Author: Lisa Check

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Farm Yarn Highlight–Synergy

Have you thought to yourself? “I would really love to spin my own yarn someday. I love the way that handspun yarn looks with the colors mixing in the ply.” Your second thought might be….. I don’t need another hobby. Or when would I find time to learn that?

black and brown marled yarn

Synergy solves that.  It gives you the look of handspun, with the marling or barberpole look of handspun. And you didn’t have to learn a new skill or buy new equipment.

red violet marled yarn

This yarn was made from Merino fleeces source by our shearer. It is 100% merino and of course it’s NON-superwash. It is next to the skin soft and can be used for sweaters, tops, hats, gloves and so much more. The yarn naturally stripes. It appears to be hand spun without all the work of spinning it yourself.

red and blue marled yarn

100% merino  2ply  Most skeins have 200 yards in a 4 oz skein. Jasper (and the colorways that come from it) have slightly less yardage. Caribbean (and the colorways that come from it) have more yardage and are a DK weight.

Click here to get some for yourself!!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Introducing Shawlcraft Trios

Do you have a hard time picking out yarns that will go together for a shawl project? Maybe you have 2 skeins that work and you keep trying to find that one more skein that will make the other two sing. I have made Shawlcraft Trios just for you!.

3 skeins in viral colors

These sets take most of the guesswork away from your yarn buying adventures. You will not experience decision fatigue because I have put together skeins that will work beautifully together. 

These are sets of 3 fingering weight yarn skeins that are curated by me to go together into a wonderful project.  There are 1200 yards in these packages which is enough to make a variety of projects.  You could make a wonderful colorful shawl or even a sleeveless tee. 

3 skeins in neutrals

All you have to do is add needles, the pattern and the enthusiasm to start a new project. Just go to your Ravelry app and search for projects that take 1200 yards of fingering weight yarn and you will have hundreds, even thousands of projects to choose from.   Click here to see your options

Posted on by — Leave a comment

New Podcast Episode: A Conversation with Janet Garman

I had a great time talking to Janet about being a fiber farmer and learning to dye with natural dyes. She talked about her journey from getting fiber animals to making yarn and dyeing it and now as a publisher of farming and animal oriented books. It’s a great talk and I hope you love it! Click on the photo below to listen or listen wherever you listen to podcasts from iTunes to Spotify.

Prefer to watch? You can watch on my YouTube video here.

You can find more from Janet at her website. Click here for that.

The publishing company is Sawdust Publishing. Find that here.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

A Special Episode of the Podcast!

In this episode I talk to Amy DuFault. She is the organizer of the Southeastern New England Fibershed as well as the Director of Sustainability for Botanical Colors. We had a fascinating conversation about all kinds of things. It started out as a talk about how to naturally dye while traveling. We also veered into all kinds of other topics. We had a great time. I hope you enjoy it too. You can listen to it wherever you listen to podcasts and even as a video podcast on Spotify. Find it here.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Lots of New Episodes for the Podcast

The new season of the Flying Goat Podcast is all about Natural Dyeing. Each episode highlights one dye material and one of our great farm yarns. Here’s what you’ve missed so far:

Episode 1: Natural Dyeing 101 Episode 2: Foraging, Cultivating or Free Trade Episode 3: Raw materials, extracts and liquid dyes Episode 4: Kitchen and Food Waste Dyes and Episode 5: Planting a Dye Garden just dropped today.

I’ve taught about Cochineal, Madder, Osage, Black Walnut, and Avocado skins and pits.

We’ve looked at our Livily yarn, Fingal II, Yearling Mohair, Polypay Wild and Livily Bounce

You don’t like to just listen? I get that…. I’m a visual person as well. I lose focus on just recorded podcasts or audiobooks. You can also watch the podcast on our You Tube channel.

I hope you tune in and find out about this low impact way to color our textiles. Colors that are climate beneficial and yarns that have a really low carbon footprint.

Listen to the podcast here or on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts. Or watch here.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

New Season of the Podcast!

This season is all about Natural Dyes. How to grow them, How to forage for them, How to use them and How to take care of your naturally dyed fabrics. Each episode also includes a Dye highlight and a farm yarn highlight. You can subscribe on iTunes or Spotify. And listen on whatever podcast that you enjoy! Three episodes have already dropped. You can find them here!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

New Classes Added: Indigo Shibori Classes

Come to the farm and learn how to prepare your cotton napkins in the Japanese Shibori way. You will dip and dye in the indigo pot for truly unique cloth napkins for your own table or for your very best friend. You will leave with a set of 4 indigo dyed napkins that you made yourself. You will go from a blank canvas to beautiful napkins for your table or for a gift.

This class starts at 1:30pm and ends 3:30-4pm

Want to book an indigo party? Just gather 2-4 friends and we’ll pick a date that works for you. You can make it a birthday party, a retirement party or just a great day at the farm with your friends.

There is a 2 student minimum for this class.  If the 2 person minimum is not met, you will receive a refund through Paypal.  Cancellations with refund will be accepted  to 14 days prior to the class and are non-refundable after that date.

Instructor Bio:

Lisa has been dyeing for over 30 years. She started her dye explorations by dyeing warps for ikat weavings. She taught these techniques all over Los Angeles. After moving to Maryland and buying the farm, she has concentrated on dyeing yarn and spinning fiber for sale. Her expertise in dyeing shows in her colorways and expertise in all systems of dyeing.

Click here to enroll

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Last Podcast of Season 4

In this podcast, Lisa talks about the clothing challenges sponsored around the nation and the world by Fibershed affiliates. There are small challenges that focus on just one type of garment, such as gloves or a pair of socks. There are others that expect a 3 piece outfit made by one person or a team.

Chesapeake Fibershed decided to make their challenge as inclusive as possible. So we broadened the concept to include home textiles such as quilts and rugs and pillows. And you can participate whether you make a huge project, an outfit or even a hat. We also have 3 “streams” of participation depending on what your raw materials are.

You can read about it here. And if you live within 150 miles of the DC-Baltimore Metro area, you can join our challenge by completing the form here.

Would you rather watch the podcast? You can find it here.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Answers to your Natural Dye Questions

In this episode of the Flying Goat Farm podcast, I talk about the benefits and pitfalls of natural dyes. I also help you with questions about how to use these yarns effectively in a pattern. And once you’ve invested in naturally dyed yarn, fabric or clothing, how should you take care of them so they are part of your wardrobe for the longest time.

You can listen to the episode here. Or you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Prefer to watch? You can tune in here on YouTube.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

A Fibershed Conversation with Marian Bruno

A new episode dropped today. It’s my Fibershed Conversation with Marian Bruno. We talk about our creative journeys and we talk about how to move from fast fashion to slow, local fashion in a mindful way. We talk a lot about some influential books as well. You can find the podcast here. Or subscribe on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Would you rather watch us? You can find that here on YouTube. You can find the book list here.