Hubby and I have been fortunate enough to get to know  Matt and Ang  and their family from Maple Valley Off Grid Farm.  Their farm is about 45 minutes from us.  Scott and I stayed at the off-grid cottage this spring, with the promise we would come again and bring the entire family.  Last weekend we had plans to do just that.  To my surprise I got a call Friday afternoon from Ang saying that they really needed to re-schedule our visit, because in about 45 minutes a film crew was going to be at their farm to film them for an up coming episode of The Anderson Cooper Show and then the entire family was heading to New York to be on his show!!  She asked us to keep it under wraps until everything was all said and done.  Well they are home from New York, and will be on his show this Tuesday!  Local here in Michigan it is on 4p.m.  You really need to check this out and get a glimpse of this really neat family!  Here is the link to his show www.andersoncooper.com

This is 100% angora that I dyed yesterday with cake dye gels and then carded this afternoon.  Hopefully I will have time to spin some up tonight!!   I LOVE these two colors together.  I took the pictures with my camera, so the color isn't great, but don't you just want to run your fingers through it?!

The fiber bug has bit!  I have been dying and spinning like crazy the past couple of weeks.  I spun 6 different skeins just this week.  I am really having some fun playing with dye and color combinations.

This pattern was passed down to me from Hubby's Grandma.   Grandma Mc. made these for years (way back into the 70's) and eventually the hand work in them got too much for her so she passed the pattern down to me.  I have made many of these over the last 10 years.  I have Grandma's handwritten list of all the ones she has made and when.  I wish I would have thought to be that diligent, but wasn't.  I still have some of Grandma's "customers" ordering them from me.  One lady in particular calls me with an order every time a family member is married or has a baby.  I think her entire extended family has these.  If you would like to order one please e-mail me.  They are hand crocheted and sewn.  They make wonderful gifts for Christmas, weddings, or babies.  $65.00

We had a wonderful time on our quick jaunt to Mackinaw Island this week!  This is the first time we have stayed up there in the fall.  Next weekend the island tourism season shuts down, and we were expecting it to be very quiet and cold up there this week, we were so wrong!  It was the most beautiful weather we have ever had (we usually go in May, and the last time we were there had to buy winter hats and mittens:), not this year! It was close to 70 the whole time.  It was also packed!  I think we have all been somewhat lied to about the Michigan economy, which is supposed to be BAD.  Someone forgot to tell the island hoppers that!  Hubby and I may have been in the 10% group of "youngest on the island".  There were ALOT of senior citizens there, not the young ones either!  There were folks with canes doing the tours (which was awesome to see)!  We were supposed to come back Tuesday night to the city and stay, but we decided just to spend the extra time on the island. The