Classes This Weekend and Kristin's Best Foot Forward Sock Yarn Giveaway

This coming Saturday and Sunday are the first “Get Stitched on the Farm” classes here at Leyden Glen Farm! The weather is supposed to be beautiful which will make things even more fun. I’m continuing to prepare. To say this is a lot of work is an understatement and I hope I can get everything on my “to do” list done. It may be unattainable. At this point, I’m taking a quick break to write this blog post before scrubbing the studio floor. I wish Cinderella lived here but alas, it is only me.

Living on a farm on a dirt road lends all kinds of challenges. Animals running in and out of the house, dirt on everyone’s boots, dust coming in the windows from the dirt road. Although I present this all with a romantic twist, it is a comedy of errors most times. I am currently fighting with “Crazy Chicken” and trying to reclaim my mudroom and put a fresh coat of paint on the benches. She isn’t happy and continues to plop herself in there every night. At this point, I’m not sure who is winning.

I didn’t get enough students to run both classes in August so this weekend is the only August class. It was probably a stupid, over-ambitious plan considering the state of the economy. Two classes within 2 weeks – what was I thinking? There will be a huge learning curve with this project! I have cancelled the August 15-16 class if you were on the fence. There is still a space available this weekend if you love a last minute thing!

I have set a date for a September “Sunflower Immersion” weekend. The plan is to celebrate the sunflowers blooming and knit floral Fair Isle designs and embroider a sunflower pillow top. I’m still in the planning stages but check the date and sign up soon. I promise a really fun time.

“Sunflower Immersion” Knitting and Stitching Weekend
at Kristin’s Farm
September 19 and 20

We continue to have so much rain. It has a been a real challenge even getting the sunflowers to come up this year. We finally got to planting about 7 rows of sunflowers last Tuesday and then came another 8 to 10 inches of rain. Not sure if those seeds will rot or germinate! There are a few rows that are growing slowly. We shall see!


To celebrate my upcoming “Get Stitched On the Farm” weekend, I am running a “giveaway” here on the blog. It just so happens that this is the week that my new sock yarn “Best Foot Forward” from Nashua Handknits is shipping to yarn stores throughout the USA and Canada. I have 1 skein of Best Foot Forward yarn for 3 different knitters. One skein will make a pair of socks. Leave your name in the comments section along with an easy way to get a hold of you. You have until Monday morning at 7 a.m. August 3rd to enter. I’ll draw the 3 winners sometime on Monday after I recuperate from my knitting guests!

I’ll be sure to post pictures from the weekend sometime next week.

How About You?

Long time friends know I've always admired Julia Childs' work. Besides her no nonsense attitude about cooking, I love that she didn't really get started in her "career" until sometime in her 40's or 50's. I wrote about her here.

So I am of course waiting to see Meryl Streep play Julia in the upcoming Julie/Julia....
Julie Powell's book "Julie/Julia......" is the book that got me started thinking about writing a blog.

Opening day, I'll be there and just hoping I won't have to drive too far..... My friend Cathy sent me this interesting link about the movie.

That Meryl - one summer Mama Mia, the next Julia Child. What a range she has!

Wacky Wednesday OR Coffee + FlashDrive - Match Made in Heaven?

I love my coffee. In particular, I almost always purchase Pierce Brother’s “FogBuster” when shopping at Greenfields Market. It’s definitely my current favorite – wakes me up in the morning and keeps me going all day. Brewed in a French Press Pot from Bodum.

But here’s what I’m wondering…. What if a flash drive falls into a cup of coffee? I've got not one but two coffee soaked flashdrives...... What should I do? Do I trash it?

I mostly use my flash drives to swap from my laptop to my desktop and most likely I have all the files on one or the other. And then there is my “back-up hard drive" that I try to keep current. Luckily, I’m not at work on some kind of crazy project at the moment. But I am wondering about the soggy flashdrive.... Maybe someone else has had the same experience…… Should I throw the thing in the trash or plug it in??????

I've Joined Facebook And Ravelry

I'm not sure why, but all my friends told me I had to, so I joined Facebook. I think it will be a great way to get the word out about what I'm doing - classes, appearances, etc. The only down-fall is that I can only check it out when I'm at a wifi hot spot. (It takes about 10 minutes for the home page to down-load on my dial-up connection.)

I'm also on Ravelry and it is the same situation - unless I'm at a Wifi place - the Town Hall, a cafe, the library - it is too difficult. My user name there is kristinnicholas (no space). I just uploaded the cover to my new book there if you would like to check it out. I also added the first cover that didn't get chosen.

Ah, technology.... Maybe I will figure it all out one day. As for today, out to the garden.

Shearing Day 2009

Shearing Day 2009 has come and gone. It is a really big day here at our farm. First we have to gather all the adult sheep together into one spot. This takes a couple days because the sheep are grazing several different fields. We don't own a big trailer and so The Farmer takes many trips with varying numbers of sheep in the back of a landscape trailer. Sheep don't like to ride in trailers which makes catching them the absolute worst part of the project.

This year there was a major chance of rain and so we had to find a covered space to keep the sheep in overnight and then shear in on Thursday. We decided on the winter greenhouse barn since about 40 adult sheep are grazing a pasture just outside this space. The disadvantage was that the greenhouse is very hot! But it was our only choice this year. Maybe someday we'll be able to have a covered sheep shed but that's a long way off. Many years, there is no chance of rain and we are able to set up under a large maple tree and stay nice and cool. But not this year!

We don't shear our own sheep. Both The Farmer and I have taken classes many years ago and have actually sheared a sheep. After the class, we decided it would be much better to find a talented shearer. We've had many shearers come to our farm over the years but for at least 15 years, we have had the pleasure to spend a day with Kevin Ford, one of America's best "blade shearers" who happens to live not too far from us. Kevin is smart, courteous, well-traveled, and a fabulous shearer. He began shearing for us when we had only about 40 adult sheep. Now that we have over 100 sheep, Kevin always suggests he find another shearer to help him out. That way, the job won't take many days, as it has in the past. This year, he brought along Gwen Hinman. Gwen lives in New Hampshire and shears with electric shears.

Shearing Day is a long, very hot, dirty, smelly day. Noone stays clean. The Farmer catches the sheep and then hands it off to either of the shearers. He is good at it and the sheep do not fear him. Our sheep don't mind being sheared, in fact some of them actually fall asleep as the shearer clips the wool off them. They certainly must feel much better after the wool is removed, especially with the heat. Once the sheep is done, the wool is gathered up and then tossed onto a plywood board for "skirting." This year, we had our neighbor Kayla help out because I had some other obligations in the early morning. Kayla was a quick study and did a great job pulling the nasty bits off and then packing the wool into bags. By the time I arrived at around 10:30, there was a real rhythm going.

At around 1:00 we broke for lunch and drove on up to our farmhouse for sandwiches and salad. Lunch on shearing day is such a nice time. We get to catch up on Kevin's year, hear about his many shearing adventures and talk a little about books. Kevin has written a book called Shearing Day and many of the photos were taken while he was shearing our sheep at our farm. Then it was back to the greenhouse to finish it all up. Julia arrived home from summer camp just in time to be bored to tears for a few hours.

There's a plus about shearing day - we get to finally know how many adult sheep we have. Shearers charge by the animal so that at the end of the day, we have a current count of animals. We now know that we've got 151 adult ewes and rams. We also know that most of them are in good condition. It's much easier to see if they are too fat or too thin when there is no wool on them. With the exception of a couple thin yearlings, everyone looked great.

Here are some photos I snapped in between skirting wool. Enjoy our day of shearing. At least you won't get as dirty as we did!

Gwen shearing the belly of a ewe with her electric shears


Gwen finishing up a ewe


Here's a series of photos of Kevin working on one sheep. I always have my camera with me on shearing day and take a break from sorting to snap some photos.

"I'm going to look beautiful when my hair is done."



Patiently waiting


One last snip


Kevin is finished and The Farmer gathers the wool to toss over the barn door.


Inside the greenhouse, shorn and unshorn sheep


Nessie and some of the shorn sheep outside the barn.

Yarn Market News Visits Our Farm

Karin Strom, the Editor in Chief of Yarn Market News, came to visit our farm on Monday. She brought her wonderful husband Gabe with her. She's doing a story about me for the October issue of Yarn Market News. We had a great time talking together. Karin and I both have had similar career paths over the years and we figured out we have known each other for over 20 years.

We shared lunch at our kitchen table (which included leg of lamb sandwiches), trading stories and laughing a lot. It was a great day. You can read about Karin's adventure here on the Yarn Market News Blog. She and her husband are big proponents of buying farm-raised food. We sent them off with a half a lamb packed neatly in their cooler. They brought home a bit of our farm and we're hoping they enjoy the memories when they are cooking our lamb this summer.

I'll let you know when the real article comes on-line in October.

Busy Summer.....

Things are extremely busy here and my poor little blog is suffering. I’m sorry all. Just know I am thinking about you and trying to fit a post in here and there. Preparations are continuing for the upcoming classes at the farm. There is still room in both the Aug 1/2 and Aug 15/16 classes so if you are up for an adventure in the country, check out the website here.

Julia is now officially on the insulin pump. We spent all day at the hospital on Tuesday, testing out her pump and seeing how she would react to the continuous insulin. For the first few weeks, there is a massive amount of record keeping including getting up every two hours all night long. I am hopeful that in the long run, the insulin pump will keep her healthy and more regulated. But right now, the pump is running our lives. You’ll probably notice that Julia’s pump is PINK. She wanted to wait until she could get a pink one instead of black. Once they were available, she signed right up.

The Farmer and I are taking turns at the four Farmer’s Markets we committed to this summer. We’re trying to be at Bernardston (Tuesday 4 to 7), Turner’s Falls (Wednesday 3 to 6), Northfield (Thursday 4 to 7), and South Hadley (Thursday 1 to 6). The photo below shows our little set-up at Turner's Falls. All these markets are running us ragged but we are getting lots of nice comments, repeat customers, and some people are even driving up to our self-serve farmstore to purchase meat. It is encouraging.

Yesterday was a long and really hot day of sheep shearing. I’ll be back to you next week with photos of that. We are relieved it didn’t rain and that it is all over. What an exhausting day. We had to miss two Farmer's Markets but it had to be done.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Book Publisher Looking for Your Input!

Gwen Steege, my Editor at Storey Publishing is working on a new book. She's looking for regular knitters to help her out. Her upcoming book will be a knitter’s “life list” of projects to complete, techniques and yarns to try, places to visit, and more.

Gwen needs as much input as possible from passionate knitters. If you are interested in helping her out, click here to give her your input. Your name will be entered in a contest to win three Storey Books of your choice.

Storey has also started a new "Inside Storey" blog which not only talks about knitting and crafting but also all the really good stuff I love including cooking, baking, gardening, and sustainable agriculture. I'm going to write a couple posts for them in the upcoming month. Check it out here.

Travels to Mohair Country and More....

When I was in my late 20's, I was working for The Yarn Company. We had a mill in Lowell, MA where we spun beautiful brushed and looped mohair in a giant brick factory building with tall windows. (That building is now part of UMass/Lowell if I'm not mistaken - I haven't been there in years.) I was in charge of the marketing and was really involved with trade shows, sales reps, magazines, and anything else that goes along with that kind of business. I had a blast and loved it all so much. I worked with a bunch of really fabulous people who are still great friends of mine. We were a small struggling little company. It was a lot of hard work to make it grow, which it did. It was my dream job which I lived and breathed for 16 years and I feel so fortunate, even now, to have had had such a great opportunity.

One of the perks of that job was that I got to travel lots of interesting places - in and out of the United States. Because we spun mohair, I got to know many of the Angora Goat ranchers who mostly lived in West Texas. They were great people - warm, enthusiastic, and wanting to do whatever they could to help their fiber sell. They were all members of The Mohair Council which also had an office in NYC headed by the wonderful Madelaine D'Addiego. Sadly, I have lost touch with them all now but I still remember their passion for their goats. The photo below is one they supplied my company with for mohair publicity. The bucks (male Angora Goats) are standing in a field of Texas blue bonnets. I have always loved this image and was really excited to see it on their website STILL over 25 years later.

I had the opportunity to travel to West Texas a few times. On one trip, my boss Pat Chew and I were invited to go on a special Mohair Tour, hosted by the Mohair Council. The photo below is of one of the ranchers and his Mexican workers inspecting some of the goats for condition.


I can still remember those short few days. We stayed at the Y O Ranch Resort in Kerrville where there was a swimming pool with stools in it so you could swim and drink margaritas at the same time. This was a revelation to me back then. I found it bizarre and so Texas. I guess it must be commonplace in many resorts by now but back then it was amazing to me. The lobby of the hotel had mounted stuffed heads of all kinds of beautiful wild and domesticated animals. Many of the ranchers also kept exotic game for hunters to come in and shoot. Another concept I found new and so unlike the hunting that goes on where I live in the Northeast. At first I thought it strange but the more I learned, the more I realized that this was one way for the ranchers to keep their land productive and profitable. They were all about keeping their ranches going and it is something I really understand now that we are farming our place.


The members of the Mohair Council pulled out all the stops for this weekend. We were among a group of textile executives who used mohair in our products. Our mill was one of the largest customers of mohair selling to the blanket, coating and women's apparel business besides the handknitting and weaving trade. They treated us like royalty.

What I remember most was the long driveways - one took 45 minutes to get into where the houses were. That blew my mind. Our driveway is about 20 feet long! Along the way, we spotted exotic animals from Africa and not so exotic animals like cattle, sheep, and Angora Goats. When we arrived at the homestead, we were greeted by welcoming ranchers and their wives. After a tour of the goats and an explanation of all that goes into making and growing of the mohair fiber, we were treated to an amazing Texas barbeque. What a treat and feast that was - a meal I will never forget.


Back at the Y O Resort one night, I tried goat (or cabrito) for the first time. It was just one of the times I have eaten goat which I find incredibly delicious. (A few years ago, we attempted raising Boer meat goats but that didn't last long!) It's amazing how goats can turn hard-scrabble land full of rocks (as seen in the photo above) into beautiful mohair fiber and tasty meat.

I have always loved mohair. Besides its beautiful luster, it takes color deeply and luminescently. I love the history of the Angora goats. Going to Texas and knowing the ranchers further cemented my love of the fiber. It's not surprising then that mohair is 25% of the fiber in my beautiful Julia Yarn.

This trip to Texas is one of the reasons The Farmer and I are starting our "Get Stitched on the Farm" classes at our place. We hope to make a memory for any of you who are able to attend. I've got a few people signed up but I'm hoping for more. Spread the word! It will be an intimate experience where you will learn about farm life, share our home, and learn a whole bunch about knitting, color, and embellishing knits. I hope you will check out the website and think about it if you are into such things. I promise you a memory for life.

I just found these photos in a drawer the other night. I never took many pics when I was traveling for work but for this trip I fortunately took along my camera. Here is a photo of Pat Chew with a Angora Goat. I love this photo because it was so no Pat to be patting a little goat. I still remember that she was trying to direct the goat for a good photo opp. And then this little fellow walked up to her. She put her camera aside and a gave him a little tickle behind the ears. If you knew Pat, you would find this photo amazing. Pat is the woman who hired me way back in 1984 when I was just slightly out of graduate school. Sadly, she passed away last year from leukemia. I thank her for the opportunity of a lifetime and my start in the yarn business.


I have just celebrated my 25th year in the handknitting business. It's amazing I'm still here doing it - finding new ways to make it work. I thank all of you who have bought my patterns, my books, and my yarn over the years. Your notes and letters make it all worthwhile.

Summer is rolling along if a bit roughly....

Little Percy has left our farm. Last Thursday Gudrun and her family picked him up. It was so nice to meet them all and see how surprised and joyful her daughter Maya was with her 10th birthday gift. We have heard from them and he is settling in with their two other older cats!

Still looking for a home for the black kitten we call Miley. This cat is going to be a serious hunter if you know anyone with a mouse and rodent problem. I have one lead but not sure it is going to come through. I'm pretty sure the other two - Zelda and Hannah - are placed and will be leaving within a couple weeks.

Summer is so busy this year. The weather has been putting a wrench in all the farming and gardening activities. We had a good 3 days of no rain. I worked in my garden while the Farmer ran around making hay all over the place. Unfortunately two enormous windy thunderstorms came through yesterday. Although there were tarps on the hay wagons that were filled with square bales (that he paid a farmer to put up - or let's say, hasn't paid yet....) the tarps let go in the 50 mph winds. The big bales in the field below are just sitting there getting wet too. Frustration abounds. Last night wasn't a fun night at our house. It's not a good summer to be making hay. I can't imagine how expensive hay is going to be next winter. We're hoping we eventually harvest enough decent quality hay to feed the sheep.

While I was gardening, Julia decided she should start a blog called "KOFU" or Kids of Farmer's Unite. I felt bad that I couldn't be taking her all over town on the 4th of July holiday but with the classes coming up here at the farm and all the foilage around here running wild, I had no choice but to garden, snip, clip, sweep, and weed the weekend away.


We've got a sheep shearing date with Kevin Ford and his pal on July 16th - next Thursday. I am hoping that it will happen. The sheep are ready to be rid of their wooly coats. They can't be shorn unless they are dry and we have no barn to put them in to dry out. Stay tuned is all I can say.

Still running around to Farmer's Markets selling lamb. That's a story for another day.

We all had to spend the day in Springfield at the hospital. Julia is a juvenille diabetic and she is starting insulin pump therapy. We met with a Medtronic training specialist for 4 hours. Julia's school nurse even attended. It's all a bit confusing right now but once a couple weeks go by, we'll be up to speed. This week she wears the pump with a saline solution for practice. Next week, insulin is introduced and our life with needles disappears. From 5 shots a day down to one site change (which requires a needle) every two days. It will be great and hopefully her glucose control will improve too.

Haying is Halted

Zelda the Kitten once again asleep on The Farmer's morning routine of reading a farming magazine while drinking his Yorkshire Gold tea.


The Farmer is behind on his haying schedule. Usually by the middle of June he is done with all his “first cuttings” of every field. (Typically there are three cuttings of hay each season). This week - it’s the beginning of July and he has only just begun. It started off with his hay baler breaking down after he baled the first field. This important piece of farming equipment is starting to show it’s age. He bought it new over ten years ago from a tractor dealer way up in Vermont, close to Burlington. It has been pretty reliable until now. It took a long time to get the correct parts and then a while to get our neighbor Jason to fix it. All the while, The Farmer was chomping at the bit – trying to be patient with all the waiting and watching the perfect weather go by without being out there harvesting.

After about a month of delays, the baler was up and running. Then the rains came. When you make hay, you need a good stretch of weather to make a successful harvest – two days is good but three is much better. Between all the rain, he’s been fitting a field in here and there. The schedule goes a bit like this.

Day One:
1. Cut hay with a mower. It helps if the blades are really sharp, otherwise the mowing can be slow. That happened a month ago. Now all the blades have been replaced.
2. Later in the day, run the tedder through the hay to fluff and help it dry. Basically, a tedder is a giant tossing machine and the hay ends up in a fluffy, loose pile so that the air can get at it.
Day Two:
3. Rake the hay into rows with the rake.
4. Bale the still damp hay. Our baler makes giant round bales that weigh about 800 lbs. You’ve probably seen bales like this out in fields.
5. Wrap the bales in white agricultural plastic using a bale wrapper.

Although the giant white plastic bales aren’t the most attractive thing to see lining the beautiful fields of New England, they are current choice of most farmers. It is possible to “put up” the hay not completely dry or even wet which is called haylage. The wrapping machine encloses the haylage in several layers creating a vacuum. Inside the bales, the hay pickles. It keeps for over a year inside the wrapping, as long as no holes are made by crows, or bears. We know this because we have lost several bales to animals. We try to keep checking our bales just in case they become damaged. That way, we can feed them out before they become too spoiled.

Years ago, most farmers made square bales of hay that were tied with sisal twine. Square bales aren’t really square – they are rectangular – but they have always been called “square bales.” Funny. They weighed about 30 to 40 lbs and could be lifted and stacked into neat piles to be stored for the winter in big old hay barns. Although many people still like square bales, they are really difficult for farmers to make. A farmer has to find a bunch of people to pick up the bales as they come out of the baler, stack them on hay wagon, and then load them into a barn. It is also vitally important that the hay is put up very dry. Square bales that are wet are very combustible. There’s been many a big old barn that has been burned down from the heat building up in the bales and then catching the structure on fire.

The big problem around here with putting up square bales is the labor. When My Farmer was a kid, he helped every farmer around town picking up and stacking up bales. Part of the pay was lunch and snacks and cold drinks. He still talks about Mrs. Dyer’s homemade vanilla ice cream with maple syrup and Mrs. Miller’s endless glasses of cold milk and beef heart sandwiches. That’s the power of food and drink on a teenage boy on a scorching hot summer day in August – a memory that lasts forever.

Now, it’s pretty difficult to find teenagers who want to spend a day out in the hot sun, sweating and lifting dirty, heavy bales of hay that are tied with sisal string that can cut your fingers. They would rather be slinging burgers at Wendy’s or playing video games on the computer. That’s why we “put up” round bales. It only takes one person with working equipment to cut, bale and wrap several acres of hay. The equipment and repair is expensive to keep up but it makes feeding our sheep home-grown hay possible all year long. We don’t need a barn to store the hay – the bales can be set aside at the edge of the field until needed. That’s why you see giant “marshmallows” lining the sides of roads and fields throughout the hills and valleys of New England and other farming communities.

We’re in for another week of rain. The hay will be growing like crazy while the rain pours. It’s a good thing we haven’t started planting our sunflower field yet. Otherwise, the seeds would be rotting and we’d have to start that project all over again. We’re wondering if it will happen at all this year.

Kittens are Ready to Fly the Coop

Our spring litter of kittens is ready to leave. This batch has such great personality. There’s Miley the Hunter (the solid black kitten) and Hannah the Love. Persy (Persimmon the short haired orange kitty) is the most out-going and adventuresome. And fluffy Zelda (who is probably a boy) is the laziest of all. Every morning he falls asleep on The Farmer’s farming magazine while he is drinking his cup of tea. It’s such a sweet sight.



Tomorrow Gudrun is coming to pick up Persy. I’m waiting to hear from Sarah about Hannah. Sarah – Are you out there? Are you still interested? We’re looking in earnest for homes for the other two if anyone is interested!