goat note

I'm sure you are on tenterhooks, wondering what happened with the five bags of raw cashmere I sent to be assessed at the Cashmere Goat Association show in Maine.

Unlike you and I, the goats couldn't care less.
Fiber? In Summer? Not of interest.
They are busy with other things.
Hay. Oats. Browse.
The loose mineral feeders.

Azalea after a visit to the mineral feeder

Dara, ditto

What?

You aren't on tenterhooks about the fiber assessment either?
You weren't even wondering?

Well that's good, because it will be quite a while before I can share the results.

Shortly after mailing the package, I got an email from Maine asking if, after the CGA judging, I would like to send my fiber on to the Canadian Cashmere Producers show at the end of August. One of the Canadian cashmere breeders attending the US show kindly offered to transport any US entries across the border for the Canadian judging.

A rare post-publication editorial note, after reading several comments and thinking I may have misled you:

I love it that YOU love my goats so much, this sounded like an achievement on their part!  :)  But no, the offer came before the judging in Maine. A Canadian cashmere person made a very generous gesture to all the US cashmere breeders, eliminating both the risk and the expense of shipping their fiber to the Canadian show.
But thank you for thinking such nice thoughts about my gang o'goats :)

This unexpected opportunity seemed too good to pass up, so I paid another five entry fees and on they went. The only "down" side: the judge's comment cards from the US show are travelling with the fiber. I will not see any of the assessment comments from either judge until the fiber is mailed back to me in September! So, I just have to be patient.

Fortunately, cashmere goats are excellent teachers of patience. They teach it very, very well.

Just not by example.

~~~~~

saturday snapshot

A rare playful moment from Lily

I'd been sitting and visiting with Tansy and Fern,
when I turned and found, right at eye-level,
this soft fuzzy nose.
The usually-aloof Lily
had decided to sneak up and surprise me.
:)

I hope your weekend brings surprises
that make you laugh!
~~~~~

friday already

This week is flying by in a whirl of all sorts of tasks and chores and (another) migraine and (finally!) walks by the pond with Ms. Piper and the daily sketch that I'm finding both a challenge and enjoyable.

Here's one:

 Oddly, with all this #DrawingAugust activity,

I seem to have forgotten how to take a decent photograph.

The ones I'm posting on twitter (like this one) are atrocious!

In fact, I may replace this snap with a good one later,

but now it's after 6:30AM and time for chores.

We've been having extreme weather, with the ongoing humidity and heat interspersed with massive rainstorms and - sometimes, miraculously - fresh cool air!

Piper enjoys our little sketching parties, as she can literally run circles around me in the woods while I stay in one spot for a half-hour or so. I think she is under the impression that she is training me in Basic Obedience commands. Here she is coming back to make sure I am right where she told me to "stay!"

And here she is celebrating her achievements as a Human Trainer:

She does make me laugh!

And about five minutes after these pictures were taken, the sky grew dark and thunder started rolling right toward us. We did not make it out of the woods dry that day!

~~~

Just a quick heads-up:

it's been a while since I've done a giveaway,

and I have an idea.

Soon!

:)

~~~~~

redrawing august

Remember #DrawingAugust 2014?

Well, I've signed on again. And if you have the inclination to join in, just follow that link back to Jean Stevens and ask her to add your name to the list so we all know how many people are playing along. And then put some sort of mark on some sort of paper each day in August, and post a snap on twitter with the hashtag #DrawingAugust.

It was so much fun last year, scrolling through the images posted each day. So many styles and subjects, and so much inspiration! I did not manage to post daily, but I did get into the habit of sketching more frequently than I've done in a long, long time. And it was enjoyable.

Off to a bit of a wobbly start today. Piper and I (and my sketchbook) headed for the pond, but as we got out of the car the blue sky suddenly went grey. A few minutes later, heavy rain began pouring straight down. Back in the car, I doodled with my colored pens - a birch branch hanging over the pond next to the car (seen through windshield wipers), and a red bee balm flower. But when the storm showed no sign of letting up, Piper and I headed back home and I posted this snap of my sketchbook.

I don't have a plan or theme for what to draw, but maybe it would be helpful. Or a list of subjects I could choose from at random. I'd really like to participate every day this year, even if it's just a 3-minute sketch...but sometimes it would be easier if there was an "assignment."

Does anyone want to join in?

If you do, we can cheer each other on :)

~~~~~

vm

It's been a busy week in Goat World.

The vet came out Wednesday for the annual herd check and shots. One of the injections (in the thigh muscle) is quite unpleasant for the goats. Even placid Azalea tried to run right through me.

I couldn't help it. It HURT!
(I know, Azalea. I'm sorry.)

Some of the goats are still walking stiffly and LeShodu, the matriarch doe, was limping this morning. I'm keeping an eye on her, in case something other than the shot is causing a problem. Four days seems like a long time for an injection site to be causing increased discomfort. Meanwhile, I added a water bucket inside the barn, so LeShodu doesn't have to go up and down the long ramp just for a drink.

Thursday I pulled out all the 2.5-gallon storage bags of 2015 cashmere, and began choosing and preparing fiber to send off for a professional assessment. Actually it is a fleece competition with fiber judged by age groups and gender and so on, but I'm not expecting any prizes for this fiber. I'm just very interested in getting specific feedback from a very experienced judge of cashmere.

The rules require sending entire, raw, fleeces. No cleaning, dehairing or other treatment is permitted, except the requested removal of what fiber-folk call "VM." This is vegetable matter. Bits of hay, seeds, etc.

If you knit or crochet or weave, you may have noticed occasional tiny bits of plant material spun right into the yarn. It's not uncommon, even in commercial yarn. In very "rustic" yarns, some of which are quite expensive, there may be a lot of VM. Individual knitters have different thresholds for how much is acceptable. Personally, I don't like it. But I think for some people, finding a bit of hay spun into the yarn makes them feel more connected to the original source. Fortunately, in the wide, wide world of yarn, there is plenty of variation to keep us all entertained!

I chose five fleeces to submit. One was unbelievably clean:

(As always, left-click to embiggen.)

This was the total VM removed from the entire fleece:

The little areas that look out of focus? Cashmere fibers.

The other four fleeces got more attention. One I decided to go through quickly, removing only pieces of hay which I could easily grab and tease out of the clinging cashmere with my fingertips. The other three fleeces, I spent several hours on - carefully examining one cotton-candy handful at a time and removing every tiny bit of leaf or seed with finepoint tweezers. These fleeces weren't terribly full of VM; I just really got into the process - it was meditative.

from Azalea's very first combing

Also it was enjoyable to be handling the fiber again. During harvest season, the combing goes on and on (as long-time readers can attest), and there's a constant concern about the weather, the condition of each goat, and my ability to comb. By comparison, spending a couple of days prepping fleeces was downright fun!

I wasn't sure of the best way to mail five 2.5 gallon bags, so I put them all together in a huge plastic bag and carried them into the Post Office like Santa Claus. The funny thing was - and it was funny, even the helpful postwoman laughed! - this massive bag weighed 25 ounces. Yep. That's cashmere.

I regretfully smooshed the air out of the bags and got them all into a medium-sized shipping box. But the zip on each bag was left open just a tiny bit for air flow, and when the recipient opens the box tomorrow, those bags will all puff right up again. Not quite as much as Dick Van Dyke's famous package, but still...puffy.

Originally I had planned to attend this event, which includes a workshop on fiber assessment (much needed) and a lobster bake on the beach (much anticipated). I rented a room through AirBnB for a couple of nights so I could rest after the drive up and before the drive back - several hours each way. But my yearn to learn had sidestepped reality. I've had to reluctantly admit that I'm just not up to it physically.

So yesterday I cancelled my reservation. I won't get to see the fiber from other herds, and that is a loss. And I won't learn more about fiber assessment firsthand from a top-notch judge. Not this time. But I did manage to select and prep and submit five fleeces from my little gang, so I feel pretty good about that!

Besides...

Dara says:

You don't have to go anywhere to learn about cashmere.

I'm right here! What do you need to know?

~~~~~