Websites and Social Networking Woes

Maybe I'm too old.  Maybe it is our rural satellite internet connection, that is anything but high speed.  I know part of the problem is the desktop computer with the frozen fan.  Anyway, creating websites, updating facebook pages, and trying to figure out how to link them all is overwhelming to me.  I'm frustrated.

January is that quiet, peaceful month in winter when I spend hours planning and preparing for the year ahead.  Its the time to update websites and get them working once and for all.  Its the time to create a new facebook page and separate out the family discussions from the farm discussions.  I'm all for some personal boundaries. Gosh, it takes so much time.  UGH!!!  I've spent the last two weekends tethered to the computer.

I can't tell you how many pages I've lost because the internet connection has timed out.  Here's a news flash for those of you who don't live in rural areas.  Folks who live out in the country can't get high-speed internet through the phone service or some other cable company.  The service provider we have (Wild Blue) has a fair use policy.  So we have two modems and we have to switch them out half way through the month because we've used up more than our fair share of the service.  Its expensive, slow, and unreliable. But with all these constraints, I've still managed to put together a working website with the help of WIX.

If you aren't familiar with WIX, I encourage you to check it out at www.wix.com.  You can create a website for free if you don't mind their ad banners.  I've gradually upgraded our farm website to the point where we now offer e-commerce through pay pal.  Wix is really fun and easy to use.  It would be so much more fun if my internet connection didn't constantly time out when I try to upload a new page or save changes to existing pages.  It uses flash player and it really is as simple as drag and drop.  The only downside is that I can't view my website on my iphone because Apple and Adobe (makers of flash player) are at odds with one another.  I hope a truce is negotiated soon because I'd love to get an ipad.  I can really envision myself working on the website while sitting in a comfy chair by a roaring fire in a coffeehouse sipping a chai latte.  Oh wait, there's no place with Wi-Fi in my town and there's no place around here that sells decent coffee.  Garrison Keiler's version of Minnesota's small town cafes fails to disclose just how weak and tasteless the coffee in these joints really is.

So I'm at home with my computer and my marketing plan.  Maybe that's good because I can walk away when I'm totally exasperated - like this morning when I lost two hour's worth of work.  Yes, I know I should have saved it sooner.  Since I'm at home, I can wash wool while I'm waiting for a web page to load.

My goal this year is to increase our farm's online presence and integrated our website, facebook, local harvest site, and twitter.  As I sit here in the dead of winter with another snow storm on the way, I wonder "Will anyone care?  Will anyone read this stuff?  Will it help us connect with fiber lovers in our area?"  I guess only time will tell.  In the meantime, I'll hit the "publish post" button, get up and drain the rinse water in the sink, and hope this blog entry is saved.

A Crockpot To Dye For

Laurel, my 90 year-old neighbor is trying to clean out her house.  When I was over planning our garden seed order, she asked if I wanted an old crock pot that had been in a box of "goodies" she purchased at a local auction.  "Sure."  I figured I could use it to make a nice warm oat mash for the horses.  But its a small one and wouldn't hold enough oats.

We are in the midst of a bathroom remodel.  The kitchen, the office/wool room, and the dining room are all a disaster. So many things out of place.  On the floor in the wool room were two small bags of  washed wool that I had been wanting to dye.  The wool is short lambswool that I want to sell as crumbles.  It will be good for adding accents and color to felting projects or for cutting up and adding specks to make a tweed yarn.

So I soaked some wool in a 4-cup glass measuring cup of water and a quick squirt of dish soap for twenty minutes. Then I transferred  it into the crock pot full of water.  I added a teaspoon of dye, gave it a gentle stir, turned it on low, and walked away.  A few hours later I had dyed wool.  I kept this routine up for a week.  Sometimes I'd turn the crock pot on high, sometimes on low, and sometimes I'd forget to plug it in so I let the wool sit in the dye bath over night.  It all worked.  It was fool-proof. I dried the wool on towels.  If it was still damp the next day, I put it on top of the wood stove to finish drying. 

It was really a mess-free way to play with color in the midst of winter.  I started with my darkest purple.  After dying the first batch of wool, I was left with a weak dye bath.  Next I added blue to the dye bath so that I got a blend of the two dyes.  Then I dyed the third batch blue.,  I repeated this process over and over, resulting in a wide range of colors and more interesting colors.  Very little dye was wasted. Honestly, it wasn't messy at all.  That little crock pot on the counter was very inconspicuous sitting next to the toaster.  No one complained about mom and her big messy projects that take over the house.  Heck, the bathroom  remodel took that award. So the next time you come across a crock pot at a garage sale or auction, don't just dismiss it because you already have one.  Pick it up and go on your own dyeing adventure.

Last March we added Lincoln Longwools to our flock. Lincolns are an old English breed that are on the "watch" category because they are endangered. Lincolns are the biggest breed. But when compared to modern and improved breeds that are the size of ponies, they look small. Lincolns are so docile and affectionate. Ours love to cuddle. They can be hard to show because they lean into us and want to be touching at all times.

Adding Lincolns to our flock has caused me to think about our yarn in new ways. With three old English breeds, I've been wanting to explore 5 ply guernsey (also called gansey) yarn and aran yarns. I sent some washed Lincoln lambswool, Lincoln hoggit, and Lincoln fleeces from a two-year old up to Rach-Al-Paca fiber mill in Hastings, MN. Rachel agreed that she should spin it into a five-ply guernsey.

While it was up at the fiber mill, I kept dreaming about lace weight yarn. But Lincoln is known as carpet wool. It is the coarsest of all wool. We've had judges at the Minnesota State Fair blow off our fleeces, because our wool was nothing but "carpet" wool. The same fleeces that one blue ribbons and lots of compliments at the Shepherd's Harvest Festival. Well in my search to learn more, I came across a blog about Lincoln Longwool lace. (Read Beth Smith's blog to learn more.)I knew from my experience with the fleeces, that what she was writing was true. Lincoln wool, especially the lambswool and hoggit (second clip) is amazingly soft. But in addition, it has a wonderful luster that rivals mohair. To top it off, it is so strong. So you can definitely, take this long, beautiful, and strong fiber and spin it into fine yarn.

On Friday, I picked up the yarn. To be honest it didn't spin up like a typical guernsey. It was a flat, five-ply yarn. The lambswool was a bit wavey - it didn't loose its curl. I didn't "full" it. Yesterday, I began to knit it up into a scarf. It is absolutely beautiful.

I took up another Lincoln fleece to Rachel's and this time, she's going to spin it as thin as possible. Will I end up with toad's hair or lace weight? I'll let you know in April.