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Meduseld Yarns Now Available in Edinburg!

We are very excited to announce that Meduseld yarns are now also available for sale at The Shop on Mainstreet in charming Edinburg, Virginia. I had the opportunity to meet Joan Reistetter, owner, yesterday and to tour her lovely shop. Filled with eye candy in every nook, her store carries antiques, silver, jewelry, and of course, an entire room deidcated to yarn and knitting. If you are seeking rare, exquisite buttons for your next sewing project, she also has one of the largest collections of those I have ever seen. Please visit her Facebook page for more information. The Shop on Main Street

You can now purchase Meduseld Yarns through three locations – online through our store, at The Shop on Main Street, as well as at the Market at Silver Lake Farms. The Market at Silver Lake farm opened the first weekend of June and speciallizes in selling crafts from local artists, as well as local produce from their farm and others, and some seriously good steaks! The Market at Silver Lake Farms

Much of our inventory is running low or out of stock due to high demand. Contact me directly if there are specific yarns or colors you are seeking so that we can customize future mill orders. This year’s fleeces will be going in soon! Thank you for your support!

Meduseld

Spring Inspired Rovings

Here at Meduseld we will not be daunted by this latest March snow storm.  We are determined to usher in Spring and its vibrant, cheerful shades.

Charlotte and I have been dying some gorgeous Romney roving in splendid Spring shades and we are delighted with the results!

Romney Roving - "Jetstream"

Romney Roving – “Jetstream”

Brilliant sapphire blue with teals, purple, red coral and green.  So much fun in one roving :)  Here is a closeup:

Romney Roving "Jetstream"

Romney Roving “Jetstream”

You can buy Jetstream in our store here.

Another splendid blend we are calling Copacabana, named after the famous beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Romney Roving "Copacabana"

Romney Roving “Copacabana”

Bright colors of the tropics and Carnival blended into a beach beige background.

Romney Roving "Copacabana"

Romney Roving “Copacabana”

Copacabana is available at this link.

Our third roving is inspired by our dominant Peacock, Beau.  He is best friends with Beauty and Beautiful.  Despite the cool weather, he has already grown his splendid tail for the Spring, and it trying to impress the ladies.

Romney Roving "Beau"

Romney Roving “Beau”

Romney Roving "Beau"

Romney Roving “Beau”

This roving can be found in Meduseld’s store here.

Coming soon – Macaw

Lambs 2015

We have had some more lambs the last few days.  Here is an angelic darling born this morning.  Her mother is a Jacob-Shetland cross named Elsa, and her sire is Samson, a very friendly Romney.

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Here is another photo of Aslan, who was born a month ago.  He has already grown a good deal and is looking very fit.

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We have been liming the pastures and will be over-seeding them with mixed pasture grasses and legumes.  The legumes fix nitrogen in the soil and provide more diverse grazing for the sheep.  February and March are good months for doing this since with the thawing ground the animals can “hoof it in.”  In other words, the sheep’s hooves press the seeds into the ground and save us from having to till the seeds into the earth.

The groundhog saw his shadow last week, but I don’t believe him.  The birds are making spring calls outside already, and the geese have been mating on the pond.  Hoping for an early Spring :)

 

 

We are off to Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival!

Goodness, gracious we have been busy, but we are finally packed and ready to drive to the Berryville Fairgrounds and set up our booth.  Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival this weekend in Berryville!

 

Here is the link with details and directions.  http://www.shenandoahvalleyfiberfestival.com/

 

Please make a point of coming by Meduseld’s booth to say hello!

 

Here is a teaser of some of the products we have this year :)

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Long Island Project Assist Autism Knit-a-Thon – Yarn on Sale!

Meduseld has donated yarn for the 6th Annual Long Island Project Assist Knit-a-thon.  Here is the description from The Village Knitter group on Ravelry.

Sunday, June 8th Knit-a-Thon! Long Island Project Assist will be sponsoring their Sixth Annual Knit-a-Thon at the shop to raise awareness and donations for the developmentally disabled and autistic population they service. Come join us or make a donation directly online. Long Island Project Assist supports the YAI Network and works hard to ensure that people with developmental and learning disabilities have access to the support and services that they need to live productive, independent and healthy lives.

In honor of the event, the two yarns Meduseld has donated will be on sale in the Meduseld store.  They are two of the sport weight Romney yarns in Monet’s Reflection  and  Monet’s Winter Sunset.  Normally $13.50 a skein, they are now only $10.00 each until June 10, 2014, or until stock runs out, whichever occurs first.

If you’d like to donate directly to the Knit-A-Thon, use this link.

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2014 Lambs for Sale

Meduseld had lovely lambs again this spring and we are making some of them available for those who would like to purchase diverse breeds with good fleeces.

Blue-eyed Friesian Cross

Blue-eyed Friesian Cross

Breeds represented include Romney and Romney crosses, Dorset Down Crosses, Friesian crosses, and Jacobs.  The Romney are known for their luxurious shiny wool.  The Dorset Downs are not to be confused with Dorset meat sheep.  The Dorset Downs produce an exceptionally soft wool.  The Friesian are dairy sheep with soft, shorter fleeces and they have contributed to the soft yarn made here.  Finally, the Jacobs and Jacob crosses show the characteristic spots as well as resistance to parasites.

Romney

Romney

Some of these are extremely tame bottle fed babies, and others have been raised here by their mothers.   White, black and spotted sheep are available.  All have been wormed.  Prices range from $100 to $350.

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Please call (304) 496-9502 to set up an appointment to see our lambs!

 

 

 

 

New Yarn Soon!

Just got off the phone with the yarn mill, and they told me my yarn is ready to ship here!  Very excited.  This is a new three ply sports weight made with Friesian and Dorset wool!

Will post photos, and there may be a contest involved…..

Stay tuned!

Alpaca Romney Bulky – Back in Stock!

I am thrilled to announce that Meduseld’s Bulky Alpaca Romney is back in stock!  Whew!  This is a highly popular natural brown blend that flies off our shelves.  We have limited production of this yarn since I use the same two fleeces each year to make it – one a natural brown alpaca and the other a natural grey brown Romney ewe.  Their blend yields a luxurious, shiny yarn.

Meduseld's Alpaca Romney Yarn

Meduseld’s Alpaca Romney Yarn

This yarn is so squeezably soft, wonderful for warm winter knits, and perfect for this time of year.  This yarn has no itch factor and is sutable for garments that touch your skin.  For some reason I cannot explain, it is darker this year than last, looking more like a rich dark chocolate.

This year's blend is darker, on left

This year’s blend is darker, on left

 We only have five pounds of this yarn, so supply is again very limited.  Each 250 yard skein weighs approximately 8.7 ounces – over half a pound!  They are $30.00 each, the same price as last year.  You can find them in our store here!

Gratefully,

Patricia

Spinner Alert! New Rovings!

Meduseld is still suffering from internet problems from AT&T, so keep your fingers crossed that everything uploads.  While AT&T was generous with a credit for the inconvenience for the problems caused by their tower, the situation has still not been solved.  Please accept our apologies!  Very frustrating, to say the least!

I have been admiring these lovely rovings and hoping to get them listed.  I am profiling some of the ones that are being added to our store and wish there were some way you could feel these through your screens!  They are so lovely!  They would make excellent Christmas presents, too, especially since they don’t break in shipping :)

Some of these rovings did not come from the sheep on our farm.  I have explored other sheep’s fleeces in the past in order to help decide what types to add to our flocks, and these are the results of that research. 

The first is a delightful and unusual naturally colored Shetland.  The color is called “moorit” (not by me, by the Shetland people) due to the reddish fawn tints that it has.  The animals that can produce this shade have to have specific genes for this.  Evidently, they are docile, hardy sheep.  A limited amount of this roving is available in our store here.

NO INTERNET ACCESS

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Shetland Roving ‘Moorit”

The next is another lovely light grey Shetland roving .  I hope the photo will do justice to the lovely subtle shading.  It is also very soft and would make a lovely worsted or bulky yarn.

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Grey Shetland Wool

Grey Shetland Wool

We have four ounces of Gotland wool roving.  It is a pewter grey and has a silkier feel then you’d expect for a natural colored wool.  This has against-your-skin softness.  You can learn more about Gotland sheep at the American Gotland Sheep Society.  You can see the subtle sheen in this fibre, and even hints of warm brown.  

Gotland Wool Roving

Gotland Wool Roving

NO INTERNET ACCESS

I only have the patience to load one more roving today!  This is worse than being on dial-up! 

The final one is five ounces of a sumptuous  Wensleydale.   I WANT ONE.  I mean a Wensleydale sheep.  You have to google this sheep and look at pictures of it with locks cascading over their eyeballs.  Too cute.  Well, that gorgeous high-sheen fiber is what you get in this five ounce bag of braided roving.  Toss-up if you want to spin it or just admire it :)

Wensleydale Wool Roving

Wensleydale Wool Roving

 Thanks to everyone for hanging there until these internet complications are over.