Tuesday, May 24, 2016

From Then Till Now

Poor neglected blog. No entries since coming home from Maryland.   Let's catch you up.

We've had lots of weather.  Rain......



and worse than rain - snow.


"Maybe there's a slow, cold mouse in the grass over there....."

"Less picture, more indoors, please."

We started letting the sheep out on grass, beginning in the Baby Pasture as usual.  Just a short time each day so they don't overdo on the rich stuff but they will get accustomed to it again in a couple of weeks.   The pasture is slow because of the cold but maybe that's good - maybe they'll be able to keep up with it better when they get out on the bigger areas.


The old girls made it to grass!  Alfalfa pellets and beet pulp pellets made a big difference for those with crummy (or non-existent) teeth.  The lucky dozen - Alexandria, Bug, Bunny, Drambui, Pickles, Kahlua, Nibbles, Gilly, Ruby, Dollar, Fiesta and India.  Some are still gaunt but not deathly so and they are old....    Bunny and Drambui are the oldest at 13 each.  Four more are 12, and a couple each at 11, 10 and so on.  


The Shepherd's Market was a good day.  People shopping and also just taking the opportunity to sit and chat and do fiber things in the central gathering area.


My space consisted of 2 big round tables (a bit odd to set up with round ones, but we made it work.)...


And a smaller table in a corner.  Andy built a nice book stand for the booth.  We're starting to carry a small collection of books and DVDs that pertain specifically to spinning, knitting, and weaving - mostly basic materials that will compliment our fiber and yarn and be excellent resources for newcomers to the fiber world.


I've been working in the wool shop getting reserved fleeces skirted and also filling online orders and trying to keep dyeing to have more roving processed.  Kittin has been a big help.  At least she thinks so.


The deadline (it's a flexible deadline but I made it a firm one in my head) for handing in the guild KAL project was Saturday so I had to  found time to finish knitting the shawl.  I played yarn chicken twice, once on the border with two colors .....


And then on the bind off.  That little ball is all I had left and there was nothing else in the stash that was even close.  Whew.

 

And then it got a bath and was blocked and had a fan on it all night to get dry.  Nothing like waiting till the last minute.  It's bigger than I thought it was.  It got kind of hard to tell what was going on because of being all scrunched up on the cable.  Gee, I bet a better knitter would have figured out that that might mean something. Sigh  :-/


Spring seems to have come this week and I think it's going to stick this time.


The main flock has moved to the big pasture by the road and is enjoying fresh spring grass as only sheep can.  It's kind of quiet without lambs in the pasture, but boy - there's a lot of sheep out there.  :-0



OK, back to work!

5 comments:

  1. So good to get the update and news. Your old ewes look great and certainly are enjoying the grass. The shawl is wonderful!

    Do take care and be well....

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  2. What pleasant fun to read the catchup on your blog!!! Amazing how you manage somehow to tend the sheep and prepare for exhibits. Have a great Spring and thanks for sharing !

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  3. Enjoy your spring - here in the South we're into summer, for the next 4.5months.

    I love to hear the ewes chatting with each other.

    Kittin looks *amazingly* helpful to me. I bet she's really good with the sorting. And the squashing.

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  4. Beautiful shawl. You did a great job. It looks more peaceful at the farm now. You have been one busy lady.

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  5. Your flowers almost match your shawl! Beautiful! The old girls look great :-D.

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