January Doldrums

Winter makes me lose any blogging mojo I have.  Things are mostly gray and cold, days are short, chores are very routine and work in the wool shop slows due to holidays, year end book work and trying to catch up on neglected indoor tasks.  You can only say 'fed the sheep and skirted a fleece' so many ways.  ;-)

I tend to feel like Dexter - brace against something and sleep till spring.

But we do accomplish things every day even if it feels like we're just treading water. Here are a few occasions noteworthy enough that I took pictures.

I finished two scarves for Christmas presents.  As both have finally been presented as gifts I can show them. Both came to me as fiber during the guild's Christmas exchange (different years and they have been in the stash) and both have Blue Faced Leicester as a major component although they are from different producers. The fiber was nice to spin and the projects were simple and quick.  I used a simple pull-through pattern I grabbed off Ravelry - the Noro Keyhole Scarf.

We had a belated but fun Christmas dinner at Julie and Red's and Holly never wants to go home.  She has two perfectly good beds at home she rarely sleeps on and stuffed toys that she walks over and here she looks like the poor rescue dog finding warmth and safety for the first time in her life.  I guess most kids think their friends have cooler parents and better stuff.

The sheep welcomed some short but sunny days and napped in the barn doorway after filling up at the hay feeders.

And we were finally able to get every sheep into a jacket.  We ended up buying from both Rocky Sheep Company and The Wool Tinker.  Both brands are of good quality and the sizes alternate, with Rocky Sheep running odd sizes (37, 39, 41, etc. inches) and Wool Tinker being even (38, 40, 42, etc.).  Between the two everyone has a coat that fits... at least for a few weeks.  We'll have to change up many of them between now and shearing.  Buying the extra coats was a considerable investment but being able to market all the fleeces as coated will be worth it and save me time in the long run during skirting.

And what's better during the cold, dull winter but a little more cat sniffing?


Holly sez....

"I've sniffed enough cats today.  I'd rather go chase that squirrel.....except he 's way over there through the deep snow.....but if he comes over here he's dead!"