Update

It's been a while since the last post. Our life seems to have been turned upside down and my normal, comforable level of chaos hasn't been for the last 3 weeks. Which, I can barely remember much of. We had a warm spell and I took full advantage of that. The garden was made ready for winter, pruned the raspberries, burned some brush and washed windows. Everyone seemed to have appointments for the dentist, eye doctor.......even the horse. Glory had gotten a really bad infection of some sort. I had her on antibiotics for over 2 months. She saw a special Equine vet last week and underwent ultrasounds of her uterus and urinary tract. We also pulled samples to send out and culture. All came back okay. Great news. Had a large load of alfalfa hay trucked in as we are about officially out of grass. That also means we are officially broke until Spring. Within a span of 3-4 days- I stepped on a nail, went in for the tetnus shot and then followed that up by stepping on a tack. Tacks are deceiving. You'd think they would come out easily, but this one had to be worked out. My children had never seen their mother cry until the tack, and it alarmed them. I don't usually cry-but they've left no stone unturned with regards to destruction, getting into things and trying to kill themselves. I've hung on to my sanity rather well - daily trips to the coffee shop for 20oz. Mocha. This happens to other people- not us. I don't know what is going on but I hope it stops soon. L.O.L. Of coarse there was still the house to care for, meals to cook, lessons to teach, records to keep, lessons to get to and chores to do. I did manage to find time to spin and ply all of the singles I had. I also have started a Fair Isle hat-I've never knitted Fair Isle before so it is a challange to myself. I've also started a lace stole made from the pattern "Twinnings" (I think) from Knit Spot. One of these days I'll have to post photos. We had a nice Thanksgiving. We've gone to friends the past few years and it has always been nice. Rushed, but nice. Dairy farming doesn't leave much social time- basically showing up to eat and by the time dessert is finished, heading out and your about 2 hours behind in chores then milking. This year we decided to stay home. I think we are just tired, not in the physical way- this is different. It's been a long, hard year and we needed some time to just spend time as a family and rest. I made the big dinner and we all chipped in to clean up the grand mess. Spent the afternoon watching movies- which we never do. It was nice. The sheep had gotten out one morning and managed to get into something and made themselves sick. They were depressed, wouldn't eat, drink, baaa...nothing. We hit them with everything we could and drenched them with baking soda and mineral oil. Did the soda drences for 2 days. Vitamin B shots, thiamin even an antibiotic just in case as one had a low fever. After about 5 days, they started feeling better and are back to normal. Yesterday was the first day they were out on grass and they were loving that. Below are some photos of the handspun I've managed lately. I'm always intrigued with process of watching those colors in the roving come together in the finished, plyed product.

Hello Yarn's Winter Storage
Hello Yarn's Patchwork

Hello Yarn's ??

Hello Yarn's or Spunky Club -I can't remember.

First Handspun Shetland

Last week I worked on plying the my Shetland/Alpaca blend and this is the finished product. I finally acheived a perfect, even yarn. There is about 240 yards and there is 2.4 ounces. I think it'll make a nice lace scarf or shawl.

Amber Myst Reaches New Heights

It's been a busy week here on the farm. We are running 20-degrees below normal from what I've heard and it's been wet. There were showers last night and will see more tonight. I've been trying to figure out what to do about breeding this fall. What I had planned, I am reconsidering even at this late date. Why? SD and CV values along with the AFD. The SD and CV values on my girls, especially the lambs, are so high that I don't want to waste a breeding season perpetuating more of the same numbers. I enjoy my sheep, but I also want to see them reach their fullest potential. That's not to say that I would get rid of all of my girls, I won't and can't as I only have a few and they are "pets". But, I do want to breed them to the best rams with the best numbers to improve the offspring and move me closer to my goals. I want fine fleeces and conformation. Having a small flock, I am limited on what I can do in some ways. So I need to take advantage of every breeding season and make it count.

On another note, the girls manage to climb up a little higher on our bales. They did jump from there to make their escape from the "paddock" they were in. We just stood in disbelief watching. They were fine though.
I have lots of full bobbins and lots of plying to do. I'm working on the Shetland/Alpaca that I washed, carded and blended.

I'm really happy with how it is looking and it's super soft.

Isn't she a cutie. Gotta be the cutest kitten I've seen.

Tomorrow I am taking the day off from home :-) and heading down to War Eagle Mill in Arkansas for the big Craft Festival they have. I believe they have something like 300 + vendors there and on the way I remember circus tent sized tents along the roads in fields with more crafters. If I remember right, Rogers, Bentonville even have craft things going on in town at convention centers. It's a biggie anyhow and will surely be alot of fun. Planning on hitting road at 4:30-5 am!

The girls have a horse show this Saturday. Friday we'll be busy getting ready for that. They'll have their horses over at where we have lessons, practicing, clipping and braiding. They'll have to be up early Saturday and do the last minute things before we head out. A busy weekend for sure!

New Books,Spinning, Hatching Chicks, 1st Dark Marans Egg

I've found several new books to add to my library. "Start Spinning" has alot of general information and photos. There isn't alot of indepth information like the Alden Amos book- It's a really good starter book and I liked the photos. Found the "Knitting Circles Around Socks" at JoAnns. It shows how to knit 2 socks at one time. The photos are great and very self explanitory. "The Shepherd's Rug" is another fantastic book. I had stumbled onto Pine Lake Karakuls page with their rugs. They are beautiful. The book explains how they make the rugs from felted roving. What a great way to use roving. I'm interested in taking wool that may not be the best in microns, or britch wool..... and making rugs with it. They web address for Pine Lake Karakuls is http://www.plfkarakuls.com Tomorrow will be day 21 in the incubator. Yesterday afternoon we heard chirping coming out of the Bator. One shell had been chipped open and another this morning. Several of the eggs are moving around.

I've finally started Hello Yarn's August fiber "Patchwork".

It is really beautiful. I'm especially taken with the blues/greens, browns and golds.

It's spinning up nicely.

Below is a picture of our first Black Copper Marans egg that is dark. The picture makes it look lighter than it actually is.

Kettle Dyeing and Spinning

Allena emailed yesterday about coming over to dye. She made it over and gave me a lesson in kettle dyeing. Wow, it's neat. After she had headed out, I put the kids skeins in the pots, on the stove to add a little more color. I let it set until the color absorbed before adding a different shade.

This is a skein for a pair of socks for myself.

These two smaller skeins are for socks for the girls. The bluish skein is a little softer than the picture shows. The purple doesn't stand out quite so.

I haven't started on my Hello Yarn fiber as I have been busy spinning some of my own Shetland fiber instead. It has been amazing to start with a sheep and work through the process to a handspun yarn. This was off of Fletcher Friday. He was a gorgeous ram.

The actual color is somewhere between these two pictures. It is a beautiful oatmeal color. I blended in a little silver and fawn alpaca. It didn't change to coloring, surely added softness though.

Next Spinning Project

I'm currently working on "Soul Windows" from Spunky Club. It is a Corriedale/10% nylon blend. I have 8 ounces of this fiber total and have about 3 ounces left to spin. It has blues, greys, browns, greens, white/cream and even a bit of yellow in spots.

Update** Finished spinning the singles on September 13th.

Spinning

Finished up my first spinning project on the Jensen D-30 Production wheel I received last December. It's amazing. I still have alot to learn on it. They come with several whorls and I'm not sure what is best to use and when. The fiber shown came from Spunky Eclectic. It was from her Spunky Club, fiber of the month and I can't think of the name of the colorway. It is Merino and really soft. I had 8 ounces of it so I'm hoping there is enough for a sweater for one of the kids.

Fiber

Single

2 Ply


3 Skeins