The Wool Goes 'Round

Otto's new friend

Meet Lucy, the newest member to the Strauch household.

She is a delight and has already earned herself some interesting nick names, like lighting, and the phantom (those are the polite names).  She is so quick, you don’t see her coming and then there she is right in front of you.  Poor Red Cat, she is really giving him a time.  Lucy is 8 months old and Red Cat is almost 18 years old.  He’s slowing down quite a bit but Lucy wants nothing slow.  Once she got used to the little cat door we have in the basement, she almost flies through it. 

And wonder of wonders, Otto is smitten with the kitten.  He is always picking her up and talking and playing with her.    She is so soft, perfect for fiber people. 

Right now she is occupied protecting the house from the bird invaders.  She hasn’t caught one yet but it’s only a matter of time.  Someone once asked how to keep their cat in their yard.  Simple, get a bird feeder.  It will keep them busy for hours.  Of course, you have to fill the feeder, but that too can be a joyful chore.  Lucy hasn’t found her way up to the workshop yet but I’m sure that will come with the warmer weather when Red Cat can give her a real tour of her territory.  Did I mention she purrs?  Loudly!

Joanne's musings on Twenty Eleven!

 
Twenty eleven. Sounds so si-fi doesn’t it.  To all the younger folks this is just how it is.  But to the older generation, of whom I am one, this is soooo si-fi sounding.  Let’s go back in time, maybe 30, 35 years.  Imagine... having to find a telephone booth to make a call.  If the person isn’t home, oh well.

Alright, alright I know you heard this before, but  I remember the first copy machine.  It was the size of an office desk and all it did was copy, 1 page at a time.  We didn’t have to use carbon paper anymore, yippee, and the first calculators, which were big bulky things.  Then one day the company I worked for at the time, brought in this amazing new fangled thing called a ...FAX.  Whoa, it was a tube that spun and was attached to a phone set.  We all stood around and watched it go round & round until a whole page was printed.  Now we could get orders from anywhere with just a phone call instead of by the noisy, big, slow teletype machine.  Remember, this was when computers took up entire floors of an office building and the functions were limited. You had to know a computer language and be able to program it to even get the most elementary results. 

Now let’s jump “back” to Twenty-eleven.  I’ll write this on my new iMac which is just a screen on my desk then send it out in an instant to the web for all to see.  No programing necessary.  I can order anything I want online and not use the mail.  Now that we have DSL, I can share pictures just taken lickity split with anyone, anywhere.  I can even see and talk with my sister Jean, whose 500 miles away. We can show each other patterns we are working on or would like to try and the progress we are or are not making on our latest project.  

Just some thoughts about where I’ve been.   Welcome to twenty-eleven.

We have company!!

A new visitor behind the Strauch's house

Look who appeared on my back deck.  I just happened to pass by the door and saw what I thought was an owl picking at sunflower seeds.  He flew immediately to the nearest tree, was not an owl but was patient enough to wait until I got my camera and snapped a few.  A new meaning to bird feeder?  Well, that's life in the country.          Joanne Strauch

Joanne's Rug

Just a quick post to share the beauty that is Joanne Strauch's locker hook rug project. Second large section done!

You can see more photos of this rug project - from fleece to floor - on our Flickr page.

We had a wonderful, and super-busy October full of lots of fiber shows and lots of orders for Strauch fiber equipment. Now we're gearing up for the holidays. How about you? Do you have any Strauch equipment on your holiday gift list?

Spinning and Weaving Week Giveaway Winner

Thanks to everyone who entered our contest here and on our Facebook page!

Our highly technical, yet random, method of selecting our winner involved strips of paper tossed on the floor at our Monday morning meeting. Gregory scooped up the name of the lucky winner...

So, congratulations Amy Ring! We'll let Copper Moose know that you have a $25 credit toward the purchase of a Strauch Product. When you order your ball winder be sure to let them know that you're our lucky contest winner!

 

www.coppermoose.com

Spinning & Weaving Week Giveaway!

October 4 - 10 is Spinning & Weaving Week, an international celebration of "the traditions and the future of our fiber arts and crafts." The Handweavers Guild of America encourages all spinners, weavers, dyers and basketweavers to get involved with demonstrations, exhibits and classes. What a great idea!

This year, in honor of Spinning & Weaving Week, Strauch Fiber Equipment Company is having a contest.  One lucky winner will get a $25 gift certificate that they can use with any of our dealers toward the purchase of any Strauch Fiber product.

Here's how to enter:

• Post a reply to this blog entry with the name of the Strauch dealer that you'd like to use the gift certificate with AND tell us which Strauch Product you'd like to use the certificate for. You'll find our dealer list on our website, as well as lots of information about our various products.
• You can also go to our Facebook page, and reply to the contest posting with the name of the dealer, and the product you'd like to buy.

One entry per person, per venue (blog and/or Facebook) for a total of two possible entries per person. All entries will be placed in some sort of container and the winner will be drawn using our highly scientific and technical method which usually involves a cat. Or perhaps a pony. Or some chickens. We haven't narrowed down that detail just yet.

Contest ends at midnight EST on October 10. We'll announce the winner on Monday, October 11.

Good luck! And Happy Spinning and Weaving Week!

5000 Wonderful Drum Carders!

We reached a great milestone at Strauch Fiber this past week, thanks entirely to you - our loyal customers!

Every drum carder we build gets a number, and is signed by Otto. This week we completed carder number 5000, a Strauch Finest Doublewide!

The proud Strauch Team, from left to right: Otto, our fearless leader; Joanne, bean-counter extraordinaire and hostess with the mostest; Lawre, our Swift expert, and maker of various carder parts; Gregory, who puts the card cloth on the drums and has many "other duties as assigned"; Adam, our Production Manager and jack-of-all-trades; Liz, Ball Winder maven, maker of various carder parts, and social media dabbler; and Carol, expert sander, card cloth de-pinner, and drum-carder motor assembler. Not pictured: Red Cat Strauch, commentary and purring are his specialty.

And, because we can't resist playing with the camera once Otto has it set up, here's a short slide show of Greg, channeling his inner Zoolander