Felting Sunshine: October already!

I cannot believe that October is already here! I have been anticipating this month as much as a little kid anticipates Christmas. At the end of the month I will be heading to Asheville for the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fest. I have 2 classes scheduled this year, one is Traditional Rug Hooking, and the other is called Nuno meets Hand Spun. I really had to think hard on whether to take a felting class. The class areas are not heated and I remember how cold it was last year- I felt sorry for the felters because they had wet hands.
I'm sorry, but this Florida gal froze last year- I took a spinning class and remember my toes being numb with the cold!

This past month has been a busy one! I participated in Peace Felt for the 3rd year in a row, I will post my wonderful gift from my partner in a later post. :)

September also found me wet felting new shawls and scarves, and I even sold a few. I also sold my first skeins of hand spun yarn and participated as a vendor in my first Farmers Market.
I took a class recently on embedding stones into felt and have made a few cuffs. The class was given by Pat Riesenburger from Urban Stitch Studio. I have slowly been embellishing them and have enjoyed the process, I also was able to use some vintage buttons from my collection.

I finally completed a knit bag from my handspun, and am looking for inspiration for the handles. So far nothing I have come up with is making me happy. I do remember seeing some nice pieces of leather at Earth Guild in Asheville, so I will check for some on my trip at the end of the month. The batt used for this hand spun was made by my daughter.

The animals are doing well and we have been having fun with the silly goats. We finished a pasture area for them and they have been enjoying the nice dry weather. These two, Chessie and Billy will be sheared in November. They are growing some beautiful mohair!! Billy even has little curls growing at the end of his ears. I am smitten with my fluff balls.

My little guy Clyde, who was so sick when we got him at 1 week old, has really done well over these past few months. When he was sick, he would sit on my lap because he was very weak and it really seemed to calm him. Now he expects to have his daily nap on my lap and I'm not quite sure what I will do as he gets larger. He is such a sweet boy and forgave me for making him a wether. His fleece is turning into ringlets, and has a beautiful sheen to it. I will be shearing him and his twin in May.

The alpacas were not too sure what to think about the new next door neighbors and spend their time humming and rushing the fence, the goats, well, they didn't seem to care too much about them! So funny to see how the alpacas react to anything outside of their "normal".

Snow, one of our LGD's is such a sweet dog and loves hanging with the goats. Peaches is still very wary of us but has also been a great guardian for the goats. It makes me so mad at times to think that someone abused her. I can get her to stay in the barn if I ignore her when I walk into it. Then she will let me brush and love on her- it will take time.