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.

"The Gathering"

On April 19/08 The Great Pine Ridge Spinners and Weavers which I am a member of and the Northumberland Hooks and Needles hosted their 5th annual 'Gathering" of hand spinners and knitters and other fibre artists for a day of great fun in Port Hope. We had 18 vendors and about 170 people for the day. Some people brought their wheels and knitting to work on and others were too busy socializing. It was a great day. Here are some shots of my vendor booth and my fabulous hand dyed rovings which can be knit right from the roving or spun into yarn. 100% corriedale. Thank you to Julie Verge for taking the pictures. So mark down April 18/09 for next year and don't miss out on the fun.

Antrimlea Retreat

This weekend Nicola and Vi were two of 5 people that came to Antrimlea for a weekend getaway from the city. They enjoyed their stay ( it was Nicola's 2nd time here) and left with their "felted knitted purses" that they worked hard on and finished. Shhhhhhh!!!! It's a secret but they both bought enough roving to make another couple of purses for their friends......
Thanks girls, it was a fun weekend. See you in August when you come again for another knitting weekend with your friends.

colours and fun

I have been having so much fun with my hand dyed rovings. Here is the latest projects. You can knit these right from the dyed rovings. Size 7 or 8 mm needles for the slippers and size 10mm needles for the purse. Both items are then felted. These knit up really fast and are so much fun to knit. The pattern is free with the purchase of the skein and one skein will do either the slippers or the purse for just $30 The tough part is choosing which colours!!! New colours are being dyed almost daily as these skeins are going fast.... don't miss out on the fun...

What to do??

So it's a snowy day so what do you do??? Stay at home and get creative!!!! I was busy dying some corriedale rovings. These hanks are measured out in 300 gram skeins and are all unique in their colours. I am selling them for $30 each and they are going fast. What fun they are. The rovings can be spun or are strong enough just to knit. I am going to knit "slippers" and then felt them. I'll post a pic as soon as I get a pair done. One hank will make a pair.

my baby

Have you ever seen such a little sweetie.??? My grandbaby Katerra.

Snowy times in the country

Oh there is nothing like a quiet walk in the winter on a country road. Here are a couple of things you would see at my place. Then a sit by the woodstove to warm up with a nice hot cup of hot chocolate...... aahhhhh

GIFT CERTIFICATES

Do you have that special friend who you want to get a present for but just don't know what to get?? How about a gift certificate for a manicure or pedicure?? Everyone loves to be pampered and one size fits all....

Today's Birds

I thought I would share with all you birders the different birds that I am blessed with today at my feeders.Here's the list so far today...Gold Finches, Mourning Doves, Bluejays, Juncos, White Breasted Nuthatch, Rose Breasted Nuthatch, Downey and Hairy Woodpeckers, Pileated Woodpecker at my one tree, and todays surprise is a flock of Evening Grosbeaks!!! Last week I had a group of Pine Grosbeaks which I have only seen one other time in my life so that was exciting.
Bet you wish you were here sipping on your glass of wine ... get your friends together and book your weekend at Antrimlea...
cheers
Kerry

Check these colours!!

Ok , yesterday was such a nice day and I just HAD to spend it outside with some friends. So we decided to dye a bit of wool fabric for our next rug hooking projects. I also threw a skein of my handspun yarn in the pot. YUMMY colours. Can't wait to do more....

Antrimlea Farm Nails and More

Well they say a change is better for the soul and sometimes your lifestyle. Soooooo I went wild and have done something totally different and am loving it.!!! I am now certifide to do manicures and pedicures and soon Bio Sculpture Gel Nails. I have set up shop at Antrimlea Farm (my home) so I can spend more time here with my Collie boy Antrim who is like velcro on my hip when I am here. No worries for those non dog lovers --- he does have another room he can go to after I tug him off my hip. LOL So just one more reason to come for a visit. Manicure = $20 /Pedicure = $30 /Ultra Pedicure =$45 and gel nails will be $45 . So call to book your appt soon. 613-475-0880
I'll even put the kettle on......
Cheers
Kerry

I'm Back!!!

This is my latest hooked rug that I hooked the traditional way and used my handspun yarn. I also designed the rug and it is a story of my family.