Holiday Sale in the ArtFire store - and Store closing for the holiday season

I will be closing the Artfire store on November 24th and will reopen some time in January 2015. I will be spending December recovering from surgery and enjoying time with family and friends.

So, if there is something in the store that you've had your eye on, now is the time to snap it up! And, to sweeten the deal, I'm offering a 20% discount off everything in the store if you use coupon code HAPPY HOLIDAY20off!!!

Visit SplitRockRanch's Studio

SAVE 20% Off All Items

Use Coupon Code:

HAPPYHOLIDAY20OFF

during checkout.

Childrens Products

Some of the recently added items are:

Deep Sea Hand Crocheted Cardigan Sweater Vest

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10588923

A Fabulous Fall Fiber Combo

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10589187

Pastel Rainbow Hand Knitted Capelet in uber soft Optim Merino

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10547011

And a matching cowl in the same uber soft Optim Merino yarn

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10547004

How about an Outlander inspired cowl? Hand knitted

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10429858

Or, for spinning, felting or other fiber art, how about some incredibly luxurious fiber?

http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/10489515

All sales will help to pay for my upcoming medical bills.

Wishing you all a very happy holiday season!

Summer is over...

Labor Day is behind us and Summer is pretty much over. We had a wet summer for a change, which was nice because it was getting really old loading up all our crates and cages to be prepared for evacuation due to wildfires. Because of the moisture, we have so much green grass (and weeds) coming up all over the property. The llamas are loving the grass in the pastures this summer! The greenhouse looks like something from the movie Jumanji.

I didn't even plant everything that is coming up in the greenhouse! In the center front is a vine that is some kind of squash. I assume it must have come from the seeds/feed that I gave the duck and chicks when they were in the greenhouse this past Spring. I set a bag of seed potatoes on the ground after planting some outside and in a potato pot and when I tried to move the bag a couple of weeks later, the bag came up but there were potato plants growing on the ground! I just piled some soil over them and let them go (that's mostly what is in the center of the greenhouse.) At the far center back is a tomato plant that is almost a tree/bush! It is loaded with tomatoes and I hope I can keep the greenhouse warm enough to harvest them when they're ready. There's another vine on the left, under the shelving, that I didn't plant and I assume it must be squash, the same as or similar to the one growing up front. I need to harvest the hot banana peppers that are so big and numerous they're making the plant flop over (back by the big tomato plant.) I think I'll try making some salsa using the peppers, tomatoes, basil and cilantro (which I didn't plant but it is coming up inside and outside the greenhouse.)

Outside the greenhouse is another lush paradise just loaded with blooms and fruits.

I planted a rhubarb plant up front against the greenhouse and it got HUGE. The potatoes are to the right of the rhubarb. Behind that is a raspberry bush that grew well but didn't produce any fruit this year, which is fine because I'd rather the plant get well established this year so that it makes it through the winter and will hopefully produce next summer. There are two lavender plants back in there, along with cilantro (that I didn't plant), two rose bushes, three different types of mint, peas (which I need to harvest today!) and a blackberry bush that didn't grow a lot but it was bare root so those take longer to mature.

A few weeks ago I made a strawberry/rhubarb pie using store bought fresh strawberries and rhubarb from the garden and OMG was it delicious! Maybe I'll try making some strawberry rhubarb sauce and can it. Or, I may take some of the rhubarb and wash it, cut it up into chunks and freeze it for use later this winter.

Because of all the moisture this summer, hay prices dropped so we were able to put up enough hay to get us through the winter and paid about half of what we paid the past couple of years. Later this week I'll do another post showing our two new hay "barns". We sheared the goats this summer and they look so cute with their curly locks growing back in. We also hatched out some chicks and added a few more to our flock - I'll post about chicks and goats later this week, too.

I know I've been neglecting this blog lately. With the exception of the posts I've done regarding product reviews, I haven't done much. My right knee is bone on bone and I need a knee replacement so this summer I didn't do nearly as much as I normally do so there wasn't that much to blog about!

Thanks for visiting - I hope you had a great Summer and are ready for Fall!

Mega Mesh Screen Door Review

Wow - I wasn't sure about this product but I was selected to review it so I accepted and have been impressed with it.

I didn't want to put it on one of our regular sized doors because I didn't want the dogs and cats to get out. So, I installed it on our sliding glass door and it works beautifully. It is a bit longer than our door height but that wasn't an issue.

It installed easily with the included velcro strips. One continuous strip goes across the top and I installed that on the metal of the stationary portion of the sliding door. I then installed velcro strips along the right hand side on the stationary part of the door frame. I then installed several velcro strips on the edge of the sliding glass door when it was open almost all the way. I could then either have the door all the way open or only partially open.

The dogs learned how to go through it in about two minutes so I am now able to leave the sliding glass door open all the way or halfway without having a gazillion flies enter the house. There are magnets installed where the two pieces of mesh meet in the middle and they are powerful enough to come back together quickly and easily after going through the screen.

We have a screen door for the sliding glass door but it was destroyed by previous dogs and we never repaired and reinstalled it because we figured the dogs would just destroy it again. So, we haven't been able to leave the sliding glass door open except when they fly population is small(er). The dogs love to go in and out into the fenced back yard so this has been a perfect solution. The flies collect on the outside of the screen but very few enter the house. Win/Win!!!

This product can be purchased on Amazon.com here:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LLF7ZRO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you want additional information on the magnetic screen, you can go to http://www.megamesh.co/

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Wordless Wednesday

Our new greenhouse is up!!

We've been busy around here lately. We recently purchased a greenhouse from costco.com and it was delivered on Tuesday, May 7th. We had to tarp it and let it set for a few days while it rained. I'm not complaining about the rain because we need it so badly. I don't want another wildfire summer like last summer! Hubby had Friday May 10th off from work because he worked 16 hours on Monday of that week, so we started putting the greenhouse together. Holy crackers! 56 pages of instructions (that's on copy paper sized paper!!!) and a gazillion pieces and parts. O...M...G... We managed to get one end of it built that day before it started raining again. 

The next day we had a llama club meeting to attend and were gone all day. We went to a friend's ranch and looked at their angora and pygora goats (goat babies!!!) - but more on that in another post (I picked out a doeling and a buckling and hope to get them next month!)

Sunday was Mother's Day and our son-in-law offered to come up early and help with the greenhouse. Our daughter wanted to take some of her Breyer and Peter Stone model horses out of the closet of what used to be her bedroom but is now hubby's home office, and take them to their house. Woo hoo! Closet space! So, while we worked on packing up her things and hauling them out to the truck, the guys worked on the greenhouse. The plan was to work for a few hours and then head down the mountain to Colorado Springs to my parent's house to wish my Mom a happy Mother's Day and take a plant to her (Asiatic Lily in a gorgeous shade of persimmon, by the way). But, they got to a point in building the greenhouse where they felt they were committed to finishing it so that the wind couldn't destroy it before we had a chance to finish it. Our daughter and I went out and helped remove the protective plastic off the panels so the guys could install them into the walls and roof. We managed to get it finished! At least to the point where I could move a few plants out of my studio here in the house and into the greenhouse. 

Here is how it looked when it was almost finished.

The greenhouse has shelves the full length on both sides.

This gives me double the growing space in the greenhouse! I can put smaller potted plants on the shelves and larger pots on the ground below. Years ago an old neighbor in Colorado Springs gave us a fiberglass dome greenhouse which we never had a chance to put up and after years in the high altitude sun, we figured it was too frail to withstand the winds and heavy winter snows so we decided not to even attempt to put it back together. However, there are 12 fabulous fiberglass wedge shaped planting boxes that fit perfectly underneath the shelves. I'll get pics taken of those soon. We put those in today and I planted the remainder of the herb and veggie plants we purchased and most of the seeds. 

On Monday afternoon, we went to the hardware store and bought anchors so that we could secure the greenhouse frame to the railroad ties that we used to make a foundation for it. Once that was done, we removed the boards that we had placed on the ground and I started moving plants, pots, stepping stones, garden tools, etc. from a variety of places around the house and ranch. 

We planted lots of herbs: basil, feverfew, lemon balm, valerian, lemongrass, dill, cilantro and fennel - and veggies: kale and celery. Then today I planted garlic, shallot and red onion bulbs. And lots of seeds: lettuce, short carrots, mesclun mix, basil, chives, cilantro, sweet peppers, oregano and marjoram.

There is a 4'x4' area in front of the greenhouse that is filled with composted llama manure (the best soil and fertilizer ever!). We're going to put up lattice-work panels and will plant beans, cucumbers and peas and train them up the lattice. This will protect them from the deer, who tend to eat everything in sight around here! 

We had one tomato plant last summer that I grew in a large pot on the deck. By Fall, it still had green and almost ripe tomatoes on it so we brought it into the house and put it in my studio, which is actually what the house plans call "the breakfast room" off the kitchen. It has lots of windows and is in the northeast corner of the house so the lighting is pretty good. Apparently tomatoes love early morning sun. I assumed that we would pick the tomatoes once they were ripe and the plant would die off. I picked the tomatoes as they ripened and kept watering the plant. It kept growing. Then I noticed that it had blooms on it. And, a few weeks ago I noticed little green tomatoes. When I took a closer look, here is what I found.

In the last photo, take a close look and you'll see a bunch of green tomatoes! We were going to attempt to move the plant into the greenhouse but after looking at it closer, I realize that there is no way to move it without breaking off branches, which would be a shame since it is doing so well where it is at right now. I have some cherry tomato seeds which I'll just plant in a container in the greenhouse and see if we have any luck with them out there. 

And here are a few shots I just took of the plants in the greenhouse. We're going to be eating really well this summer! I can't eat anything but certified organic lettuce and leafy green veggies due to the pesticides that are used. I am so excited about being able to eat a salad again!

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the greenhouse tour!

Wordless Wednesday

Meet Our Newest Addition!

Wednesday I posted a teaser photo of our newest addition to the family. Everyone, meet Kodiak, our toy parti poodle! My sweet little girl, Gigi, went to The Rainbow Bridge on 4/1/11, just over a month shy of her 11th birthday. She was my BFF and I miss her terribly. She was a black toy poodle. I searched for months and months and months before I finally found her. I knew what I wanted but nobody had a black female toy poodle in our area. We got River, our standard poodle, a year ago but he immediately bonded with my husband. I adore him (the dog...well, I adore my hubby, too, but I'm talking about River here) and he likes me, too, but he is a Daddy's boy. And, I miss having a little dog sleeping with us in bed, snuggling and cuddling.

For months now I have been drooling over the parti poodles on Facebook bred by Bonnie at Dream Time Poodles in New Mexico. We finally made the decision to add one of her puppies to our family. It was between a sable male and this black and white male. I knew I wanted a male because our Australian Shepherd can be really "bitchy" (as in nasty female dog attitude) towards other female dogs. I kept coming back to photos of this puppy, named Larrikin or Larry at the time. Something about him kept drawing me back to him so we decided to get him.

We have named him Kodiak or Kodi for short. His sire's "call name" is Kobi so we thought this would be very appropriate. Kobi's registered name is Cowboy's Silver Ace and he is a UKC Champion and OMG what a stunning dog he is! He is a silver and white parti poodle and Kodiak should fade out from the black to silver as he ages. Their markings and color patterns are very similar so Kodi should look a lot like his sire when he's a little older.

Here are photos of Cowboy's Silver Ace aka Kobi (his sire)

And here is Kodiak

Is he a chip off the ol' block or what?!



Not only is he a real "looker", he is an absolute sweetheart, too.


Here Kodi is checking out the rabbit on our deck.

Thank you for visiting our blog. I am trying to do a better job of posting more often. Now that summer is over and I'm indoors more, I should have a better chance of sticking to my "promise"!

Wordless Wednesday

Another Original Design/Creation!

While looking for some yarns and threads in the stash in my office recently, I discovered a box of Interlacement's Big Loop Mohair Boucle yarns. The skeins are about 8 oz and the yarn is so soft and lustrous. I immediately grabbed a skein of the "Blues" colorway yarn and started casting on stitches. I was going to make a knitted scarf with it but I decided that this yarn would make a fabulous shawl because of the color, texture, softness and luster. Plus, knitting on big needles makes the fabric very stretchy. I knitted about a foot and then started increasing until I had triple the number of stitches on the needles. I knitted enough so that this wide section would completely hug your shoulders. Then I decreased at the other end, duplicating the other side. These narrower ends can then be tied together, looped over one another or fastened with a shawl pin as shown in one of the photos.

This shawl/wrap is my own design, created without the use of a pattern, making it a Split Rock Ranch Original Design One-of-a-Kind Creation!

Here is the shawl worn draped over the shoulders with the front flaps overlapped and secured with a shawl pin (not included - shown for demonstration only.)

 

Here is the back of the shawl when worn in this fashion.

 

You could also fold one side of the shawl over to form a "collar" and then loop the end flaps over one another.

Here is how the back looks when worn in this fashion. You can't see it very well, but the folded down portion forms a cute little "collar" and really helps to keep your neck warm!

Or pull the end flaps through a shawl or scarf ring to secure them at the front.

This could even be worn as a cowl/scarf by folding the center section in half and securing it around your neck. Or, wear it as a hood/scarf/neckwarmer by folding over a portion of the center section and then place it on your head and wrap the ends around your neck.Use your imagination with this versatile piece!

Here is a close up of the stitch and yarn detail - I just love the colors, luster and textures!

This scarf is available in my ArtFire store here.

Wordless Wednesday

I've Been Busy!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile but I've been busy. I think I have ADHD project syndrome. I can't be happy with just one project in the works. I need to have several going at once. I currently have a rug project in the works. I'm using some dark brown alpaca roving that is far too coarse to be used for next to the skin wear and I think even too coarse for outerwear so I am hand spinning it and crocheting it into a large round rug. I'm also hand processing some dark brown Icelandic wool and spinning that to incorporate into the rug.

I did finish some other projects recently though.

Here is a large wrap/shawl that I made using some novelty commercial yarns along with my handspun yarns. I love the colors and textures to this wrap/shawl! I called this piece "Autumn Splendor"

 

Autumn Splendor is available for sale in my ArtFire store.

I have also been doing a lot of spinning. I finally finished spinning the suri alpaca and Polwarth rovings from the Split Rock Ranch Fall Spin Along (I know...I'm way behind!)

Here are those yarns along with some lockspun yarns that consist of suri alpaca locks and yearling mohair locks, plied with metallic yarns.

I haven't listed all of these yarns yet because I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to sell them or use them in another project. I might just list everything and then whatever is still available in the store when I'm ready to start a new project, I'll pull from inventory and use. I think these yarns coordinate beautifully!

I also completed a custom dye order for someone but I'll do a new post later for those.

Thank you for stopping by!

Wildflower Shawl - My newest handmade creation!

I recently purchased some beautiful hand painted yarn that is a textural delight of 50% silk and 50% rayon spun into a textured boucle-type yarn and dyed in rose, cornflower blue, deep lavender and sage green; the colors remind me of a field of wildflowers blooming in a summer mountain meadow. The yarn is very soft and silky with a beautiful drape to it and incredible luster and shine.

I hand crocheted this shawl using the silk/rayon yarn. I used a butterfly wing shawl pattern so the resulting shawl resembles butterfly wings!

I am including a gorgeous silver toned scarf ring that you can slip the tips of the wings through to secure the shawl around your shoulders.

Here is a close-up of the scarf ring

And here is the back of the shawl

Or, you can wear the shawl "backwards" with the wings crossed behind the neck and secured back in the front, the tip of the shawl is pulled up and looped through the center top part of the shawl and then the wings are secured with the scarf ring to form a cozy cowl.

Or, wear the shawl turned 90 degrees so that the back is worn on one shoulder and the wings are secured at the other shoulder with a scarf ring or shawl pin.

Use your imagination to create lots of different looks with one gorgeous shawl!

The Wildflower Shawl is available for sale in our ArtFire store. Valentine's Day is next month and this shawl would be the perfect spring wrap for that special someone in your life!

Or, check out our Handmade Accessories section in the ArtFire store to see what else we have available.

I used the same yarn (50/50 silk/rayon) hand painted in shades of rose, mauve, orchid and tan to make this Old Rose ruffled spiral scarf.