Seems to me that I use that title “here we grow again” frequently around here. You see, builder got his name because he loves to build. It seems each season, he is building something new. I know how you all like to keep up, so this post will be about the new agricultural space being made on the farm.

When we moved to this place, wench wanted a small house. So that’s what she got - small. Not a tiny house, that is now all the rage, but still, small considering the Queen of the packrats met the King, and they built their kingdom together, with the accumulation of three marriages each, parents that moved away or passed away, and the feeling that if they throw something away, they’ll need it next week. This is a people phenomenon, and not easily passed to the next generation…. (none of their kids are packrats, nor do they want any of their “stuff”). Anyway, when you start a new business, you accumulate more “stuff” and when you are a packrat, you need more space to store things you might someday need.

Last year, wench began hand dyeing yarn and roving to offer in her booth for spinners and crafters, in addition to the shirt off my back. This requires some space for things like steam pots, drying racks, etc. Also last year, when the abattoir went out of business and that OTHER part of the farm shut down, builder had to start doing ‘the deed.’ He needed a better place to accomplish this, and so, the studio addition was conceived.

The plan is to put a dye kitchen and full bath in the studio to allow wench to move all her crap (err… materials for dyeing) out to the studio. This will require a large electrical upgrade, and the building will need to be heated on a regular basis in the winter, so maybe a LOT of stuff can be moved out there (like houseplants, etc.)

Here’s the progress so far:

this is the basement. A full support basement will go under the whole studio eventually.

Here is the decking - which extends 2 feet beyond the basement wall.

This is the new area. The outside wall (with the sliding door and window) will come off and the whole thing will be tied together

At first, this appears to be a rather big project, but, take a look at that 4 story barn…. this is small in comparison. Builder sometimes amazes me - ok, most of the time he amazes me. He already has the next project in his brain. oi vey

So, in other news, the marathon show schedule is over and wench actually survived. Now she’s gearing up for the next round…. two big quilt shows in January, two big fiber shows in March; then one in April and then the 2nd annual Blue Ridge Fiber Fest.

Of course builder isn’t the only one who is coming up with new things….. wench is designing and dreaming up new things, too. Look at the ‘yarn’ rope that is being made from our fleece that is a little less than kid quality:

This is 100% mohair, two ply yarn SUPER bulky. Dog leashes, rope, baskets, rugs, the possibilities are endless.

There’s a lot more yarns going around here and wench has been busy making shop samples so that when folks see what can be done with the yarns, they will want to buy them… here are a few examples:

This is a 50/50 alpaca/merino blend created in 2018 Very soft and squishy. The alpaca does not live here, but resides nearby at Alpacadabra over in Dobson.

This is a combination of the 50/50 alpaca merino mentioned above, (the brown) with a 50/50 angora merino blend (orange) which all together is very soft and luxurious

Here’s Harper, looking forlorn. I know you expect cute animal photos in these postings, so don’t want to disappoint.

So that’s what has been going on around here. I hear Christmas is coming in a couple of weeks, and of course we aren’t ready. Wench is making gift baskets for knitters this year. Here’s an example:

Have you noticed anything different about this post? Is it heavy on the photos? The reason for that is this: wench might have actually figured out how to get photos from her iPhone to her iMac. Used to be the iPad and the iPhone shared but couldn’t get the mac to play. Now, at least for this time, it worked. We’ll see if she can do this trick again in a few weeks.

In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday and as always, thanks for reading Frankly Speaking.

kiss kiss. this beard is too dirty for Santa. Maybe dirty santa?