11 Apr 2013

Spring (Shearing) is Here!

posted in: farm, sheep, Uncategorized | 0

The Cormo sheep have been sheared and I will be skirting fleeces for the next couple of days.  Most of the fleeces have been spoken for, but there may be a couple of extras.  I will send out a newsletter with information about remaining fleeces (if there are any).

Snack Time
Snack Time

I took the above photo when the ewes came in from the pasture in the evening.  The pastures are very lush, so I do not need to feed the sheep grain.  I give them a just a little grain to get them to come in paddock near the house at night.  The coyotes don’t tend to come too close to the house.  My Great Pyrenees does a great job of protecting the sheep from pedators, but I feel better knowing they are not too far from the house during the night…

fleeceshot

Noona
Noona
Lambi
Lambi

 

 

 

23 Mar 2013

Ashford Sample It Loom

posted in: Weaving | 2

I bought an Ashford Sample It rigid heddle loom from the Woolery to use for small projects and samples.  I also thought it would be nice to have a small loom to take with me on trips.  I love this loom!  It is small enough to fit on my lap when weaving.

The loom has a weaving width of 8 inches making it perfect for scarves, small projects, and color sampling.  The outer dimensions are about 18.5 x 11.5.  It is small enough to fit in a tote bag.  It comes with a couple of stick shuttle and one reed/heddle.  I prefer to use boat shuttles for most projects.  The mini Schacht boat shuttle is the perfect size for this loom.

I bought the Weaver’s Idea Book awhile back and plan on using my Sample It loom for some of the pick-up techniques in the book.

smplitloom3My first project was a narrow Saori style scarf.  I used Cashsoft for warp and Noro for weft.

smplitloom2

 

smplitloom1

Here are a few photos of the finished scarf.

smpitscarf1 smplitscrf2 smplitscrf3

16 Mar 2013

Wensleydale TWINS!

posted in: sheep | 0

Brianna lambed at 4am.  It was a very chilly 20 degrees.  I had been watching and waiting for her to lamb.  She had some problems with delivering triplets last year and I wanted to keep an eye on her again this year.

Brianna had two big, healthy ram lambs.  The sire is a UK ram named Popeye.  These rams are just beautiful and have nice confirmation.  I can’t wait to see how they fill out as they grow.

wenrams

 

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