Oh Give Me a Home...

Cool, eh? Last Friday (April the 4th 2008) my sister (remember Mica?), my DS4yrOld and I went to see a fellow a small Bison ranch (or Buffalo if you choose the popular misnomer haha). It belongs to one of the knitter/spinner guys I met by chance in my favorite Ravelry group SMACK. He and his family have an operation not too far from here that they call Buffalo Gold, and they have some really awesome fiber to show for it. I don't understand the entire process, but it's very interesting. You'd never believe that such soft silky stuff can come from such a rough looking animal. I wish I'd gotten a picture of their Alpha male, he's called the Lakota word for "Grandfather" and he is easily TWICE the size of these girls you see in the pictures above. VERY impressive guy, that. =)

DS4yrOld was VERY excited since, quite by chance, he's developed a fascination with Bison and has been asking me loads of questions about them. So I decided to surprise him with this little day trip, which was JUST perfect. I wish I could have captured the glee that flashed now and then, but my camera is (ALAS yet again) too darn slow for the candid flashes of glee. These are the best I got.

Ron, looking demurely away from the camera

Learning to 'drive'

At the wheel (and very serious about it, apparently)

It was a very fun day. Ron is more of a spinner than a knitter (so far) and he tried to give me a lesson. It turns out that for me (so far) spinning isn't one of those things I take to like a fish to water. (like knitting, say... or snow skiing) It was sad - lol - and finally he just took over and spun me a little tiny sample of some silk/buffalo yarn. (ah....dreamy) I totally should have taken a picture of that, too, but it's too late for the unedited version of this post. Maybe when I get the name of the giant bison, I'll add the other thing, too. (MAYbe)

Bales of fiber waiting to be sent off to the spinners.
Some of their stuff goes to Jagger (!) to be
spun into the Zephyr lace weight. (awesome)

Some of the display items they are taking for
the booth they'll have at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival
(dang, I wish I was going)


A lace weight Buffalo/Quivet blend with a little Flash
(coooool)

This is what they made with the waste fiber. Very sturdy,
hardy fiber. I'm working on a design with this stuff. (squeeeee)

It was a really fun day. We are hoping to go back out when the momma bison start to calve. I'm sure DS4yrOld will get a huge kick out of that. He LOVES babies.

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