Anyhow….I’ve been home long enough to do laundry, tie up a few loose ends at work…..and now we are heading down the road tomorrow.   Yes, Rainbow Yarns Northwest and the Wild Goat Women are leaving the greater Portland area tomorrow and are Allegan, Michigan-bound!!! 

We are driving a 35′ motorhome (gosh help us!) from Oregon to Michigan - to vend our Pygora fiber and to be a part of the first sanctioned Pygora goat show outside the state of Oregon!  We are so very excited to be a part of this (and to do a girls only road trip).  We are headed to the Michigan Fiber Festival!  Woo Hoo!!!

We might even post some travel updates here!  Stay tuned!!!

Pardon the blurry photos….darned iPhone/Flickr combo…I guess that’s what I get for using a shortcut and trying to save time.  Sigh….at least it’s a blog post and we have evidence much carding was taking place!!

See you in Eugene this weekend!!

Yet, it’s spring and a time of renewel….I have been busy skeining up our gorgeous laceweight Pygora/Merino yarn, cranking on the dyepots, and carding much heavenly dyed Pygora.  I seem to have found my fiber time once again.  I know that many folks dislike daylight savings time, and until recently I was quite ambivalent about it.  I find, this year, that it has been a livesaver for me.  I cannot begin to describe how wonderful seeing daylight when I leave work each day makes me feel.  Very special, indeed!

We spent a wonderful day at Hawks Mountain Ranch….especially enjoying all the baby Pygora kids running about!  We are busy planning our festival season, including a cross-country trek of the Wild Goat Women to the Michigan Fiber Festival!  We are very excited about this.  Stay tuned!  (ok, I can act like someone reads this, right??)

The SOAR marketplace was crazy, CRAZY!  We were thrilled to meet two of our overseas customers: Sarah from England, and Ingrid from Sweden.  The Sunriver resort was gorgeous (as was our suite!).  A person could get used to that gas fireplace with a remote clicker!

Ok — that’s a glimpse into the glam side of things……but even as I remember all the fun we had, the response to folks as I encouraged them to feel a little Pygora fiber…..there is the tough/sad side of this business as well….especially if like us, you raise your fiber animals.  That was a poor SOAR report - because I am distracted…….

This is the first weekend in over a month in which I had nothing planned.  Nothing!  I was all set to be lazy and knit/spin as much as I felt like.  Then I went down to the barn to feed Saturday morning.  Chipster was laying down and not interested in the morning feeding activity…uh oh.  This is NOTGOOD.  Goats who are not interested in eating are ill, very ill.

So I spent yesterday with Chip, taking his temperature several times, feeding him little goodies like blackberry leaves (which gladly he ate).  Yet I knew he was ill, his temp was low….so after a PenG injection yesterday morning, and a B injection last night….he seems a little worse this am - not interested in any food.  So as I’m typing this, I am waiting for the vet to call me back.   Animals bring such a richness to our lives - I can appreciate that.  However, when they’re this ill, and I’ve nothing left in my pathetic arsenal (and even Susan’s more formidable arsenal), I wonder if I can stand losing one of my little goaties.  I know on one level I can.  Yet, I grit my teeth against reality - I know I cannot keep them forever…..

I remember the first couple of fiber venues we attended as vendors - it was nerve wracking!  You place all your work out for sale - is a bit like exposing your heart to the world (ok, maybe not quite THAT big, but a vulnerable place, anyhow).  That was several years ago and we’re now old hats at vending.

Vending at SOAR?  This is big.  Very big for us.  We’ve been carding our brains out…getting ready.  This has helped rebuild our inventory as well as distract my mind.  Yet it’s now getting close, very close, and becoming more of a reality.  I am getting nervous….jittery-tummy nervous.  Ack!  It’s like starting all over, with very-big-name-people-present! 

If you’re attending SOAR, please stop by and say hi!  Am hoping the tummy-jitters go away soon!!

Look for our booth: Rainbow Yarns Northwest ~ we’re on the porch again this year.  If you’re interested in our two metallics: “Gail’s Gold” or “Copper Canyon”, get there early.  The gold is almost gone already (presold) and the copper never seems to last very long……….

Hi Terry,

Don’t know if Michele told you how famous you are. We were up in Orofino, looking at my dream home out in the woods. The lady who owned the place was chatting with Michele, and mentioned she wanted to have some goats. We’d noticed a spinning wheel in the house and a loom out in the shop earlier. Michele got to telling her about your goats, and your spinning, dyeing, etc. When we told her who you were, she asked, “does she advertise in Spin-Off magazine? And wasn’t there an article…?” We said “yes” and she waxed enthusiastic about your products for a while.
Your reputation precedes you. It didn’t get us an instant discount on the house, though.

How cool is that?
Terry

Once we arrived we were pleased to see an overflow of vendors and attendance was good.  Sales were what we’d hoped for (thankgoodness!).  However, it was interesting in that we saw way more cash and less checks.  It seemed most people came with a budget and for the most part stuck with it.

We want to say a big THANK YOU for those who purchased our products!  Ok, even the nice lady who bought fiber right off my Lendrum.  Oh ya, that was funny…..I’d made some rich, golden batts of 50% Pygora and 50% silk.  Heavenly!  Ahhh, I’ll spin this at BSG!  Well, I did get to spin a tiny bit of it, maybe .2 oz or something like that.  We had immediately sold the other two packages earlier that morning when a customer came in and REALLY wanted that color and would not take ‘no’ for an answer.  She was good.  She very nicely pointed out that I’d barely spun any of it……

Ok, so she totally scored some gorgeous fiber and I was left to find something else to spin!  And…..my friend Gail has pre-ordered a couple packages.  Hmmmm….maybe I should make a few extra bags for the website???

I continue to be amazed at how customers react to color!
Happy Spinning! (oh I did take a couple of photos….but haven’t downloaded/uploaded them yet)
Terry