CALLING ALL SPINNERS - FALL FARM DAYS CELEBRATION TO BE HELD AT ELIOAK FARMS - WE NEED VOLUNTEERS TO HELP WITH THE SPINNING DEMO!

www.clarklandfarm.com

Hi there! Here is the press release from Elioak Farms for the Farm Days Celebration being held in the Fall of 2005. I am doing the Sunday, Sept. 18th, spinning demos and would love other spinners to come out and have some fun! This is aimed at kids - I am planning on having some toy wheel drop spindles for them to try out as well as the wheel. If you know of anyone in the area who you think might be interested or could pass this Press Release along, that would be great! The Farm is located just outside Baltimore, MD.

Thanks!

Daniela




Clark’s Elioak Farm
SCHEDULE of WEEKEND EVENTS
Fall 2005
SEPTEMBER: TUES thru SUN 10 AM to 4 PM
Also open on Monday, Sept 5
(Labor day)

OCTOBER thru NOVEMBER 6:
OPEN DAILY
Seven days a week
10 AM to 4 PM
10500 Route 108

Ellicott City, Maryland

www.clarklandfarm.com

410-730-4049

Attractions include the petting farm, hayrides, pony rides, hay bale maze, picnic area, country store,
Enchanted Forest figures, mini-farm play area, Fall decorations, pumpkins, and birthday parties.

SEPTEMBER 3-5, 2005 LABOR DAY WEEKEND CELEBRATION! What better place to celebrate labor than a working farm! Visit our museum and see the different types of work farmers and their animals do on the farm. Goats, sheep, cows, chicken, donkeys, ponies and horses all work on the farm. Can you guess what they do? On Saturday THE HOWARD COUNTY ANTIQUE FARM MACHINERY CLUB will have hands-on exhibits and machinery. Come learn about farming in a by-gone era.

SEPTEMBER 10-11, 2005 GRANDPARENTS WEEKEND. Free hayrides for all grandparents accompanied by a child. Don’t forget to take a pony ride, too.

SEPTEMBER 17-18, 2005 SPINNERS WEEKEND! Talented spinners will show us fibers from raw to finished, different types and qualities of wool and do spinning demonstrations. LESLIE SELBY from Cedar Wool Farm will be on hand on Saturday and DANIELA ANDERSON will delight us on Sunday. Other spinners will join them as well. Kids of all ages will get a hands-on opportunity to experience the art of spinning. Demonstrations throughout both days.

SEPTEMBER 24-25, 2005 FALL HARVEST AND COWBOY ROPING WEEKEND. Celebrate the harvest with apple cider, apple butter, pumpkin butter and pumpkin bread. It doesn’t get better than that!! Also, enjoy a cowboy trick roping demonstration by GLEN HOPKINS at 1 PM both days. NOUVEAU FACE PAINTER LAURA RENEE DAVIS will delight you with incredibly beautiful designs for your face and hands (10 AM to 4 PM both days). A work of art!!

OCTOBER 1-2, 2005 FARM-CITY CELEBRATION WEEKEND! MASTER FALCONER MIKE DUPUY will do a Hawk Talk and Falconry Demonstration at 1 PM on Sunday. Learn about incredible birds of prey and the 4,000 year-old art of falconry. Sunday is our PUMPKIN GROWING CONTEST WEIGH-IN!! It’s time to see how big your pumpkins grew over the summer. Bring your biggest pumpkin to the farm for weigh-in and display. The winner will be announced on Sunday at 4 PM and will receive a special prize and a season pass to the farm for 2006. Full contest rules available on our website. Facepainting by LAURA RENEE DAVIS.

OCTOBER 8-9, 2005 TEDDY BEAR FARM VISIT. Bring your bears! Free hayrides for all children who bring a teddy bear. Teddy bear contest (1 and 2:30 PM) both days. Folk singer TONY McGUFFIN (Noon-4 PM) both days. Scarecrow making available. Visit the pumpkin patch! Take home some cider. Facepainting by LAURA RENEE DAVIS (10 AM to 4 PM) We can paint a picture of your teddy bear on your face or hand.

OCTOBER 15-16, 2005 THE SOUNDS OF THE SEASON. Choral director, Jim Carothers, brings his students from CATONSVILLE SCHOOL to sing for us at 10 AM and 11 AM on Saturday. Visit the pumpkin patch, build a scarecrow. Facepainting by LAURA RENEE DAVIS.

OCTOBER 22-23, 2005 PUMPKINS, PUMPKINS, PUMPKINS! Come to the pumpkin patch to get your Halloween pumpkins. Take a hayride, take a pony ride, get your face painted by LAURA RENEE DAVIS and make a scarecrow. A great Fall outing for the family.
OCTOBER 29-31, 2005: HALLOWEEN WEEKEND. Costume Contest (11:00 AM and 2:00 PM) Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Prizes for all. Scarecrow making and facepainting by LAURA RENEE DAVIS too. Cider and pumpkins at our country store. Take a hayride to the pumpkin patch!!

NOVEMBER 5-6, 2005: PUMPKIN CHUCKING WEEKEND. In the spirit of the season, let’s have some special fun with pumpkins!! We have a specially-designed catapult that will launch your pumpkin across the farm. Bring your own pumpkin or purchase one of ours and let’s see how far it will go!

CHECK WEBSITE FOR DIRECTIONS AND POSSIBLE SCHEDULE CHANGES FOR EVENTS.

NEW BEGINNINGS
Unbelievably, this weekend was the second in a ROW that was slower-paced and very enjoyable, at least for me! Ken worked some more on the ongoing construction and re-landscaping of our property yesterday. Today was devoted to prepping the racecar and organizing the trailer for the upcoming race. Sooo…I spent Saturday relaxing and playing with Stephen, who is having a ball with his new water and sand activity table – he is practically velcroed to this new toy! Since we put the sand/ water table on our deck, I grabbed the spinning wheel and finished up the 4oz bag of Camel Down that I started spinning at the beginning of the week. I just need to ply it, and start knitting up the gloves for Christmas. This fiber is amazing all around, and the sample two ply I made up checks in at about 30 wpi. After finishing up the camel down, I started a new bobbin on the wheel with a blend of Merino and Alpaca that I carded on my Fricke Finest. I absolutely LOVED it coming off the drum carder – a rich mango-colored alpaca blended with natural colored merino which resulted in nice variegated shades of peach and cream, but I am not thrilled with the way it looks on the bobbin so far. It spins up beautifully and easily, but I am not sure I like the finished product. I had intended on knitting up a lacy, drapey scarf that would throw a splash of color over a black sweater or turtleneck, but I guess I will probably end up using this skein of yarn for a pair of cozy bed socks for me – you can’t beat alpaca and merino for pampering your feet at night! In any case, I have had to walk away from the wheel for a while till I can decide if I want to continue spinning this batt the way it is, or maybe blend in some other fibers and colors until I am pleased with the results.

Today, in anticipation of the frantic pace this coming week, I grabbed a skein of Koigu Merino in a purple, lavender, and burgundy colorway and a set of #1 Addi Naturas and cast on for a “skinny scarf” in Feather and Fan for another Christmas present. Wouldn’t you know…about 25 rows into the project, the bamboo tip snapped off. This is the second set of bamboo Addis in size 1 to do this. Carol at the Mannings told me several months ago that Addi has stopped making the Naturas in this size or smaller because so many people have had the same problem. I am considering sending back both sets to Skacel and see if they will replace the needles – you never know! Anyway, I decided that my gauge was too loose the first time around (how convenient that the needle snapped off, right?!), so I cast on with regular Addi Turbos in size 0 and started again, but this time with a different pattern that I think will complement the handpainted yarn a little better. I think I will be able to memorize the lace pattern fairly quickly, and this will become my first non-sock take-along project in over a year. We’ll see how long it takes me to finish this project…I love knitting with Koigu, and I can’t seem to put the needles down!

FEELINGS OF ACCOMPLISHMENT!

I guess the Spin-In at Susan's house jump started my energy towards finishing up a bunch of projects that have been sitting on the bobbins for months- either that, or it was the necessity of getting those projects done to free up the bobbins for the new stash I bought at her place! So...I have one mini-skein sample of 2 ply in Rose from a Romney/Columbia fleece that I bought last year, a wonderful skein of Mohair, silk and Merino in various shades of lavender and cream that was supposed to be finished last Christmas to become a Moebius scarf present for my best friend (oops, sorry Becky!), and the skein of Alpaca/Merino in Dusty Rose that I finished at Susan's over the weekend. I also wound off a confetti colored Merino skein intended for toddler socks as well as another skein of self-striping Merino also intended for toddler socks.

I am so delighted with the bouncy, lofty quality of the merino skeins - so soft and so fluffy - I can't wait to get them on the needles! The Mohair/silk skein is so lustrous that I can't wait to see how it knits up. The only two projects left on the bobbins from months past are one partially filled bobbin of 100 percent silk in deep tones of navy, teal, aqua and white, and a bobbin with more brightly multi-colored merino singles for more kids' socks! I had all these skeins drying in my kitchen, hanging off the baker's rack and various other places, but Stephen kept trying to pull them down to play. After some thought, I remembered this great, display stand that I bought from a craft store that was going out of business. I intended to use it for the Fetching Fashions vendor booth, but it seems custom made for hanging up the skeins. So...here is a picture of the skeins shimmering in the sun on our back deck, safe from little hands until they are dry!

After plying, washing, setting twist, blotting and hanging the skeins to dry , I finally gave myself permission to start spinning a new fiber I bought at Susan's that promises to become one of my favorites - Camel Down. It spins like a hot knife through butter and is as soft as Cashmere - the color is rich and I am already thinking about how nice a luxurious pair of gloves would be made from this stuff! Hmmm - someone's Christmas stocking will get lucky this year!!!