Sheridan Flats

No farm stories or wool processing today. Sometimes you just have to get out and enjoy the beautiful location where you live. Mt Rainier is in my backyard.

We are set up at the Enumclaw Farmers Market. Open 3-7 today. Sharing the both with my husband Dan DeVries .

Sheridan Flats will be at the Farmers' Market tomorrow 3-7PM. I'll have hand painted yarns, dyed silk hankies and silk lap. If you are interested in roving, you can order in advance on our website https://sheridanflats.com and pick it up at the market. See you there!

If anyone has wondered why my front lawn is left un-mowed in spring. These are the most expensive but highly efficient and beautiful lawn mowers ever. We put then on the front lawn when the weather gets hot as it provides the most shade and has a nice breeze. The sheep, llama and LGDs are on the other half. Huge Maple trees are a pain in the fall but sure nice shade in the summer.

I tried something new! Hand painted silk hankies and laps. What an exotic feel. Made from silk cocoons that are stretched over a frame to make ultra-thin stacked layers. The hankies are squares and the laps are, well huge. You pull a single layer until it is very thin, then use as-is or spin for more consistency. The laps can also be pulled and spun or cut into small sections to be blended on a carder with wool. So many options. If you've never tried using this form of silk, it is quite unique and the perfect challenge for your Tour de Fleece 2024. 9 hankies and 2 laps will be available during my live sale tomorrow at 10AM

Always fun to see how different painted yarn looks once re-skeined. The colors spread out and it gives you a sneak peak at how the yarn might look in your project.

The summer shade pasture is officially open. All my sheep pasture has no shade so I give the flock, and the dogs, some relief by fencing off half the front yard which has huge maple and oak trees. I don't have to mow and they get grass and shade. The horses get the other half.

Rocky the llama (aka Rock Star) came to the farm about 2 weeks ahead of the sheep. He was intended to be our only guardian animal for the flock. But, he is so adorable and his fleece is ohhlaalaa, so we got three livestock guardian dogs to help him out. Rocky started life as a 4H animal but even being handled in his early years, he is very good at avoiding human touch... until today! I just reached out and gave him a back scratch and while he considered moving away, decided it wasn't worth the effort. After 10 years with this adorable cartoon character, I was able to touch him without first getting out the halter. My life is complete.

Rocky is a rockstar guardian and his flock love him. You will find several of my roving colorways that include Rocky fleece. Yummy.

Yesterday's dye adventures. Hand painted yarn. Dyeing over the taupe colored yarn is so unpredictable. The silk hankies were a new challenge. Not too bad for try #1. On to round two this weekend.

Dye season is about to start. 18 skeins going in to soak and a whole bunch of silk hankies.

If you look close, there are sheep in the tall grass. We have 15 visitors/ workers for the summer helping to eat the abundance of grass we have this year. That's in addition to the 19 resident grass eaters.

I was so fortunate to secure three Finn fleeces from Merri-FINN-field Finnsheep. These yummy fleeces will be blended into one of the roving colorways for 2025. If you have never experienced Finn fleece, it is soft with a bright luster. Now, to pick some colors.

Olympic Yarn and Fiber processes my wool into those awesome bulk bags of yummy. She is a good mentor and partner for these whopper big batches. She also processed my wool into yarn that I sell as painted yarn and now offer in handwoven products.

Our processing prices haven’t changed since 2022. I am committed to keep improving our efficiency to benefit our customers and our local industry.

Fiber Fusion NW was amazing. I so enjoy seeing familiar faces and making new friends. Several of you brought your lovely fiber arts that were made from my yarn and roving. Such talent! It was the busiest show ever for us and I am so grateful to Dan Devries and Lori Divis for all the help. Next up, I will be a vender for the June WAFA sale the last weekend of June. Stay tuned for more details.

Fiber Fusion NW is this weekend for all you Pacific NW fiber folks. Sheridan Flats is all set up and ready. My WAFA vendor sign is up. Come say hello!

Fiber Fusion NW 2024 is starting in 20 minutes! It's going to be a rainy, gloomy weekend outside, but there's lots of fuzzy warmth inside. Don't miss it.

48 hours until departure to Fiber Fusion Northwest 2024. The supplies box is stocked, the Odds and Ends Bin is packaged and labled, 8 new handspun skeins finished and drying. Almost ready. Are you ready?

This year I am adding woven goods to the Sheridan Flats offerings. The yarn is produced from the fleece grown on our farm, colors are dyed on the farm and the weaving is done by me. Two new table toppers will be available at Fiber Fusion this weekend. I am working on pillows that may be ready in time. More woven products are coming and will be available at the farmers market in Enumclaw this summer.

Sheridan Flats will be a vendor at OFF this year. Save the date!

120 DAYS TO GO!!!!!!!

Announcing the final of nine new 2024 additions to the Watercolor Bulk Roving Collection: Wool Gathering. This colorway is all natural with no dye. With white and grey sheep wool blended with all variety of alpaca colors, this roving is a true gathering of wools.

45% Sheep Wool and 55% Alpaca Wool
The sheep fleece was produced on our farm and the added goodness of alpaca was sourced from local peer farms. Sold by the ounce with discounts applied for volume purchases. Now available at https://sheridanflats.com

Announcing the eighth of nine new 2024 additions to the Watercolor Bulk Roving Collection: Going Courting. This is another all Wensleydale roving so that means you can expect a silky feel. The colors are blue and orange flowers on a white and black background. The way the colors blended; it will remind you of a knight gone courting.

The sheep fleece was sourced from a local peer farm. Sold by the ounce with discounts applied for volume purchases. Now available at https://sheridanflats.com

Announcing the seventh of nine new 2024 additions to the Watercolor Bulk Roving Collection: Tabby. This colorway has shades of grey with bright blue thin stripes representing the bright blue eyes of a tabby cat.

100% Sheep Wool
The sheep fleece was produced on our farm. Sold by the ounce with discounts applied for volume purchases. Now available at https://sheridanflats.com

Announcing the sixth of nine new 2024 additions to the Watercolor Bulk Roving Collection: Slinky. Slinky found the name partially from the red, grey and black colors but mostly, from the oh-so silky feel of the Wensleydale wool

The sheep fleece was sourced from a local peer farm. Sold by the ounce with discounts applied for volume purchases. Now available at https://sheridanflats.com

When you see a 10-pound bag of roving, do you know what went into producing it? It's actually quite the process. From the actual clip, to planning what fleeces can/should be blended, selecting color themes to use to fill in gaps in the collection, finding colorway inspirations, determining proportions, hunting down fleece on peer farms to add fiber goodness, then scouring, weighing, dyeing, dyeing and lots more dyeing. Then there is the planning for the mill runs so the colors blend just how you envisioned, to that big moment when you drop all that fleece off at the mill and you cross your fingers. Months later, you drive to the mill and hold your breath. Taaa-daa, you have roving. Sometimes it's a surprise and sometimes it's exactly what you envisioned. Then the test spin and the knit sample, the photos and the web page updates. You again hold your breath and cross your fingers when you hit "POST" to launch your collection additions. Meanwhile, the next batch is already underway.

Announcing the fifth of nine new 2024 additions to the Watercolor Bulk Roving Collection: Garden Gate. Unlatch the garden gate and come in. Lavender, violet, pink and green will bring summer flowers to your project.

100% sheep wool produced on our farm. Sold by the ounce with discounts applied for volume purchases. Now available at https://sheridanflats.com

Announcing the fourth of nine new 2024 additions to the Watercolor Bulk Roving Collection: Ghost Fish. An assortment of blues and a bit of black make up this brilliant but somewhat mysterious colorway.

70% Sheep Wool and 30% Alpaca Wool
The sheep fleece was produced on our farm and the added goodness of alpaca was sourced from local peer farms. Sold by the ounce with discounts applied for volume purchases. Now available at https://sheridanflats.com

Announcing the third of nine new 2024 additions to the Watercolor Bulk Roving Collection: Plum Delight. All the flavorful colors of fresh plums with the silky shine of Gotland, BFL and Wensleydale. It's just yummy.

100% Sheep Wool
The sheep fleece was produced on our farm and the added goodness of Wensleydale was sourced from local peer farms. Sold by the ounce with discounts applied for volume purchases. Now available at https://sheridanflats.com