but tasty anyway and since the price is right, why not buy a pound? You might ask--how can you tell if cherries are tasty before purchasing? Why you ask someone who works there or someone who is willing to give them a little taste on the sly.
Find a recipe--this one from Good Housekeeping and this is definitely a cupcake--look at the amount of butter and sugar. Pit the cherries and begin gathering ingredients. Mix according to directions. Fill cupcake liners. Bake and smell the aroma. Slap on some frosting when cooled and enjoy! For the small price of one dollar 18 cupcakes were made. Wow! There is a profit in selling cupcakes!