Say Farewell to my foster girl Cassidy.....

Well it happened just like we always hope it does. My foster girl Cassidy has found her "forever home" after 5 short weeks of staying with us. We like the collies to find their home before they get too attached to the foster home and vice versa!!!! LOL.. She went today to live in Ottawa with a really nice couple. She now has a new 2 year old Tricolour Collie brother and 2 cats to live with. It was love at first site for both Cassie and her new family. They were able to see past her blindness and looked at her qualities. They have been searching for a while for the perfect match for their family and after meeting them , I know they have found it. Cassidy deserves the best and she has found it. We were blessed to have met her and wish her all the best in her new life.
Love , Kerry , Antrim, and our cat Nacho.

Socks, socks and more socks!

I have to admit, I am addicted to knitting socks lately. I have neglected my rug hooking on Mondays and been taking my socks there too!!! I have been having so much fun knitting socks from the left over self patterning sock yarn from previous socks. A couple of friends have given me their left overs too adding more colours to my basket of yarn. I knit the 2 socks at the same time with the same ball of yarn. This produces similar colours but different patterns with the 2 socks. What fun!!

Cassie

My foster Collie "Cassie" has settled in well. She is just an adorable dog and needs to find her "forever" home while I can still bare to part with her. She is the perfect dog and so well behaved. Her only handicap is that she is blind since birth. You would never know it and she acts normal and does all the doggie things including running outside full speed with my Antrim. She is amazing!!! Please email me or visit our website www.collierescuenetwork.com for more info on Cassie and other beautiful adoptable Collies.

Jill's fabulous scarf

My friend Jill Purcell is a great fibre artist. She has learned so much since she retired to the "good life" . Recently she bought some of my hand dyed Corriedale roving and spun it into yarn. She then taught herself to lace knit and the results were this beautiful lace scarf which she recently finished. Nice job Jill. You are amazing!

Fibre Bonding

Want to do something fun on a Friday??? Just email your friends for a day of fibre fun. 12 of us got together at my place for a great day of spinning, knitting and rug hooking. It's a great way to spend the day. Good friends, lots of laughs and just female bonding. My newest spinning student Sarah (in the ball cap) couldn't believe how much fun us "older women" could be and wants to be included again! LOL... I am truly blessed with my wonderful friends.
Cheers to the Winsome Women!!

The Country Life???

For those who live in the country do you ever question why? Sometimes I do when it never seems to end the grass cutting on my 2 acres or hours of chopping wood and bringing it by the wheelbarrow into the house for the woodstove to heat my house. At these times I often wonder what the heck I am doing on a dead end road and maybe I should follow my friend's advice and move into town for an easier life. It never fails that my "angels" send me a message to straighten me out. The things I have seen by living in the country have been incredible. The deer, the foxes, the wild turkey's, beautiful soaring hawks, my yearly nesting Osprey's and yes I must admit , even the songs of the coyotes. I didn't really appreciate the bears tearing down my bird feeders last spring but hey things happen eh? The skies have also played a big role here . From the beautiful sunrises and sunsets in my previous posts. Today was special too. I came home and saw the most enchanting snow squall cloud. It came quickly and left quickly dumping only a few snowflakes. Enjoy the pictures of it. I surely did and it made me realize once again why I love living in the country. I am truly blessed with all the beauty I have seen at Antrimlea farm.
cheers
Kerry

New Foster Girl at Antrimlea

We have a new foster girl at Antrimlea. As some of you know I help out with the Canadian Collie Rescue as a foster mom. On Sunday we got this beautiful female Sable Merle Collie named Cassidy. The amazing thing about her is she is blind and has been since birth. How she maneuvers herself around is amazing. I keep forgetting she is blind , she acts so normal and seldom bumps into the furniture. She knows exactly where the water dish is and chases my cat in playing! Antrim and her like to play constantly. Here are some pictures of them . Notice Antrim's hunting coat . Deer hunting is on right now and he likes to do his business in the field so hence the coat until the end of December. They got a little wild playing and Cassidy's collar came off. No fears though , they kept playing and when I wistled and called her she immediately came right to me. She is incredible!
Please check out other Collie's for adoption at collierescuenetwork.com
cheers
Kerry and Antrim

GIFT CERTIFICATES

Don't know what to get for that special friend for Christmas. How about a hint to your partner for a gift for you???? I have gift certificates for fibre, lessons, and if you want to be pampered,...... manicures and pedicures.
Or just need a break with you girlfriends???? Book an afternoon for pedicures or manicures at my country home. I have the music, just bring your wine and snacks and lots of giggles.
Cheers
Kerry

Katerra's Faces

This week my grandaughter Katerra visited her Auntie Jessi's photo studio in Toronto for some goofing around. (jbsmithphotography.com)
I can just hear the giggles as they made Katerra make different faces for the camera.....

Hook -in

On October 6 The Northumberland Rug Hookers had their annual Hook-in. Lots of people were able to come and the day was wonderful. Everyone brought their hooking to work on for the day and it was great to see all the fabulous things that people were working o. I brought my dyed rovings to sell and the crowd went wild !
Another great fibre day.....

My Lady Isadora

We had a very sad day today at Antrimlea Farm. My beautiful Sable Collie, Isadora had to make her last trip to the Vet. It was her time after 13 years to leave us for a pain free life from her arthritis. She was a fabulous lady and will be truly missed by everyone who knew her. My Blue Merle boy Antrim will be lost without her. It will be a big adjustment for all of us.
We were blessed to have her in our lives.
Rest in peace "Izzi"

Antrimlea from a distance

My neighbour Dorothy took this lovely picture of Antrimlea. My place is just behind those trees. She lives next door up on the hill and took this picture with the morning mist still showing. Thanks for sharing Dorothy.

Sunsets

Bet you wish you saw this in person!!! Each night and morning at Antrimlea is special with our view of sunrises and sunsets. This was the beauty I saw tonight. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful sights in my daily life.
Cheers to each new day.

Rural Ramble

On the weekend of August 16,17 it was Rural Ramble in Northumberland County. This is a special weekend when participating farms open their farms to the public and educate them about farming. Each farm is unique in the way they operate and what they produce.
It is a great opportunity to learn about farming and certainly gives you more respect for our hard working farmers and their families. I had the opportunity to stay for the weekend at my friend Cindy Osland who is a sheep farmer. She has at present about 200 sheep. Her and her husband Darryl also have chickens and a few beef cattle. She sells their meat and eggs at the local farmer's market and at her shop on the farm. Her lamb is so good. She served lamb burgers from the BBQ over the weekend and they were soooo good. We had a fun weekend demonstrating the art of spinning and showing off some of our products. Most people were from Toronto and had great questions to answer. This weekend is all about educating the public and it was a great time had by all. To top the weekend off this ewe gave birth just before the weekend was done. I missed the actual birth but the ewe was still laying down when I arrived with my camera. These twins are about 5 minutes old. They were so cute and started walking right away and nursing. A great ending to a swell weekend!!

Sheep to Shawl

On August 9th I participated in a Sheep to Shawl competition at Grasscreek near Kingston Ontario. There were 4 teams competing. Kingston, Belleville, Prince Edward County and Guelph. It was a fun day and the weather co-operated with a cool breeze. For those who do not know what a Sheep to Shawl is, let me explain. You have 4 spinners and 1 weaver on each team. You bring your loom already with a warp of your choice. You are given a raw fleece at 9:00 and have to have your shawl completely finished and off the loom by 2:30. The shawl has to be a certain regulated width and length. It is a lot of work but a lot of fun too. If you ever get the chance to be in one ...go for it.
Here are some pics of ours. Our warp was special as our weaver Diane hand spun all the warp. It was mostly Shetland fleece but the best part was the dark stripes. They were from Wendy Pullan's Border Collies who happened to be competing in the dog trails at the park. Wonderful!!

YEAR FOUR!!!!!

Well I just finished classes for the fourth level Master Spinning course with the OHS held at Loyalist College. Now the homework begins for the year. This year we learned about spinning Silk, Camel, Buffalo, Muskox, Llama, Alpaca,Cashmere, Angora rabbit and various breeds of dog hair. It was a lot of fun. Here are a couple of pictures with one of our special guests.
For those of you that don't spin, this is a 6 year course with the seventh year held for your indepth study to get your Master's.
I have just done year 4.

Teddy Bears

I was recently contacted by a very nice woman who had lost her dog and cat close together. She had heard you could spin their hair so over the years had saved their brushings. After a lengthly conversation we decided she would like teddy bears made with the spun hair. So off to my wheel and knitting needles I went to create these bears. The lighter one is made with the dog hair and the darker one is her cat hair. She was so pleased with the results and greatful she had saved their brushings.

Colours,colours and more colours!!!!

My friend Julie Verge just can't get enough of my dyed rovings. Here are some pictures of her fabulous spinning. Don't you just want to touch the yarns??? yummy

New Foster Boy

As many of you know I belong to the Collie Rescue. We are a non profit organization to help Collies in need of finding their "forever home" . They come to us and get fostered out to good homes who take care of them until they are adopted. Every dog has it's own story on how they became "orphans". They may have been seized from a bad home, maybe the owner passed away or sometimes people move and just can't take their dog. I have fostered 4 dogs now and none of them had been abused and were totally obedience trained. Very nice well behaved dogs just looking for a "forever home". Yesturday I had the pleasure of getting a new foster boy. His name is Shine and he is a registered tricoloured Smooth Coated Collie. He is such a loving dog and in excellent shape. He is a little older (11 years) but you would not know it. He plays like a puppy with my Antrim. He loves kids and other dogs and cats. I just tested him with my neighbours 2 yellow labs and no problem at all. If you would be interested in adopting Shine or know of someone please email me at antrimlea@sympatico.ca with the title Shine. We try to get the Collies to their forever homes before they become too attached to the foster home.
cheers
Kerry

Traditional Rug Hooking

Recently I hosted a two day workshop at Antrimlea on rug hooking. 6 of us gathered to hook our own purses. Day one of workshop was held in February with a 2 month delay so we could get the hooking done. Then in April we had our second day and finished our purses. Here are pictures of 3 of them. We had lots of fun and we all love our purses. Thanks Jill Purcell for taking the lovely pictures for me.