Spinning_Diva's--Fiber Arts Hub

                                                         A Woman with a Dream

My name is Jet and I live on a farm in WA State called Celtic Crossroads. We moved here from Northern California because of work, but also I wanted to raise fiber animals so I could spin this fiber into yarn. This was a dream of an 8 yo girl so visited a farm with her father and sisters and fell in love with the whole idea. I came into the fiber arts when I was 4 yo when my Grandmother taught me to crochet. I crocheted a bib for my soon-to-be-born baby sister. The bib had a little chick on it, so I finished it and gave it to her right after she was born. I learned to knit at 6 years old from a high school senior who came over to baby sit the 3 of us. Then a friend of my Aunt's came over and taught me how to crochet. I could only do the basics at that point, but I bought a book and taught myself the rest.

I learned to spin because I was tired of not finding the right kind of yarn for my knit or crochet projects. Granted there is more yarn now than there's ever been, but it wasn't the kind I wanted. So, I create my own yarn and make wonderful toys and garments, purses and baby clothes, pet coats and home decor items. I had never been happier in my life, but I still wasn't quite satisfied. I wanted my own fiber animals so I could control everything from the way they were raised to the finished yarn and project.

That is how our farm, Celtic Crossroads, came to be. I began to spin in earnest and soon had more yarn than I could ever use. My very supportive husband suggested that I sell what I made. I didn't believe that what I made was good enough to sell, so he suggested I enter my yarn at a local sheep and wool festival, which I did. The first year I entered was the year I learned (1999) to spin. I won first and third place ribbons (blue and yellow for those of you who never entered a skein competition at a fair or festival) for a skein of alpaca and a skein of Icelandic yarn respectively. I was so happy I won anything at all, but to win a blue ribbon my first year out made me ecstatic. In addition, I taught my first spinning class to 8 people (1 man and 7 women). When I entered the competition and taught the class, I had only been spinning since May and the festival was in July. Everything I was taught was still fresh in my mind so it was easy to teach them. Some of those students entered the same competition as I entered the very next year and won a ribbon or two themselves, so I knew what I was teaching was working.

Now, it's 10 years later. We have our farm and our fiber animals. I still spin a lot, but I also knit and crochet, felt and dye, and occasionally weave a few things. Everything I make now goes to be sold at the local farmers market and in the off time from the market, I sell from my little shop in the foyer of my home.

As read this, don't think that my life perfect--it's not, but it is the life I've chosen. Never having been raised on a farm, I didn't realize what I was getting into because I had "glamorized" what living on the land was like (you can thank the people from the 1960 and early 1970's for that with the back-to-the-land movement). All I can say is that this: It's hard to be chic when you are shoveling sheep sh*t. I won't say that I don't have time to ever dress up and look nice, I do. For the most part, I wear jeans and am grubby at least 60% of the time. I raise vegetables to feed my beasts and us. I raise hay to feed the beasts as well. I also raise dye plants and fiber plants. I have two huge English walnut trees that I harvest the nuts and husks which I soak in a large garbage can to make dark brown, almost black, dye for some of my yarn.

We been here since 2003 and other than a few of the neighbors, we're very happy here. We're less than 10 minutes from the downtown area and 2 blocks away from the city limits, and the city is still growing with more houses and less farms all the time. And I have the type of yarn I want and need for my projects with enough to sell for a little extra cash to spend on my animals for the Vet, shots, and feed treats.

Lastly, if you have a dream of moving to the country and you've never lived in the country before in your whole life, do not glamorize it...even if you are going to be a hobby farmer. It's hard work and it's anything but glamorous. However, it is very satisfying if you're doing something you really want to be doing: for the fiber, for the gardening/farming, or for the peace and quiet of not living in the city. If you can look at it like that, you will be happy and satisfied living in the country. Eventually, we are going to move to a larger farm (our farm is 2.3 acres) of around 40 acres, more or less. We are going to build two homes, one for us and one attached for my husband's folks. But I'll save those plans for another essay.