Fiber Friday

Three class participants with nearly-finished hats

Last week I got a good fiber fix, with this commission felting project completed and two hat felting classes!Despite one particular fleece giving us fits (it was slow to felt, and Kay, above, was ready to turn her hat into a place mat at one point!), everyone had great success with their hats, once again. Everyone stopped to see our newborn cria on their way out. Yes, another boy, but a lovely one at that.
I look forward to scheduling more classes in late summer, or if two or more people want to get together and request a class before then, I'm happy to do it! In the meantime, trail riding is beckoning and I'm having trouble finding more studio time. Here are a few nearly-finished projects that I made during classes....

Activities Galore!

I'm really glad we haven't had crias due recently, as there have been so many other things going on lately! We do have 5 girls in the "due barn" now, so hopefully I'll have new babies to report soon. The Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival took up most of my time recently, and you can read more about it here.
Now I'm getting ready for Art in the Park in Versailles on Saturday, May 22nd from 9-5 at Big Spring Park!Check out the new class schedule here at Seldom Scene! There will be a Hat Class on Thursday, June 10th, another Hat Class on Saturday, June the 12th, and a Basic Felting Class on Sunday, June 13th. You can click on each class on the calendar above for details. As long as the weather is comfortable, we'll have the classes at our new barn in the midst of alpaca crias, which should be a lot of fun!

My friend Dianne has scheduled a great Photography Workshop at her beautiful Tanglewood Farm in southern Woodford County, with part of the program taking place here in conjunction with a llama trek. I'm so excited about this weekend workshop in July, and hope you'll consider signing up, too! Everything you need to know is here.

More felting and learning

We had another great class here on Sunday, with several coming from near and far to learn the basics of felting.Christina brought her college daughter and her roommate, and they were very enthusiastic learners. I think it was a neat way for them to spend time together on spring break!
We did a little bit of wet felting...And needle felting.....It's been fun to watch people discover felting for the first time, especially if they are unable to do other fiber arts due to arthritis or simply not having success with needle crafts.
I am truly enjoying being back in teaching mode, especially when it's something I am so passionate about, felting! The next class will be held on Sunday, April 25th from 1-5. It's a Hat Felting Class- the cost is $70 and includes all materials, snack, and a reusable hat form that you get to keep! If you're interested, contact me at alpacalindy@gmail.com as the class is already filling up.

Farm Activities

I taught a hat felting class this past weekend at the Seldom Scene Fiber Studio- what fun! Read here for all of the details, and please note on the calendar that I have scheduled two more felting classes, one in March and one in April.The alpacas all look wonderful right now, and I'm getting psyched up for our first show in quite a long time, the Southern Select, which is the first weekend in March in Shelbyville, TN. Some of our show line up includes the animals shown here!SSF Jasper

SSF Rachel Alexandra

From L- Rachel, Serendipidous, Jasper, Hopalong, Happy Hour (f)

SSF Happy Hour

Felting Class Fun

Things have been going much more smoothly on the farm lately, with the recent felting class being one of the highlights. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures since I was teaching, but here are a few.
The best part was the fun and energetic attendees, which included an artist, an alpaca breeder wanna-be, and some current alpaca breeders with varied backgrounds in working with fiber. Planning the timing for a 4-hour class which included several demos and hands-on was a bit tricky the first time, especially considering what a chatty group we had! All in all, everything worked out fine and I think everyone had a good time. Each participant took home a few small finished projects as well as some door prizes.
One of the husbands had to try it, too, when he came to pick up his wife and I think he enjoyed the needle felting immensely!

You can be sure that I'll be scheduling more classes in the near future- let me know what you'd like to see the most! This was a beginner's overview class (of which I'll offer another) but future topics will include Felting a Hat, Nuno-felting, and a specialized needle felting course.
Thank you very to each person who attended, and I hope to see you at future classes!

Always Learning

Isn't that what life is all about? Sometimes we don't learn things in time (that's called The School of Hard Knocks), but we tuck away those tidbits to apply in future situations.... That's all I can glean from the rather bad experience we went through with Maisy. She's the alpaca dam that we thought was perhaps going to have twins.... I'll write in more detail about it soon, but I'll just say here that we had almost the worst possible outcome. Maisy died and there were no twins, but we do have a male bottle-baby. Again, more details in time because I do have some helpful things to share about prolapsed uterus, bottle-feeding, and working with your vet. It's still a bit raw for me to talk about.

Okay, on a happier note!!!! One of my goals for the year has been to do more felting and subsequently more teaching here. As many of you know, I have lots of fiber interests- knitting, spinning, dyeing, and best of all for me, FELTING! I'd love to have you join me for this upcoming class on Sunday, October 18th! (If anyone can explain to me how I can insert a flyer such as this below so that it can be downloaded and printed, please let me know!) If you'd like for me to send this to you as an attachment, please just email me. Hope to see you there!