This was a catch-up day at the computer. I’m still not caught up, but accomplished a few things. Did you know there is a Meridian Jacobs YouTube channel?

I spent some time today editing videos.There is probably a way to embed them here, but I don’t know how. I’ll include links. Two are from shearing day. Shearing Jacob Rams and Shearing Two Jacob Ewes. The third is one I’ve been meaning to put together for quite awhile. I show how I Using A Warping Wheel to warp my big loom. This is a specialized piece of equipment that is hard to explain even to other weavers.

To make this post a little more interesting, here are some photos that relate to the videos.

This is one of the ewes that was shorn in the video. It’s not always possible to keep hay out of he wool!

This is Eli, one of the rams in the shearing video.

Here is the warp I was winding in the Warping Wheel video. These are the blankets just cut off the loom.

These six blankets are some from the previous photo after wet finishing. The yarn in the blue blankets is dyed with indigo I grew and the brown yarn is dyed with walnut hulls.

There is are cycles to farming. The sheep are shorn and starting to grow new wool. The ewes are pregnant and lambing season will start soon. These blankets are woven using wool I get from Timm Ranch and have spun into yarn. Timm Ranch shearing will be in March and I’ll skirt fleeces and buy wool for the 2025 yarn. I am still waiting on the 2024 Timm Ranch yarn. Due to unforeseen circumstances I will be combining the 2024 and 2025 wool for the next batch of yarn.

The dye garden has its own cycle. I won’t be ready to dye blue yarn until the indigo plants get big enough…and they aren’t even planted yet for this year. Fortunately I have some dried cosmos and hollyhock flowers that I can use, but that’s only if I have enough yarn left from previous years. The cycles don’t always overlap the way you want them too.