Tick. Tick. Tick.

The ordered seconds quietly slip by.
Slyly glancing over at the blog page.
Is there anything new?
Did something happen?
Is there any news?

Well, yes there is news. After my last post I decided to run away and join the circus. Wait, I already am part of the circus, but our cotton candy machine is broken. Instead I took a spur of the moment trip up north to visit my friend Dusty and enjoy some life on the ranch. Shae and Rowyn went too, and had a mini-family reunion.  You can enjoy pictures here.

I enjoyed visiting with Roar the bull;

and morning after glorious morning.

I found Bigfoot. (sort of)

And enjoyed a breakfast here.

The day I made it home was my birthday, and I found this waiting for me!

The days were so full, very little knitting happened. It seams (!) like it took forever to finish mattress stitching the yoke to the body of the Circlet in Blue. I finally finished the night before last. I had a hard time deciding whether to allow more ease in the stitching or to pull it snug, and now the stitching isn't as even as I'd like. But I can live with it. Now it's on to grafting the underarm seams, then neck edging and finally button bands. I still need to find some buttons! Sounds like the perfect time (is there ever a bad time) to stop by my LYS and check out their new digs. They just moved!

Lets Get to the Fluffy Stuff

Did I go to the Black Sheep Gathering? You betcha! Did I spend a lot of money? NO!

No? Yup.  While I don't believe I qualify as STABLE (STash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy), I do have enough fiber to keep me busy for some time, especially as my current project output level seems pretty low.  And, oddly, I wasn't on the hunt for any particular fleece. You know, a certain type or color, or one that jumps up and says. 'You Can't Live Without Me!' So I went to BSG, fully planning to not buy fleece. (Not that this strategy has worked before, because it is usually just a downfall waiting to happen.) Weird, huh?

What I did do was spend hours in the 'wool barn' watching and listening to Judith McKenzie judge fleeces. Wow. What a great education. What an outpouring of information. What an eye opener too! Judith would pick up a fleece and extol the virtues of that particular type of fleece and I'd think to myself, "Well, I'd never thought of using that kind of fleece before, but clearly I need a fleece like that." Dangerous stuff when you're on a fleece diet. I'll be getting back to fleece in a minute.

My apologies to all the vendors at BSG. Your wares were all just as enticing as always; the fibers, the colorways, the tools. It seems I had more than my fair share of self restraint this year, I bought only 2 things. I promise to do better next year. Here is my haul; a crochet hook, because I couldn't find the one I knew was in my notions case,

don't worry, of course the missing hook showed up after I brought this one back. What is 'knooking'? the package said this type is for knooking. It will work fine for knit repairs.

And this lovely little 1 oz. batt, purchased from a young man who creates and sells them to put toward his college fund. I couldn't resist. I think his name is Colton.

Now we get back to fleece. Remember, diet doesn't mean abstinence. My wonderful pal Dusty, of the ranch, decided to add a few wool sheep to her small flock of sheep, in order enable my fleece habit. That's what friends are for, right? She decided on Navajo-Churros and brought home two ewe lambs from Dot Ranch. One of them was due for shearing during my visit. Here is a (cell phone) picture of Kayla just before shearing. I love love love the color of her fleece, especially the golden color of the tips.

Here is what she looks like after shearing.

Yup, dark chocolate brown. At least for now. Her color will probably lighten up as she gets older. Here is the result.

Eye candy. As this is her lamb fleece, that inner wool is pretty soft. Maybe soft enough for next to skin. Maybe. I played around with a little bit, you know, just to get acquainted.

From right to left; intact locks, longer outer wool, shorter and finer inner wool. Without washing, I spun singles from the locks.

From left to right; intact lock spun worsted style, intact lock spun woolen style, outer wool spun worsted, inner wool spun woolen. The samples were washed after spinning, and they're over spun as singles. I was thinking I'd ply them, then didn't. The first 3 are pretty tough, not for next to skin, but I wasn't expecting that. However, I think they'll work wonderfully for weaving. The 3rd sample, the longer outer wool? That is tough stuff and I think would make great warp. The 4th sample might work for next to skin if I'm more careful with my spinning, taking care to keep it light and airy. Otherwise, it works well spun without separating the locks.  Bonus - spending time getting to know the Susie Pro.

See! I did bring home a fleece!

Keeping Occupied on the Ranch

If you don't like working in the yard, you probably shouldn't have a ranch. There is always something needing doing, especially outside. Like checking the fences. And if you're going out to check the fences, you might as well take some tools, in case things need fixing, or some noxious weeds need up rooting. So you ride out in the Putt-Putt, because it can carry all the things.

Rowyn Keeps Watch

There's always a peanut gallery around when you're trying to get something done.

After all that hard work, a fella needs to cool off.

Ranch Dog Swimming Pool

The Lumber Mill

Further along the road from the Ranch the road ends, sort of, at a sawmill, one of the last steam operated sawmills in the country. The Hull Oakes Lumber Co. is a family business, and those families have lived in the area for generations. This place is amazing. Stepping into the mill is like stepping back in time. Much of the machinery dates from the 1930s, as do some of the buildings.  If parts of a building wall or floor wear out, new pieces are cut right there as replacements. The air smells of iron infused steam and heavy grease, highlighted by notes of coniferous resin. Speech is impossible, the machinery grinds, moans, clanks and whirs, while the giant saw blades screech while cutting the timber. The mill workers use a language of hand signals because of the noise. If you take a tour, be sure to accept the offered ear plugs.

On the day I went to visit, two of the boilers were fired up. At least one of the giant iron bellies of fire had a first career powering a steam ship. In the past, wood chips and sawdust from the milling operations were the fuel burned in the boilers, so very little went to waste. Today, it's impossible or nearly so, to find parts or part fabricators to keep these old beasts in working order. Just recently, electric engines were installed to run the machinery. These days, the sawdust and wood chips are sold off, some to the pulp mills to make paper.

The land surrounding the mill is planted in Douglas Fir, future material for making lumber. During an earlier visit, my host showed me stands of timber he planted before I was born. He says it might be just about ready for harvest now. Talk about long term planning! A tree farmer (or Forrester) plans for and cares for his crop, but at the end of the "season", it might be harvested by his children or grandchildren.

These pictures are taken in the room where the saw blades are resharpened. The blades are like giant band saws. Just like a knife, they can be resharpened, but every resharpening removes material. Eventually, they get too narrow for the machine they are for. The gentleman in the picture is Don, and he was my guide. He's the one who planted those trees I was just mentioning.

The boilers are housed in the building behind Don, on a lower level. If you look just to the left of the stairs, there is a doorway leading down there. Overhead are the conveyor lines that bring sawdust into the building to feed to the boilers. There was wet sawdust that needed burning off, so it didn't rot the storage room floor, and that's why the boilers were running. I feel very lucky having seen this place. Maybe it's because I grew up in Southern California. Here is a place that has been occupied by and operated for generations by the same families. A place where the raw material grew within miles of where it is made into finished goods. A local business, where if you need a batch of lumber cut to a size you can't find at the local hardware store, you just need to pick up the phone.  While I was there, they were cutting 12"x12"x54' timbers, and they can go even bigger. Visit the website and check out the Hull-Oakes Lumber Co. Maybe I'm just a geek, but I think this is a really special place.

Memory Aides

In order to let you know what all I did in Oregon, I have to go back and look at my pictures. This scares me, just a little bit, because my trip wasn't all that long ago and I feel I shouldn't need the pictures to jog my memory. But I do. I guess I should be glad I can remember what the pictures are when I see them. And right there is a very good reason to keep carrying a camera.

By the way, this might be a very long post. (or not)

My pal Dusty lives near Eugene and Corvallis. Her ranch blog is Morgan River Ranch.  The area is just beautiful. (click to biggify)

Looking east

Looking southwest, that's the hay barn back there

See what I mean? In this part of Benton County, people raise livestock, timber, Christmas trees, hay, rye grass seed, and grapes for wine making. There are several very good wineries nearby, and this trip, I didn't visit any of them!

There are chickens on the ranch, but no rooster. Still, we didn't lack for a morning wake-up call. As the morning brightened, Roar, the ranking ranch bull, would begin announcing his presence to any other bulls within a few miles, as well as any interested cows. This was no "lowing" or mooing no, (that came earlier) this was a proud and boasting bugling, sounding more elephantine than bovine. What a great noise! I tried capturing the sound with video, but every time I readied my camera, Roar would go camera shy.

After coffee and Roar's serenade, we were off for our morning walk. Several days in a row the dogs flushed a large bird from the ground, which I judged to be an owl because of its size and rounded wing shape. Dale went along on one of our walks and called it correctly, a turkey hen, likely sitting on a nest. Since we'd already disturbed her, we had a look. And then made sure to leash the dogs around this area.

Well, I just got started on another topic, and realized it really a post of it's own, so here I stop. I hope you all had an enjoyable 4th of July.