Have a little Kahlua with my Jacob fleece

This is "Kahlua" a Jacob sheep from Hillspring Eco-Farm in Wisconsin. I purchase the fleece from this beautiful sheep in September. This morning I received this picture from Linda - the owner - and I am inspired to process the fleece this weekend and move on to create something from the wool.

I've been busy since September. I was getting ready for Cider & Cinnamon (all those wonderful pumpkins had to be needled for that show). So, the fleece has been hanging in my garage since then. I must admit to being a bit intimidated at the prospect of cleaning all the wool. It is my first time at processing a fleece. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained! So, I've got my 5 gallon buckets and my soap and I will give it a go.

Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival

I had a wonderful day at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival in Jefferson, WI recently. I picked up quite a lot of lovely wool and visited my friend, Patty Reedy, at her booth. She is co-owner of Rainbow Fleece Farm in New Glarus, WI and has wonderful wool from her sheep. I have visited her farm a couple of times and have used her wool in some of my projects. I just loved her booth with all the beautiful colors of wool.

Felting is hard work!!

Now that I am felting almost everyday so that I can create enough to fill the website and 2 store locations I am realizing the difficulty of creating by hand vs. creating with machinery. Really, I can only make about 2 scarves a day, plus a couple of smaller items like my flowers or booties. The smaller items take almost as much time as the scarves to make. But, the physicality of felting is really hard on my arms, elbows and shoulders so I try to work only in the morning until about 1 pm and no more than 4 days a week. This past weekend I traveled to New Glarus, WI to a wool supplier and on a whim decided to stop in Evansville. Jean Wyse runs a really beautiful antique shop there called Windmill Antiques & Co. It is so nicely organized with beautiful and artistic displays! I bought two vintage sweater chains (remember those?). I was wearing my felted wool vest (see older posts) and Jean asked me about it. We got to talking and she asked if I would like to sell some of my scarves in her shop! Wow! I said yes, and now I'm working on getting at least 8 scarves and other things to put there. Well, off to felt some more. Oh, I forgot to tell you about this basket -- its made of wool and will keep your bread warm for your table.