A Foggy Morning

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It’s been foggy in the Sacramento Valley, but this last few days we have been just west of the fog. It was here this morning but is burning off.

The sheep greeted me as I went out this morning.

See the 3 sheep in the middle of this photo? Paulette is the farthest right of those three. We did preg checks on her and the other 2 sheep who are the ewes I breed in February to lamb at State Fair in July. When we brought her in I thought that she had quite a belly for an open ewe. She’s pregnant with triplets. No State Fair for her this year. Faulkner had got through the fence a couple of months ago and although I gave her an injectable form of the “morning-after” pill I guess it didn’t work. So those are three little BFL/Jacob lambs she’s carrying.

Why is Amaryllis standing here when everyone else is in the pasture? Those of you that know the flock will probably guess.

Because that’s where Stephanie is.

Here are the rams. In the foreground left to right: Ruby Peak Linden, Meridian Clapton (lambs)

Center: Meridian Fogerty (lamb)

Background front to back: Mud Ranch’s Hudson, Sweetgrass Clint, Puddleduck Sullivan (lamb).

This is Faulkner and his Jacob buddy, Jerry.

And, of course, Rusty is out here with me–staring at shadows.

More about the spinning class

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These are not all spinning projects but they are pieces made by the talented ladies who took this class.

Paula needle felted this cat…

…and this sheep.

She and her mom felted these bunnies. These kits and many more are available here.

This is some Jacob yarn. I think this is Yolanda’s.

Jean spun this blue yarn.

Debbie stayed a little after class to choose Jacob buttons for her in-progress cape. Isn’t this a beautiful project?

 

 

Where will you be Feb. 21?

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I know where I will be. I just transferred the breeding notes from my clipboard to my 2012 calendar (while learning to use the calendar in my Mac) and look what I discovered. I knew that a lot of sheep were bred all at once, but it’s more striking when I see it in this format.

That’s 23 ewes due in a 5 day span. I usually aim for March 1 lambs, but I got antsy and thought I’d start breeding a week earlier. After all, my friends will all be lambing and I’ll want to have a few of my own before the rush starts in March.  I thought wrong. There are about 30 more in addition to those first 23. I guess I’ll be warmed up by the time they lamb.

I’ve been finishing up registration applications for this year’s lambs. It’s interesting to look at baby photos of sheep.

This is 11038, now known as Rosie. Notice how her pink nose develops pigment as she gets older.

Rosie was developing very nice horns and I had my eye on her from the start as one I wanted to keep. She got in the ram pen when she was a few months old and, in trying to get back with the ewes, she broke off both horns. They are still stubby, but stout.

Here is another. This is ram lamb 11094, the last ram of 2011, and sired by Sweetgrass Clint.

He is named Clapton and will be the sire of several lambs in 2012.

Clapton doesn’t look quite so nice after shearing…

…but his fleece is sure pretty.

Scarves for everyone

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Last weekend we held our second annual Holiday Market. As we were getting things set up we thought that something was missing.

This is the fabulous metal artwork that Shaunie Briggs made for me. What more could it need?

Jackie was the hands behind the creation of all those scarves. Thanks, Jackie! Very festive.

We’re wondering now we’ll need to provide hats in the summer and rain slickers when it’s stormy.

Another busy day

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I spent the morning at The Artery. I December we spread into the gallery so that all the artists have more space for their displays.

This is my space.

This is one of three handspun wool scarves that I just finished.

The latest v-shawl.

A v-shawl I wove with handspun yarn. I wore this one at Black Sheep Gathering in the Spinners Lead.

As I was walking to my car I picked up these leaves. The colors reminded me of the last batch of scarves that I wove. However, they don’t look very brilliant in this photo. (I am happy with my new i-phone, but the photos are lacking something in the color–I feel like I’m looking through fog. Anyone else have that issue? I think I need to go back to the store and talk to someone.)

I got home just in time for WWW. We talked about weaving, but we also spent some time working on a felting project. I want to put together some kits for needlefelting Christmas ornaments and the WWW’s did my product testing.

Here are some results. We’ll be making these at our Holiday Market this weekend.

As soon as we were finished in the shop I helped my brother shoot a video  for his business, Ranch Management Consultants. I thought I was going to be holding the camera, but I had to be the performer while he filmed. There are probably no Emmies in my future.

 

 

What’s happening in the studio

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I taught a v-shawl class last week.

The second day of the class was Sunday. On that day the weavers were ready to weave the “v” part of the shawl. These shawls are woven in 2 layers up to the “v” where the fronts join to create the back.

Here is what the shawls looked like when they came off the looms. (The fringes will be trimmed later.)

I think they are happy because they survived this class!

I’ve been doing my own work in the shop as well.

Red chenille scarves.

More chenille scarves.

These are samples of needlefelted ornaments that we will make this weekend at our Holiday Market Open House. These will also be available as kits.

 

 

 

Faulkner & Jerry

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I haven’t had time to sort many fleeces yet. In fact, other than those I’ve sold I have only skirted the ram  and wether fleeces.  But I’m very happy with those that I’ve seen.

This is the fleece of a wether, Jerry. He is mostly black, not a good Jacob trait, but he will get to live his life being Faulkner’s companion. Faulkner is the BFL ram and I am not going to subject him to living with a group of rams with huge horns.

Faulkner and Jerry

This is what Faulkner’s fleece looked like “on the hoof”. This photo was taken shortly after I got him so it had grown a lot since then.

This is a lock after shearing.

Less than a minute in hot soapy water.

Silky, white locks!

 

Faces of shearing

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Shearing Day was yesterday. We had a great time and I owe a huge thanks to Farm Club and a few other friends who helped.

Some of the ewes waiting their turn.

Lola

Our shearer, John. Hailey is scooping up fleeces.

Tina, Kathy & Hailey bag the fleece.

Shelby & Alison as sheep wranglers.

It’s lunch-time. Rusty has his eye on someone’s sandwich.

This is one of John’s wool shearing shoes. It is made of thick felt.

My friend, Colleen, brought her sheep for shearing. This is her ram, Razor.

Look at this face under the skirting table. James was happy to scoop up wool that fell through the slats. He spent most of his time playing in the new sand we got for the parking area.

Here is some of the crew. Others were holding down the fort in the shop.

Faulkner, the BFL, after shearing.

Amaryllis watches, while Dazzle calls for her friends.

Terraza in the pasture.

Mary is glad to find the flock.

This is what is it all about. Beautiful fleeces. So far all the fleeces I have looked at are strong, clean, and gorgeous.