The first couple days on the road...

Hitting the road on day one involved making the journey all the way to Casa De Fruta… about 100 miles north. I admit it wasn’t a far away goal but it was a way to get some road behind us. I called them to ask if they had a spot open for the night, that was pull through, and that could accommodate a horse trailer with 3 sheep in it… also could we camp there with 3 sheep?

The girl on the phone had to go ask her manager but returned to say it was fine.

Casa De Fruta started as a roadside fruit stand but has become a roadside attraction with an RV park, a model train you can ride on, a restaurant, a carousel, a truck stop, 32 peacocks, and a candy shoppe.

At a previous visit to Casa de Fruta. Just hanging with peacocks.

We arrived after dark and got set up for the evening, clearing off the bed we were using for storage so we had a place to sleep and basically shoveling a path through the RV;  just doing the bare minimum to sleep.

When we awoke we were itching to get on the road again… right after coffee and breakfast. I drove the car down to the coffee shop and get some coffees and pastries, and candy, because why not? We gulped our coffees and downed our pastries (I would be more specific but I honestly don’t remember what they were) and started the RV back up. 

The extremely loud squeaking noise coming from the engine compartment lasted until we exited the park before it began to subside. “What the hell was that noise?” came Ashley’s voice over the Walkie Talkie.

“A loud squeaking noise,” was my super helpful response. 

“Is it broken?” she asked.

“No, just a squeaking belt.” I said, hoping I wasn’t lying. As soon as I said it her voice come over again: “The windshield wipers just came on and won’t turn off!” She was yelling into the headset at this point. “Pull over and I’ll look,” I said.

Once we pulled over I looked under the dash to discover that I didn’t know anything about what under a dash is supposed to look like… I found the wires connecting the windshield wipers via a Google search and disconnected them. “Avoid driving through any rain,” I said, “And you’ll be fine.”

The only excitement for the rest of day two was the constantly escaping cats. Thankfully, Ashley had them in the RV with her so I didn’t have to deal with it. Obi (my cat) was the ringleader of the prison breaks. If I remember correctly they escaped 12 times that day. We eventually moved the cats into one of the hard carriers to better contain them.

Mom...we are literally dying.  I promise.  Let us out.

We made it pretty far that day, deciding to stop just before we got to Oregon in a little town called Weed, CA. We found this little RV park that once again welcomed our little menagerie, and welcomed a nice restful night.

Day 3 soon...

- Ric

Time flies when you are....

Having fun?  Homesteading? Knitting, crocheting and spinning?  Playing with silly animals? How about all of the above?

A quick check in.  I promise I will return to my Granny Chic series very soon, but in the meantime, here is a little of what we have been up to at Fiberton!

In the business and crafting side of things:

Ric made me this adorable felty friend!  I wool always love ewe. little felty friend!  We will be releasing these in out etsy shop in the near future, too!

These lovely custom knitting needles are shipped off and on their way to their new home...

 Three more sets of dryer balls dropped into a lovely customer's mailbox this week!

And we are finishing one of these awesome pom pom rugs up for a customer as we speak!

On the animal front:

This guy got an awful haircut.  He would not stop fidgeting!  But he feels sooo much better!  (One person told me it looks like I glued cotton balls on him! hehe)

Rocky and Adrian (and Ric and I) are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a little lamb...

See?  Can't you see the excitement in Rocky's silly little face? (Oh, and mine...)

Then of course the house animals have been keeping us entertained, too....

Silly kitties!  Sister love...

I couldn't help myself but try for another animal selfie.  This time with the old guy.  We took a little drive in the '63 Comet and boy did he enjoy it! 

 And on the volunteer and business front:

I am on the Board of the small Chamber of Commerce in the area, and we put on a Business Expo this week.  I helped with planning and outreach, as well as had a table there.  It was a great success all around!

Whew!  Now that several big projects are off the plate, expect us to get back on the ball with posts!  Hope your February was filled to the brim like a tub full of good stuff! 

Ash

Adventures in Animals, Plants and Fiber

I love that even though we live right by a highway (like a stone's throw away), we can still take in plenty of nature.  Whether it's getting to walk with the sheep through the lush grass that this year's much needed rains have watered, watching the different birds of the area, new growth from the rose cuttings we planted, cuddling with our domesticated animals (I decided that fits here) or playing with fiber (I think that is kind of nature-y...right?)

So here are a few snapshots of our adventures with animals, both wild and tamed, plants and fiber as of late.

Cleaning and carding some beautiful onyx black alpaca fiber to make this lovely yarn...

The day when over 20 vultures decided our trees were a great place to rest.  (A few facts: 1) that many vultures just hanging out in your yard is a little unnerving, 2) it also prompts you to go check on every single one of your animals 3) a group of vultures is called a 'wake'.  Also creepy. 4) It was pretty spectacular, too.)

The rose that is growing from some lovely cut roses I received just before Christmas...

Or the cute little blue bird (not sure if it is a jay or blue bird) that let me take his picture while walking the dog...

Just loving our super silly-riffic animals....  

Like the shoulder kitty...

Contortionist kitty...

Goofy itch angora rabbit....

Sleep little bunny...

Or our Rocky the ram, who wiggles his tail when he gets scratches...

What fun nature-y things have you seen lately?

Ash

How is it already November? (AKA - Time to start the holiday crafts!)

Ok, ok, I know November has just begun, but in the crafting world it is totally time to get ready for the holidays!  And I have to admit, I am kind of having fun.

Little Leia also likes the colors I chose for the Autumn Bunting Banners...

I have started on new bunting banners for the holidays, including this one with Thanksgiving or Autumn colors.  Perfect for decorating your front door or your dining room for the holiday festivities.

I have also begun working on stockings.  I love the chunky, big, sort-of-pottery-barn stockings.  So I created my own pattern (which I will release soon) for a fun crochet stocking.

I am pretty happy with how it turned out!  I will be offering folks the option to choose whatever color they like that will match their home.

I have a few other holiday items on the hooks and needles I will show off soon!

Are you getting ready for the holidays at all yet?  Or are you like the hubby and think I am way too early?

Ash

Updates Galore!

Well, rather than make this post about one subject, I am so behind, I figured I'd give some quick updates and share some pics to get us all caught up.

First, the important stuff - bunny update.  Since I last reported, we lost a few more babies.  We now have 4 little ones that are now almost 6 weeks old, and already quite the curious fluff balls!

Line up for grub!

How can I feed you when you're in the bowl?

They have been weened, so mom has moved out and the kids have their own home now.  They are doing so well that we will finally be giving them names very soon!  We are big fans of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, and since we have Penny, we may be adding other bunnies to the cast.

4 Healthy Little Babies!

Look how big and fluffy we are!

In other baby news, the kittens are doing well...but how can kittens be so cute yet so destructive? We have had a few interesting mishaps with the kittens, including them somehow opening screens on our second story windows and jumping from them, and wanting to "help" with yarn making and sewing.

I'm a helper!  I can shred your patterns!

What's up?

Faceplant.

 But all in all, they are little sweeties, and when they curl up in your lap and (finally) fall asleep, it doesn't get much better than that!

Finally passed out with ol' JB.

I was able to collaborate on a really fun project with our friend/landlord.  Her grandmother had made her this super sweet crochet barn bag filled with adorable amigurumi farm animals.  We wanted to recreate it so my friend could give it as a gift to her friend's newborn baby.  It was such a blast to make!  And if it strikes your fancy, let us know, we can make one of your very own!

What a cute and happy bunch of farm animals, waiting to meet their new owner!

We have also begun regularly setting up a table at an artisan's boutique and it has been great to hone how we want to do our booths at events.  Here is the most recent set up (sorry it's a bad pic...).  

Our recent table at Vines RV Artisan's Boutique.
More work to do, but not a bad start!

If you are in the San Luis Obispo area on a Friday, come say hello at the Vines RV Park!  All are welcome.  And soon we hope to join the Paso Robles Saturday Farmer's Market and Craft Faire!

We have also been working away on getting new product made and on our site, including our most popular item, our organizing rolls, like this one!  

We had a great suggestion from a customer that we should also make makeup brush rolls, so ask and you shall receive!  I am just loving these organic fabrics!

And in the next post, we will be revealing our new yarn line!  Those bunnies I keep talking about will be put to work, helping us make some yummy yarns for all of you to enjoy!  Stay tuned!

Ash

Babies Everywhere!

We are super excited to welcome several new additions to our little menagerie! As I mentioned in our previous post about the FARM, we were looking forward to adopting two kittens from the neighbors/friend-lords. And white they can be a little handful, we have come to the conclusion that they are trying to break the cute-o-meter. Just look at them!




Leia is the striped one with white paws and tip of the tail. Obi (they are both girls, but we really wanted Star Wars names...hehe) has much more while on her, and looks like she will have longer, finer hair. Leia is in love with the dog, and JB is very good with them, but definitely not used to the rambunctious little youngsters yet.


In additions to these cute little furballs, we have bunnies! Penny gave birth to a large litter of 10 bunnies on June 2nd. I wanted to wait to see how things went before I announced this, as this is only her 2nd litter, and the first did not make it. Plus baby bunnies are pretty ugly. She has been a pretty good mom, but with such a large litter, we expected to lose some. So a little over a week in, I am feeling pretty confident that the 6 babies still alive are going to do pretty good. Fingers crossed at least!








Just think of all the fun colors we will get from their angora fiber. So soft and so pretty. We will keep posting on these little ones as they grow!

In addition to these babies, there are other little ones to report on...

I often get to go play with this little guy. Bo is the neighbor pup and just too cute. Who couldn't love that face?


And chicks! These are also the neighbors' little ones, and even though this picture is a little old now (ok, they are totally laying hens now, but hey) they are also cute, and they are what I hope to be adding to our our little FARM soon.



We are continually working on Fiberton and expanding our little operation. And sometimes it seems like we have bit off a little more than we can chew, but mostly it has been such a rewarding and eye opening experience. More soon!