What's Fiberton Acres Up to in 2020?

First and foremost, Happy New Year everyone!  I am excited for 2020...which has already been quite exciting!

The new year finds me in Colorado for a couple months or so for shearing bison hides.  Bison fiber has unique qualities and is crazy warm (as it is their winter coat that we shear) and makes for some awesome gloves, hats and socks.  And it is a great way for me to become more adept at shearing!

Which brings me to....

What's Fiberton Acres Up to in 2020?

I don't like making resolutions.  But I do like making goals.  These are my goals for 2020!

1) Shearing, baby!

• The next 5-6 months are going to be filled with shearing!  I am shearing bison hides for the next couple months, and then on to assisting Shorn Shearing Service in alpaca shearing.  I help hold the animal while it is shorn, and this year my goal is to get better at shearing myself.  I am feeling more confident all the time (thanks to great training from Shorn) and hope to be semi-fluent in alpaca shearing by the end of the shearing season!

2) Do a freakin' pull-up and train for a run...

• Shearing has gotten me into the best shape of my life.  With that, my goal is to be able to do a pull-up!  I am hitting the gym fairly frequently and hope to hit the one pull-up mark by mid-year! I've also been thinking that learning to rock climb may help me reach that goal, too...  It has also been too long since I have trained for a decent length run.  So that is gonna happen this year, too!

3) More travel!

• This year I have a goal to visit a new country.  I plan on taking the ol' van to new places, checking out cool new places with shearing, and checking out a new country.  I have been lucky to go to Australia...the next one I really want to visit is a South American country, but I also have never been to Canada, so I have a good back up plan. 

4) But also more gardening...

• I realize though that I also need something that grounds me, and putting my hands in the dirt and getting to grow something is a big deal for me.  So this year I will be begging friends to let me come play in their yards in return for some veggies. :)

5) Revamp the Etsy Shop...

• And the Etsy Shop will be undergoing a bit of a ravamp!  It will focus on products and tools for yarn crafters, including organizing solutions, knitting needles and crochet hooks, drop spindles, yarn bowls, kits, new yarn packs and more!  These changes will happen over the next few months, and I will make sure to let you know as they happen.  I will still do custom handmade knit and crochet items but they will be by custom order only.  Just contact me through the Etsy Shop with your ideas!

What are your goals in 2020?  I love sharing my goals, as it makes me feel more accountable.  I would love to hear what you will be working toward in 2020!

I leave you with this.  I can't find who to give credit to for this awesome quote/image.  But it is pretty much my fav.

- Ash

New Year, New Hustle...and special 2017 manifesto download!

First...Happy New year!  We hope you had a great first couple days of the year.  Admittedly, 2016 brought a LOT of change for us at Fiberton, and we have had to work really hard to keep ourselves treading water.  But we are also looking forward to the New Year as that marker for sitting down, an figuring our priorities and coming up with a new game plan.

The last several years I have been making a "Manifesto" for the year.  Something nice to look at, that I can hang on the wall, and that reminds me of the things that we want to work toward. Some of the things are just reminders to self about being 'yourself' and others are larger concepts or plans for the business.  These are personal and business goals and aspirations for the year...aka, how we wanna hustle this year:

Here is a pic of it hanging up... (tiny home = awkward photo angles)

I made it 8x10, so I could easily print and then frame it for all to see.  I love sharing, because it creates a bit of accountability, too.

So, want to make your own? We have created a special downloadable blank manifesto for you! Maybe you have been practicing your hand lettering, and want to fill it in by hand?  Then download the PDF version here. Or you want to drop it into a doc or drawing program and make it your own.  In that case, download the png image here, and draw your own text boxes in the spaces. (We used google draw and used their fun open source fonts. Just make sure that you format the page to be a 8x10.) Either way, we hope it inspires you to make some reminders/aspirations for your new year. (Oh, and don't forget to unclick "fit to page" when you go to print!)

Thanks for being our awesome readers, and let's all get that hustle on!

Ash

PS - If you have not had a chance, or you want to hear about the crazy year I spoke of above in our own voices, please check out our podcast!  Just look up Fiberton Acres on your preferred podcast platform. like iTunes, Stitcher, etc, and subscribe, OR you can go direct by clicking here!

Looking into the future - a.k.a. - New Year's Manifesto

As we wind down the year, I have been thinking about our new year ahead, as well as the hopes and goals for our business and lives.

But I can't set normal resolutions.  It is impossible to stick to them.  It makes me feel bad or make some excuse for why it was a stupid resolution when I don't stick to it.  A while back, I found another blog (which is sadly down right now) which they showed their beautiful manifesto for the new year.  It was perfect for me!

So I have tried each year since to create my own manifesto.  It is something to hang on the wall to remind us of things we want to try for or try out.  I love Google Drawing, so I went in and put this little ditty together, and we would love to share it with you.

I will be printing one on nice paper and hanging in the house where I can peek at it from time to time to remind myself of the things I want to do.

We hope it inspires you to think about things you'd like to do more of, try out or just the small things that make you happy that you want to infuse into your new year.

Ash