What an amazing day at Juniper Moon Farm! Gale Zucker is giving a photography workshop aimed at knitters this weekend and I have learned so much today. These are the pics I took today:

These are the pictures that the attendees of the workshop took today:

I’ll post a bunch more pics tomorrow but I have to say that if you have a chance to take Gale’s workshop- either here at the farm or anywhere else- DO IT! I had no idea I would learn so much and I know my classmates felt the same way. Gale is so talented and such a great teacher. I promise, you’ll walk away inspired!

There are still two spaces available in this weekend’s Photography Workshop, taught by the amazing Gale Zucker! Gale is the photographer of Shear Spirit and has loads to teach us all about photographing yarn, finished objects and wooly animals.

Topics to be covered:

• Photographing yarn, fiber, and finished objects, both on & off people.
• Looking at colors and light, choosing settings,and backgrounds.
• Photographing sheep , goats, people  & scenery while we explore the setting.
• Simple lighting tricks and solutions to fiber &  knitwear photography problems.
• Optimizing your images once they’re out of the camera and into a blog page or website.

Fee: $ 295.  by Paypal to gzucker@snet.net Includes 2 days of class, and delicious lunch & snacks each day by Susie Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm. Questions? Email gale@gzucker.com

Maggie and I are super-excited to be taking the workshop and hope you can join us. There are only two spaces left so email Gale right away if you are interested. See you at the farm!

Gonzo & Camilla

I have some super-exciting new! For about a year now, Gale Zucker have been looking for a project to collaborate on. Gale is the amazing photographer behind Shear Spirit, a book I could only love more if Juniper Moon was in it.

Gale is coming down to the farm to teach one of her famous photography workshops for knitters!

Here are the details:

MAY 15 & 16TH   9:30-4:30
Two days of Photography amidst the sheep, lambs, goats, hens & yarn !

Topics to be covered:

• Photographing yarn, fiber, and finished objects, both on & off people.
• Looking at colors and light, choosing settings,and backgrounds.
• Photographing sheep , goats, people  & scenery while we explore the setting.
• Simple lighting tricks and solutions to fiber &  knitwear photography problems.
• Optimizing your images once they’re out of the camera and into a blog page or website.

Workshop space is limited, register soon !  Fee: $ 295.  by Paypal togzucker@snet.net Includes 2 days of class, and delicious lunch & snacks each day by Susie Gibbs of Juniper Moon Farm. Questions?  Email gale@gzucker.com

Gale’s Bio

Gale Zucker is the co-author/ photographer of  the book Shear Spirit: Ten Farms, Twenty Projects and Miles of Yarn (PotterCraft 2008) . She is  an award-winning editorial and commercial photographer who’s worked on assignment forSmithsonian, Yankee, Wine Spectator, TV Guide, CraftStylish, and Womans Day, and for The New York Times. She also photographed the Potter Craft title Mason Dixon: Knitting Outside the Lines (October 2008).

So here’s what goes through my head on your average Thursday:

“I really need to blog today. I’ve got a whole folder full of stuff for ‘probably something you would like’ and I haven’t taken any lamby pics in an age. Oh, and I have the photos of  colorways for the Spring 09 shares to post. And I must finish the Rhinebeck Workshop Giveaway because we have two giveaways (one of colossal proportions!)  waiting in the wings. And speaking of waiting in the wings, I’ve really got to get the new featured dyer up, but I first need to update everyone on the previous dyer shipping status. And…”

By the time my inner voice has shut up I am exhausted and can’t even contemplate writing a post that would cover everything. So I punt.

I’m going to try to get caught up a bit tonight and tomorrow so that I can tell that inner voice to shut the hell up next time it starts nagging at me. Bear with me.

Unique Sheep Featured Dyer of the Month Status Update:

We have shipped the majority of the Unique Sheep Exclusive colorways but we are awaiting the arrival of the last 50 or so orders of Jack’s Beach. We are shipping them by order date to be fair. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, neither Laura and Kelly (of Unique Sheep) or I ever intended for this to take so long but life intervened in the form of a death in the family and Sock Summit. The ladies of U.S. assure me that the rest of the yarn will be shipped to us shortly and we will get it out to you ASAP.

We have a plan for making the next Featured Dyer orders go more quickly. The next Featured Dyer will be posted here on the blog on Monday.

Winners of the Rhinebeck Workshop Giveaway:

The final two winners of our Rhinebeck Workshop Giveaway are….

Congratulations Kimberly and Leslie! Email me at prizes@fiberfarm.com and let me know if you’d like to take Nan Crawford - Felted Soaps (Sunday October 18th – AM) or  Dyeing Self Striping Sock Yarn (Sunday October 18th PM). First one to email gets first pick! [I'll be in the Self Striping Sock Yarn class.]

A Rhinebeck-sized thank you goes to the Duchess County Sheep and Wool Growers Association for these fabulous prizes. The quality of the workshops at Rhinebeck is top-notch, which explains why I’m taking four of them-  the Shepherd’s Rug class on Thursday, the Advanced Rug Hooking class on Saturday and Nancy Shroyer’s two dyeing classes ton Sunday. Join me quick before the workshops sell out.

Speaking of Rhinebeck:

A group of FFFs (Friends of Fiber Farm) are renting a big farmhouse for the Friday and Saturday nights of Rhinebeck, October 16th & 17th. The house is 15 minutes from the fairgrounds and has 5 bedrooms, one with four bunk beds. We still have room for a few more peeps. You will probably have to share a room, maybe even a double bed- the house sleeps 14- but a good time is sure to be had by all. The cost will be in the neighborhood of $100 each per night, but it will go down if we fill up all the spaces. We would prefer to have everyone stay both nights if possible because I don’t want the organizing to turn into a nightmare. Email me if you are interested. susie@fiberfarm.com and put “Rhinebeck House” in the subject line, if you please. Space is limited- I wish we could fit everyone, but there are only so many beds.

Spring 09 Share Colorways:

We still do not know how much yarn each shareholder will be receiving as we haven’t gotten the yarn from the mill yet. As soon as we do, we’ll let you know what we are looking at. We will be sending out an email when the colorways are available for purchase. Our current plan is to offer dyeing on both the kid mohair/cormo blend and the pure cormo, but there will be a separate charge for each. The charge for dyeing the Cormo will be lower if ordered in conjunction with dyeing of the blend. Does that make sense?

Here’s a peek at the colorways:

Spring 09 Shares Address:

Have you moved since you ordered your share? If you have we need to know about it! Send your address change info to addresschange@fiberfarm.com. We can’t send you your yarn if we can’t find you.

Do I have a Spring 09 Share?

I don’t know. In order to keep shareholders from overwhelming Erin with this question, we are asking everyone who is confused about which share they own to check your own Paypal history for the answer. Erin would have to do the same thing to get the information and there are so many more of you than there are of her. So please investigate before you email Erin with this question.

Upcoming Giveaways:

We will be doing a smallish giveaway over the weekend and the Granddaddy of all giveaways the first week in September. This is HUGE, y’all. Really, really HUGE. Stay tuned.

Lord have mercy! I did it! I got all that house-keeping-y business over with in one post. The weight of a thousand worlds has lifted from my shoulders and I will sleep like a lamb tonight.

Speaking of lambs, pics coming tomorrow. And the lambing report. And everything I forgot in this post.

Anna, Suzy and Stephanie came for a night-before-class dinner.

The supply table.

French Toast Casserole for breakfast

Suzy’s amazing Red, White and Blue muffins.

My sister Carrie tying off skeins.

While the women were dyeing yarn, Suzy’s daughter Sierra did some Kool Aid dyeing.

Kool Aid dyeing in the sun.

Sierra with her beautiful mini skeins.

Stephanie dyed her skeins in gradations of blue. So lovely!

Suzy mixed up a beautiful red and dyed one skein of our new oatmeal heather yarn and four skeins of Cormo. 

Anna had to leave to get to work before I got a picture but I’ll snap one on Saturday at Cindy’s house. 

We will be giving a series of Hand Dyeing workshops this summer, both in the Hudson Valley and on the Vineyard. I designed these classes for no more than five people so we can cover a range of techniques and dyes. Space is very limited. I’ve listed the classes for June in the shop; July and August will follow in a couple of weeks. Workshop fees include 5 skeins of yarn and participants will leave with enough yarn for five smaller projects or one large one. Additional skeins will be available for purchase on the day of the workshop.