Top EntreCard Droppers for February

A big Thank You to the top EntreCard droppers for February!

Youniquely Chic
Limitless Adventure
Robin's Nest: Scrap out loud
A Rose By Name
BeadedTail
Stroll Through Storyland
Unique You
InspirationbyKaren
time2cre8
Melissas Jewelry and Gem Blog

Please take the time to check out these blogs and you'll find some very talented crafters and artists! Enjoy!

Meet my Magnificent Maggie Mae!

I have finally found "The One"! Her name is Maggie Mae and she is a beautiful bay 10 year old Appendix Quarter Horse mare. Maggie Mae is gentle, sweet, level headed, respectful, smart and pretty much everything I was looking for in my dream horse. My Peruvian Paso, Tango, passed away suddenly right before Christmas in 2007 and I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to get another horse. I even debated selling our Arabian mare, Jazz (who is hubby Jim's horse even though he bought her for me - Jazz and I don't see eye to eye since I don't put up with her Diva BS!) and not having any horses except for our 29 year old POA mare who has earned her right to a forever home here, but that's a story for another post! Over the past year I have browsed the on-line horse selling sites, the main one being AgDirect where I signed up to be notified any time a horse matching my search criteria was listed. So far, nothing looked even remotely interesting and certainly all far from my "perfect horse". I had a budget to stick to, too, which made my search even more difficult. Long story short(er) I finally stumbled on to CraigsList for Colorado Springs and found an ad for a trail horse and clicked through to the CL ad which had another link for Equine Partnership where I then found two horses - one of which was Maggie Mae. I showed the link to Jim and after he watched the videos of Maggie he told me to call them right away and ask if she was still available (this was Super Bowl Sunday mind you). I called Erin and made arrangements to head down to her place right away - turns out she only lives an hour south of us. We spent over 3 hours visiting with Erin and getting to know Maggie Mae. I had not ridden Tango since October 2004 when I took a really bad fall that sent me to ER and then I was on crutches and hobbling for weeks - with a sprained butt (who sprains their butt for heaven's sake?!) I was very nervous on Maggie Mae but she was a perfect little lady - did I mention she can be ridden with nothing but a halter?! We made the decision that Maggie Mae was indeed "The One" and put a deposit on her that day and picked her up the next weekend.

I can highly recommend Erin Howell of Equine Partnership if you're looking for a horse (Erin acts as a broker for others wanting to find new homes for their horses) or if you're looking for a riding instructor. Erin is a Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor who believes in building a partnership with your equine friend. She very graciously offered me a free lesson on her horse, Jude, the day we went to pick Maggie Mae up. She helped me to get past that mental block I had after suffering the injuries on my last ride and feel comfortable in the saddle again. I still need to work on building my confidence but Erin told me " You are a good rider, with impeccable balance and position" which made me feel so good about my basic riding abilities. Her beliefs and training methods are so similar to what I use myself when working with our horses and llamas, I was immediately drawn to her. Here is a link to her website, you should check her out: http://www.equinepartnershiperin.com/

So, I will be sharing more pics of Maggie Mae and updates on her and our journey together. I'm even thinking of starting a new blog just for Maggie Mae - Me and Maggie Mae's Magnificent Journey - or something to that effect. I have no plans for competing or doing anything amazing with Maggie Mae, I just wanted a horse that I could love and trust and ride without fear of being dumped and injured. And Maggie Mae fits the bill...perfectly.

I'm in another Treasury on Etsy!

My Quiet Reflection handspun yarns are in a Treasury put together by Ixela. Thank you for including me!

Peace Rose and Coral Rose Fibers - in Etsy Store

Today I listed three batches of fiber in my etsy store. All were dyed in the same dye pot using the space dyed method. I used Salmon, Sunny Yellow and Scarlet and 50/50 Superwash Merino/Soy Silk roving. One roving came out with a lot more coral and pink tones - so it became Coral Rose. One roving came out with peach/salmon/pink/yellow tones and it became Peace Rose. Some of the roving was in shorter pieces or the pieces became very wispy in the dye pot so I carded those up with some sunny lemon yellow superwash wool top to create the Peace Rose OOAK Custom Fiber Blend batts - two available. I love these colors together (in case you couldn’t already tell!) ;o)

I Finally Snagged a Treasury!! Singin' The Blues

Singin' the Blues - chosen by Split Rock Ranch

Enjoy!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Equine Bliss

Hand Crocheted Wool and Silk Capelet - Fireside

This beautiful little capelet, shoulder warmer, collar, mini-shawl is hand crocheted using a gorgous high luster, ultra-soft hand-dyed wool and silk singles yarn. It fastens with a wooden button and can be fastened in a variety of different places along the capelet to fit many different sizes.

The capelet is 9 inches from the neckline to the tip of the scalloped edges. It would be gorgeous worn over a turtleneck shirt or sweater or use as a little shawl over that little black dress. The colors are gorgeous - golds, burgundy, bronze, orange, rust and brown. It would be beautiful worn with cream, gold, burgundy, deep forest green, rust, brown, black or gray.

Dry clean or hand wash in cool water, lay flat to dry. Do not twist or wring.

For sale in my etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21133801

Etsy Treasury - Spring is Coming!

I am part of the Etsy Felting Team and team member Olga from kokonok in Heidelberg Germany snagged a Treasury spot and featured items from the felting team. My Green Apple mohair locks are in the treasury - thank you Olga!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=43468

Here's a pic of the Green Apple Locks up close. These mohair locks make beautiful doll hair or are perfect for a reroot. Lots of people use these locks to reroot their Blythe dolls. I have two batches of these locks available - both are 2 ounces but one batch has locks that have carefully been separated from the rest of the fleece and laid flat to dry, the other batch has locks that have not been separated.

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day from the kitties at Split Rock Ranch!

Wishing you all loads of love, kisses, hugs & snuggles today.

Dyed Fleeces Now Available in Etsy Store!

I have been dyeing wool fleeces over the past couple of weeks, trying to get some of my enormous fleece stash sold and shipped to make room for more fleeces since shearing season will be here before we know it.

These fleeces are perfect for spinning, wet felting, needle felting, fiber art or even doll hair.

The latest fleeces are:

Field of Clover - Lincoln

Lincoln fleece with longer staple length of 5+" dyed in the kettle using Sky Blue, Emerald and Sunny Yellow to create a gorgeous green/blue fleece that I named Field of Clover. I split this fleece into two parts in my etsy store - each batch weighs 5.9 oz for a total of 11.8 oz if you purchase both batches. Here is the link to that listing: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20933354

Bronzed Burgundy - Border Leicester

Border Leicester fleece with a staple length of about 4" dyed in the kettle using Burgundy, Golden Yellow and Burnt Orange - a variation of my Bronzed Burgundy colorway - very rich and elegant and one of my most popular colorways. Again, I split this fleece into two parts in my etsy store - each batch weighs about 6.3 oz for a total of 12.6 oz if you purchase both batches. Here is the link to that listing: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_1&listing_id=20931507

Wordless Wednesday

Okay, almost wordless - Precious is tired after helping me with fibers (she's using a lingerie bag that I use for washing and rinsing fibers as her pillow)

Peace Rose - Crocheted and Felted Hat

Split Rock Ranch One-of-A-Kind Original

PEACE ROSE

Designer Hat Hand Crocheted and Felted from Wool Yarn with Novelty Needle Felted Wool Locks Hatband

This gorgeous designer hat was hand crocheted from 100% wool yarn in salmon, pink and coral colors then slightly fulled/felted, then hand finished and shaped. It has a needle felted hat band made from hand dyed border leicester locks and a rolled brim. The BL locks were dyed in yellow, pink and vermillion and those colors blended to create some beautiful deep orange colors, as well. I hand selected small batches of matching locks and needle felted them in layers around the entire brim of the hat. The inside of the hat measures approximately 25 inches and can stretch to accomodate a larger head. There is a hand crocheted band made from matching wool yarn woven through the hat just under the hatband to allow sizing of the hat.

The colors used on this hat remind me of the beautiful Peace Rose, hence the name Peace Rose!

Available for sale in my etsy store:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20683600

New Ltd Edition Custom Fiber Blend - Monet Water Lilies

Limited Edition Luxury Custom Fiber Blend

MONET - WATER LILIES

This Limited Edition Custom Fiber Blend reminds me of a Monet painting - Water Lilies (with not quite so much dark blue) but certainly all the flower colors: yellow, pink, coral, orange, blue, green and purple. Gently blended on my drum carder. Very soft and lofty. All the fibers used in the fiber blend are custom dyed by various fiber artists.

Fiber Content:

75% Soft Merino wool

25% Bamboo

2.0 oz in one beautiful lofty ultra-soft batt. Three batts available at time of listing.

Wordless Wednesday

Entrecard - Top Droppers for January

The top ten EntreCard droppers for January are:

Limitless Adventure 26
Cat Lovers Site 25
Three Fates Design - Beaded Jewelry 25
Silver Sachet 24
BeadedTail 23
time2cre8 23
Simply Shiny Blog 21
Lenox Knits 21
Youniquely Chic 21
The Copper Cauldron 20

Be sure to check these blog sites out. You'll find pets, jewelry, knit/crochet, soaps, fashion, etc. Thank you to all these bloggers!

I haven't been dropping cards for the past three days. I spent Saturday and Sunday shopping for a horse (which I found by the way! She comes home this Saturday - but that's another blog post) I tried to get on EntreCard last night and it was very slow. So I tried again this morning, it was slow and then I got an error message that said there was an issue with EC and to try again in 10 minutes. Now it is incredibly slow again. So, instead of dropping well over 100 cards in a day, I have only managed to drop just under 20 cards so far today. I don't know if it is an Entrecard issue or my computer. I have high speed internet service so I cannot even begin to imagine the frustration level of anyone unfortunate enough to still have dial-up! Anyone else care to let me know if EC has been slow for them lately? If not, I'll have to delete cookies, etc. off my computer again. With all the blogs I visit on a daily basis my computer is probably loaded down with saved "stuff".