The flock is looking rather ragged. It’s a good thing we’re shearing in two days.
Mable.
Ginseng.
Shelby.
Jazz.
Noel.
Petra.
Petra again.
I’m not sure who this is but she’s certainly round.
Speaking of big and round, this is Spring. Last year she was so big that we had a couple of wagers on lambing–when and how many?
Isabelle sporting her tech head-gear. The video will be coming soon.
It will still be a few weeks before I have any more lambs so the first three have more than their share of photos.
This is Delight with her twins. 
This is Dazzle with her single lamb. One of the problems I have photographing Jacob sheep is the fact that they have black markings around their eyes. I find that it is hard to expose the photo properly and also be able to see the faces. I edited this lower photo to where I could see the lamb’s eyes, although they aren’t showing up here very well and the photo looks washed out compared to the top one.
Here is another example.
The original is on the left. The black is too black, but I’m not very good at lightening it up just enough to see the eyes better. I lightened the shadows on the one on the right and it looks OK when it stands alone and is not next to the first version. I also tried dodging around that right eye, but it didn’t help much. I think I need a lesson.
Here is another pair of photos. Which is better? Top or bottom?
At least I have CUTE going for me. 
Speaking of cute, can you tell the difference in these two photos? It’s not in editing. Try the focus…Ginny’s focus, that is.
Who could resist yarns with this theme? I couldn’t and I hope that my customers can’t. This is one of the most recent additions to the shop. The yarn is dyed to match cats and dogs and some of the proceeds are given back to animal rescue projects.
This is a selection of the BFL yarn in fingering weight. That’s a light weight yarn often used for knitting socks. You might wonder how purple and pink fit into cat and dog colors. The purple is called “cheshire cat”. I still didn’t understand how that fit until I googled “cheshire cat” and found that Disney’s version of the cheshire cat is indeed purple.
What about this one? It’s called Kitten Nose Pink.
It’s easy to see the calico here.
These yarns are Merino fingering weight. They come in the same colorways. I bought a variety of each because I couldn’t get them all.
Here is my first project using one of the yarns. One skein will easily make a scarf.
I also tried the Zoom Loom to see how they looked. The yarn is too thin to use singly, but doubled it’s great!
I have ordered more and wait until you see what those look like. There will be a special surprise yarn as well!
Seen while driving in town the other day…
I liked the patterns of the wood. I especially noticed the part that doesn’t show up very well here but the bottom right where the heartwood (I think) makes the half circles. Weaving ideas.
Also while driving. I was on Pedrick Road east of Dixon. I really wanted a photo of the snow-covered Sierras. It’s been awhile since we’ve had that view. The lens on the phone makes the mountains too far away for that shot, but I like seeing the train.
In this shot too.
I may have shown this photo before, but I like this sunset view. It makes the mud and swampy “lake” worthwhile.
And speaking of lots of water, this was a result of the last storm that came through. This is a very old fig tree that the kids used to play in a long time ago. Note the steps and the treehouse platform. The roots of this tree have been rotten for some time and the dogs often found something to bark at in the hole in the trunk. 
I’ll bet you didn’t know that we had giraffes in Solano County. These two are about a mile from here where I take Ginny to herding lessons.
And while we’re talking about herding, this is Ginny working “her flock” at home.
No words needed.
Farm Club met yesterday with the main task of replacing all the missing ear tags so that the ewes are easily identifiable at Shearing Day coming up in two weeks. There were plenty of other tasks too, but I don’t have photos of much since I was too busy to get the camera out.
First there was the surprise lamb! See the link for that story.
Dona took this photo of all of us as we stopped for a group photo in the barn.
This is Jade sporting her new eartag. The ewe lambs’ small tags were replaced with their grown-up tags. I decided to start color coding again. All the 2015 lambs have orange. There were also a lot of adult sheep whose ear tags were missing, so we replaced those.
We got son, Chris to the barn to take a group shot so Dona could be in it too.
We finished up at the ram pen. I took fleece samples to send in for micron testing.
Time to relax in the shop…
…and enjoy donuts that Mary brought to celebrate Dona’s birthday last week.
Lambing season is due to start in a month, but there were early lambs yesterday, the result of not moving ram lambs out of the main flock soon enough. Yes, some 5 month old lambs are fertile. I saw one of these ewes being bred and the ram lambs were moved that day. So I don’t anticipate anymore lambs until late February.
When I went to the barn yesterday morning I moved the ewes to the back as I normally do so that I can feed hay without them near the feeders. I heard a baaa. It’s pretty crowded back there with full-fleeced ewes. I walked through the flock but didn’t see a lamb. Then I heard it again and looked back. 
This is a poor view of the sliding door at the south end of the barn.
This is looking from the other end. This happened once before–a lamb stumbled into the opening between the door and the wall and then couldn’t get out. Fortunately it wasn’t wet or too cold that night.
Here he is with mom, Dazzle, in the barn.
Farm club was here during the day, but that’s for another post. Afterwards, Dan continued with his work in the barn. We have new lights in the lambing area!
Dazzle’s lamb was a surprise although I didn’t have a breeding date for her, which was an indication that she may have already been bred. I went back out last night to check the ewe I expected to lamb.
She was lambing and had nice big twins.
These are some flashy looking lambs, especially the little ram on the right. If he grows up nicely, those markings would make him a very pretty show lamb. Too bad he doesn’t have a known father so he can’t be in the show. Maybe he’ll make someone a nice fiber pet if he’s wethered.
Ginny was just a baby at last lambing season and wasn’t out on her own much. Today it didn’t take her long to discover a dog’s favorite part of lambing time. I usually make sure the afterbirth is not dog-accessible but when it falls out of the wheelbarrow it’s up for grabs.
I am getting caught up on my photos and found some to share about life on the farm, life in the shop, and life in general (but not very profound).
Its a good sign when the chickens start laying again. That means there is more daylight. I have 5 chickens, 1 of whom is old and the other is ancient. I don’t expect eggs from the old chickens, but it’s nice to know the young ones have kicked into high gear.
Rain. That’s a good thing, although I’m never really happy about dealing with the mud on the way to the compost (manure) pile.
However, it’s good when the manure pile is wet through and through. It will become a compost pile much more quickly. I was going to try these for dye but I went out today and they are all shriveled up. Not very long-lived.
My friends came and did a Shop Intervention. I need to drastically change some things and get rid of the clutter. I still haven’t dealt with that big box but that is all the newest Timm Ranch yarn. I need to get that on the website and start working with it. After the friends left there was room…
…for a Learn to Weave class.
Mid-January always means that I’m getting older as my youngest son celebrates his birthday. That isn’t the full amount of candles he should have had, but it is bright enough!
We’re less than three weeks away from shearing. I used to shear in February, but several years ago I shifted shearing day to November thinking that I’d shear before I started feeding hay in the winter. For several reasons I decided to go back to February shearing but I didn’t want to make the shift all at once and risk having the fleeces ruined. Last year we sheared the first week of January and this year we will shear February 7.
Here are some of the sheep in full fleece.
Sonata.
Jean. She was Champion Jacob Ewe at Black Sheep Gathering in June.
This is Cascade.
The BFL-cross named Ears.
This is Kenleigh’s Isadora.
Vanessa.
Wesley is one of three wethers that are part of Ginny’s sheepdog training flock.
Wesley and Wally are BFL-crosses and the other two wethers in Ginny’s flock. They were all born at the fair in July.
This ram was also born at the fair. I’ll have to decide about shearing them since they will have only 6-month fleeces and it will be more of a stress on them.
It’s been over a week since I was at The National Needlearts Association Convention in San Diego but I haven’t been working with my photos. (And in my mind, what’s a blog without photos?) This show is where yarn shop owners go to purchase items to bring into their shops. I have to remind myself that my shop is small, I’m not open 7 (or even 4 or 5) days/week so don’t go crazy. As always I found a few things that I’ll be very excited to bring into the shop over the next couple of months.
Part of the fun though is hanging out with my friend, Irene, who owns Cotton Clouds. She made our hotel reservations. What fun place!
This is the beautiful Horton Grand Hotel…
…and this is Sunshine, a paper-mache horse who stands in the lobby. He came from the saddle shop that was on the ground floor of the neighboring less formal hotel. The hotels were built in the mid 1800’s but the saddle shop originated in 1912. Wickipedia says: “Both hotels were scheduled for demolition in the 1970s when the City of San Diego purchased them to build the Horton Plaza shopping center on the site. The hotels were dismantled brick by brick, with each brick numbered, catalogued, and stored. In 1986 the hotels were rebuilt into an entirely new hotel at the present location at Fourth Street and Island Avenue.”
Our room was lovely.
What fun to decorate a hotel like this. The furniture was all old so I assume it was found at estate sales and flea markets. We even had a fireplace (gas so no wool hauling).
We spent a lot of our time at the San Diego Convention Center.
Here is a message to be read on the way there. This quote in context of time and author if quite serious. In my world the last sentence has particular meaning and is serious enough in my life, if not with as profound a meaning. 
Fun view while going up the escalator in the Convention Center.
Leaving the hotel at night. This is the Gas Lamp District, kind of like Old Sac is for Sacramento.
We ate one night at The Field, an Irish pub, while listening to Irish music and dancers. This sign caught my notice.
So what did I buy? My customers sent me on a quest for “sock yarn” so that is what I focused on.
But first I found some new equipment. These are prototypes of cool little sample looms designed by author and teacher, Liz Gipson. The unique thing about these looms is that they will be produced in 8, 10, and 12 epi versions, enabling quick sampling of yarns at those setts (and at 4, 5, and 6 epi). There are a few other gadgets I am purchasing here as well. 
This is the Meow and Woof collection from Ancient Arts Yarns. Each yarn has a photo of the cat or dog that inspired the color. I strayed from my “buy American” plan because I was so enamored with these. They were spun in Italy and are sold by a Canadian company and a percentage of sales goes to dog and cat rescue groups. I have wove a scarf out of the calico cat yarn–that is another post.
I already carry yarn from Imperial Yarn Company and these are some inexpensive and simple kits some of which use the yarns that I already have. I want to have a knit-along with some of these.
The Fiber Seed will be a new yarn for me. They have some wonderful gradient yarns put together in kits. I’ll get those as well as some of the solids and variegated yarns.
Mountain Meadows is a company who has their own mill. I’m getting a sock-weight Merino yarn that is grown in Wyoming. How to choose from all those colors? I’m getting yarn in about a dozen colors.
What will be first in the shop? I can’t wait for the UPS truck to show up.
Meridian Jacobs' Blog 