East Kentucky Fibers

I’ve been meeting with David Barber from the Small Business Administration and working on a very in depth business plan. I finished my plan relatively quickly, I worked 12 hours on it one saturday, it got a little crazy in Fields Hall for a couple of weeks, but I got it done and it was beautiful. I figured I needed about 60 acres of pasture for the herds of cashmere goats, rambouillet sheep, cotswold sheep, and gypsy horses I was going to keep to sustain myself. I’d been going out with my realtor looking at farm after farm. I feel in love with one on Rosedale that I’d heard might be for sale. I went to talk to the owner and he said he wasn’t wanting to sell it, so I was disappointed. We didn’t see anything I liked for a little while and I was almost getting discouraged just because land was so hard to find. All of a sudden I got a call from Fred, my realtor, and he told he that he’d heard from the man at the extension office that there was a farm for sale on Rosedale. We went up to meet with the owner and see the farm the very next day. This farm is about 100 acres and right next to the farm I had fallen in love with. It’s all on one side of the road, which is nice. It’s got, guess how many, 56-59 acres of pasture, almost perfect! The land is up on the ridge and rolls along with 3 tree covered valleys. It has some unfortunate road frontage, but you can’t really see the farm that well from the road. The farm backs up to a cliffline. From the back of the farm you can look out across a beautiful valley and see walls and walls of cliffs, it’s just wonderful. There are a few ponds and a barn and the fences are in good shape.

I signed with the owner for the farm on friday. Right after doing that I went for another meeting with David Barber and then right to Kentucky Bank where I met with Ben Caudill, one of their loan fellows. He seemed excited about my loan, more so than the lady at National City. He even said he couldn’t think of what to ask because he had so many questions in his head, he ended up asking good ones too. He even asked if he could borrow my business plan to read it this weekend. The thing is massive, it’s like an inch think, him wanting to read it impressed me. He said he’ll tell me by wednesday if they can give me the loan, will require a cosigner, or will give it to me with the SBA guarantee. I imagine they’ll need the SBA guarantee, and hopefully we can push that through before I leave for Ireland. Oh yeah, I got into NUI Galway, so I’ll be going for sure. I even bought my plane ticket! I called Corrib Village today to see about a room and I sent in my application. I’ve been making arrangements with Black Forest Shires in Colorado to board Joey there and have her bred to the Lion King, it seems like everything’s a go!

I rode little Omie for the first time the other day. Tabitha, my roommate, came out with me and helped me. First I just sat on her while she led her. I clipped reins onto her halter and she did just fine. She understood stop, go, and turn. Speed up needs some work, but that’s great for her first time! She turned two this year and is a small little girl. I rode her with my bareback saddle until the leather broke. I was able to touch my feet under her little belly. I rode her again the other day, she didn’t do as well as the first day, but I got to feel her gait for a split second, that was nice. We have a bond. I don’t have a bond with Rain yet or Mary Hamilton, but me and Omie Wise are sweet together.

Tabby rode Rain around a little bit, they looked lovely together!

I’ve been doing a lot of knitting. I’ve mostly been working on Lars’ scarf. That’s what I’m using that gorgeous burgundy blended yarn for. I’m making him a tube scarf that he’ll use when he does civil war reenactments. I think I’m knitting it on size 4 needles, it’s absolutely devouring yarn, it seems like I can’t spin it fast enough. I knit through a couple Honky Grass concerts and I just ate that yarn up.

I started a garter stitch scarf for myself because I’ve been wearing around a gift scarf because I couldn’t find mine, but I found it so the garter stitch scarf is on hold:

Here’s the gift scarf I mentioned, modeled by the lovely Tabitha. It’s just a single handspun yarn knit in a moss stitch. I don’t like the moss stitch in such quantity. I sha’n't do it again!

I’ve been working on the Traveler’s Stockings and my turquoise and brown socks besides the scarves. The turquoise and brown socks are a little fugly. I made the ribbed cuff and then when the sock ballooned in stockinette stitch, I got a little crazy with the decreases to try and get it down to size. I’ll do it better in the future, but these are staying because I need a pair of socks.

I gave Brett his new socks, they turned out to be beautiful, hopefully he’ll wear the heels out of them this winter. I used white handspun 2ply yarn and the Gentleman’s Fancy Sock pattern. I like that pattern a lot.

I’ve almost finished JT’s iPod case, complete with handmade buttons, it’s darling. I’ll need to attach a flap to cover the screen and button when it’s not in use. I ran out of the silk yarn I spun for it so I’ll have to spin some more. If I wait until I go home I can dye some more orange for it, I may do that or just do it in white and embroider in some orange wool yarn I have. We’ll see.

I made a pair of darling little booties for my friend Sierra’s baby Elena. She’s the lady who sold me Rain, Omie, and Mary. Elena will have the warmest feet on Craney Creek!

I’ve been
playing a lot of music with my friends Bird and Danny. I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better since I started playing with those fellows. It feels good to play music with people regularly. I’ve been playing the fiddle and even wrote a few tunes. In D I wrote Shotgun on Craney Creek, which I have up on my myspace, and I also wrote Don’t Get Your Hair Caught in the Spinning Wheel in D. In Em I wrote a song that I didn’t name but that I thought was lovely. Maybe I’ll name it eventually. I’m starting to be able to pick out songs I haven’t played before, that’s a good feeling.

I went to see Joey the other day and she’s really starting to fill out. She’s 3 and a half right now and getting prettier every time I see her. Her mane is super thick and getting longer. What really struck me was how thick her neck and shoulders seem. You can’t tell at all from the photos, but in person with 3-D human vision she’s like a tank.