I've been reading the friday five on other people's weblogs, and even when the questions have appealed to me, I haven't done it here, mostly because they aren't relevant to "the fiber farm" but now I want to broaden my topics a little more. Knitting and fiber blogs account for the majority of weblogs that I read, and I do see the friday five and other similar things on them, but I have also read that blogs that stick to a particular topic tend to be more effective. I'm thinking about starting a second blog specifically for writing and philosophy and anything else that isn't fiber related. Leave a comment or send me an email and tell me what you think, okay? Would you like to see another blog written by me, are you interested in fiber and the other stuff right here in the same place, or could you care less about the non-fiber stuff? I could set up a poll, but I don't feel like it, so just use the comments or email please.

One of the friday five questions today is,"How have you helped someone this week?" I'd like to talk about that question. There is the everyday stuff - making dinner for my family, trying to clean up the house, teaching the kids, but somehow that doesn't seem to count - it's just the everyday stuff. I really want to be helpful to someone, but it doesn't seem like I have much to offer that anyone wants. I could teach spinning/knitting/weaving and have extended some open invitations that people say they will take me up on "when they have time" but if it were really something they wanted they would come over and they haven't. I'm not too bad of a musician either (I play recorder flutes the most but also flute and Irish whistle, and mention of that has been prominently, to me, absent from this page up until now) but I can't find anyone who wants me to play for/with them or teach them. Yeah, I have a few skills, but none of them seem to be valued or in demand.

Another question from the friday five was about what we have to get done by this time next week. I don't have any set deadlines for any of this stuff, but I need to:

• find some hay
• shear the angora goats
• pluck the angora rabbits
• arrange for someone to shear the sheep
• process a lot of wool
• finish or at least work some more on the green sweater (I'm a ways into the front yoke now) and get another picture of it
• do some baking
• and get some more chocolate (I ran out except for a jar of hot fudge sauce in the refrigerator that is good in case of emergencies but otherwise too sweet even for me to eat straight from the jar).