My Favorite Sheep...Of The Week

Miss Ewenice

During the 2022 Tour de Fleece I spun quite a few samples of some of my oldest and dearest sheep.  The inspiration for that challenge came from finding a bit of PPPP's roving just before the Tour began and enjoying hanging out with her once again.  

After spinning her skein I decided it would be fun to make another Maggie Rabbit, but this time turn the rabbit into a sheep.  And instead of a sweet little cape, I'd make her a nice wool sweater with some cables or lace and change her paddock boots into wellies.  I'd use PPPP's yarn and it could be a tribute to one of my favorite sheep.

I finally got around to getting the project started this past week, but when I went looking for doll sized sweater patterns I found most called for yarn that was heavier than I'd spun.  Note to self, find a pattern and then spin the yarn.  

Not to worry though.  I can spin a new skein...but now I think I may have used the last of her roving :-(.  I don't remember finishing out the bag, but I can't find it if I didn't.  I did find some Miss Ewenice roving though.  She'd make a fun Maggie Rabbit/Sheep, too!  

I pulled out some roving, gave it a quick run through the drum carder to freshen it up a bit and then put it on Instagram with a little teaser, asking for guesses as to who I was getting ready to spin.  Turns out this is not the first time Ewenice was shared as a "guess who" post.  

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A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

 

Trick or Treating with Ewen

The yarn turned out as pretty as Miss Ewenice and in honor of a grand old gal, Miss Ewenice is our sheep of the week.

Ewenice was the last sheep in a friend's handspinner flock and they didn't want her left all alone and asked if she could move here with our flock.  This was back in the very early days of the blog, March of 2007.  If sheep could live forever, she'd be 20 years old this year. Oh, if only sheep could live forever.

She didn't immediately take to our flock of mostly feral Jacobs and a couple of crazy Border Cheviots so she spent a good deal of time hanging out around the house with us.  She was  polite and well behaved and I don't remember her ever getting into any sort of trouble.

I know she took care of Ewen McTeagle when he was still pretty young and maybe that's how she integrated into the flock.  She babysat several bottle babies over the years, but she's most famous for taking the very best care of Renny.  

There are numerous Ewenice and Renny posts and I'm not going to link them all here.  If you don't know Renny's story, it starts out pretty horrible (heads up if you go looking back), but has a happy ending.  Miss Ewenice played a huge part in that happy ending.  Her ending, while heartbreaking, had a bit of a happy ending as well.

Interestingly/sadly, last night I didn't have the baby gate secured well enough and Rocky wandered out of the barn in the the middle of the night. I found him just before dawn, thankfully okay, standing right under that same tree.  Salt loved that tree as well.  Hopefully those good girls were keeping him company and I'd like to think they told him to stay put.

Sooooo, are you ready for me to knit another sweater?

And That's A Wrap...For Now

This is the last fleece I'm washing for awhile! *

I actually thought I was finished yesterday.  I took down the pre-rinse table, swept the wash room floor, stacked up all the laundry baskets, went into the skirting area just to inventory what was left...and found one more fleece. 

I'd looked at it last week when I was gathering up Ewen McTeagle fleeces, but didn't see a card with it and thought it felt too soft to be Ewen, so I set it aside thinking it was probably Burrnie.  I still felt like it was not likely to be Ewen, but something made me pick the bag up once again and turn it over.  The tag had fallen to the bottom.

Since the tag has a question mark on it, it was obviously not his original tag from skirting.  The Ewen fleeces are old and after several years of cats and chickens climbing in them and wind blowing them around, it's not impossible to lose a tag. When I'd rebagged this fleece, I must have questioned the sheep just as I was again yesterday.

But then I saw this tiny cluster of dark hairs.  That's a great clue, but sometimes stray hairs get picked up from the shearing board.  I dug a little deeper...

...and found this.  If you click to biggify, you'll see a little gray wool with some dark hair mixed in.  It's Ewen McTeagle :-).  This wool and hair was shorn from just around his face, where the dark hair from his head turns into the white wool on his body.  If it had been Burrnie, the only other short wooled sheep here, the hair would have been red.  

As far as the extra softness, I'm guessing this was one of his earlier fleeces.  I sheared him myself in 2019 so I know I didn't save that fleece.  I sent the nicest one of his fleeces off for the Lamb Camp bottle lamb yarn.  There were five fleeces left here.  Counting back I think this might have been his 2013 shear when he was just six years old.  

So Ewen wasn't the softest sheep on the farm.  It sure didn't matter.  I loved that dear sheep just the way he was.  And while he might not make a fancy knitted garment, he's going to be great fluffed into a couple of cozy comforters that we can tuck around ourselves this winter. 

* * * * *

* Why does it sound like I'm tired of washing wool?  Because I might be a little tired of washing wool ;-).

Normally I try to sell as many raw fleeces after shearing as I can.  This brings in some quick cash to cover spring vet work and shearing bills and clears a shelf or two.  With Covid throwing a wrench into that plan, I had a huge stash of wool here.  Some sheep had three years of fleeces stockpiled.  

I knew I needed to do something and decided it would be much more fun to market fresh roving than raw wool so I started washing.  I have washed 34 fleeces this summer!  220 pounds of raw wool, averaging 6.47 pounds per sheep.  11 of the fleeces weighed at least 9.5 pounds.  

While they were all fun to handle, there were a few special treats.  I've never washed some of those sheep before...the ones who get snatched up right away at the festivals - Murphy, Spud, Levi, Rocky, Big Moose, Mini Moose...  I knew they were nice fleeces, but now I know exactly how nice they are.  

Big Moose was so beautiful I couldn't even bring myself to send him off to be processed into roving.  I'll just keep looking at and playing with those curls for a bit longer.  

Of the 34 fleeces, 28 are being processed.  The five Ewen fleeces are going into quilt batting and everyone else will be ready to spin roving.  That's a lot of roving, so if you are thinking about gearing up for some fall spinning, I hope you'll keep our flock in mind.  

I think a fall farm spinning day and sale (in person and virtual) would be fun.  Stay tuned :-).

The Yarn Might Not Be The Best Part

It might be the stories :-).

Mother's Day ended up being very busy, but in a good way.  The spring barn clean out, originally planned for Friday/Saturday, was rained out.  We were afraid the ground would still be too wet Sunday, but it dried up enough and Tim was able to knock it out.  Well, you don't just knock it out.  Cleaning the barn is an all day job.  I can't think of a better Mother's Day gift :-).

By late afternoon I was finally able to gather everything and set up a photo shoot under one of the redbud trees by the Wool House.  I mixed and matched and rearranged and fought the too bright light and then Betsy's head popped up in a perfect photobomb.  I love that she is in the picture.

Do you remember her babysitting the bottle lambs?  She loved to sleep in the crate with the lambs, especially if there was a heat lamp involved.  Curling up with a warm lamb was a close second.  I'm not sure Maisie ever took a nap without Betsy.

I don't think Betsy knows her lambs are in this yarn blend, but it's sweet to think that she does and wanted to be part of the pictures.  To make it even better, I told a little story about Betsy and her lambs in the booklet.  Do you remember which lamb ruined it for her?

The bright sun did work out in my favor to help show off the little stitch markers -  sky blue, grass green, tree green, dandelion yellow and redbud pink.  These are my favorite type of stitch markers for knitting.  I haven't learned how to make crochet markers yet, but I enjoyed learning a little about beads and wire and I doubt this is the end of it :-).

The stitch markers are hanging around their necks like a sheep bell and can be easily removed to use or can just stay part of the decoration.  Do you remember which lamb wore the first bell and why?

The yarn wrapped ornaments are for the small gift boxes and the unwrapped ornaments are for the yarn kits.  There will also be a little bit of Blossom roving tucked in the yarn kits so you can wrap your own with any leftover yarn.  It's not a surprise why I picked Blossom to help with them and that is part of her story in the booklet.

This shady tree is actually the redbud tree most loved by lambs...and cats and dogs and chickens and lamb moms.  Remember Early sleeping next to the yard sheep?  He knew they were real sheep, too, and you still can't tell us any different.  

So...that's Early and Abby on the bag logo, yarn tags and leather tag.  They are an important part of our story here and I didn't want them to be left out just because they couldn't contribute any wool.  I loved sitting out under this tree with them tucked against my legs.  Using them in the logo helps a little.

The drawstring bags are a handy 10"x12" size, just perfect for a skein or two of yarn or a small project. The booklet tucks nicely in there as well.  

The booklet was a true labor of love.  I thought it would be easy to write up some stories, describe each sheep's wool, find some good pictures and send it off to the printer.  Phew!  The stories weren't too hard other than trying to pick out what stories I wanted to tell.  I could probably write whole chapters on each sheep...and maybe I will someday.

The problem was the pictures.  Those early lambs lived here long before I had a decent camera or even any real practice at taking pictures.  I love the pictures I have, but they do not compare to the pictures of the more recent lambs.  I wanted Punkin to look as good as Biscuit.  

I played around with several styles and finally settled on a sort of pen and ink/wood block sort of look.  I used the original photographs to make sketches and then a fun iPad app to turn them into black and white line drawings and then fine tuned them with another drawing app.  I enjoyed learning how to do this and it was fun to spend a little extra time with each lamb.

The booklet not only has pictures and stories about the lambs, but also a bit about their breed(s) and fleece.  There's also a little story about how the yarn came about and how I became thecrazysheeplady.  Karen Battersby designed a beautiful lamb sweater using the yarn and the pattern for that is included as well.  Even if you don't have a baby lamb to dress, it could easily be adapted for a small dog or agreeable cat :-).

About the yarn.  Each skein is 250 yards of worsted weight yarn and weighs around 4.4 ounces.  I find it knits comfortably to the gauge of around five stitches per inch and is a very nice versatile yarn with good Punkin's Patch character.  It's soft and cuddly, but hard working enough to do most any job.  

As this blend can never be replicated, it's a very limited offering and will only be for sale here on the blog.  Feel free to share this post with your friends, but I'd rather it didn't get posted to the wider public.  There's not much of it and I want to make sure everyone who's been along for the ride, new or old, gets first dibs.

This is my favorite picture from the shoot.  Isn't it a bit funny that Betsy came over here as well?  Maybe she can smell her lambs in there.  

* * * * *

The yarn box includes 1, 2 or 3+ skeins of Lamb Camp bottle lamb yarn, the lamb stories booklet, drawstring bag, plain ornament, spring stitch markers, a leather Lamb Camp tag and a fun surprise gift.  

         One skein $52    Two skeins $77    Three skeins $102 

If you are wanting a sweater quantity of yarn or unwashed yarn for weaving, drop me an email.   

The ornament box includes a Lamb Camp bottle lamb yarn wrapped ornament with the spring stitch markers and leather tag attached, the drawstring bag, lamb stories booklet and the fun surprise gift.

$36

As always, if you are interested in purchasing something from the farm shop, just send me an email and let me know what you'd like.  I'd also love to hear who your favorite lamb is or your favorite lamb story.  Even if you aren't interested in purchasing a Lamb Camp box, I'd love to hear about your favorites :-).

Shipping is always a struggle these days.  If you would like a shipping quote, I am happy to get that for you.

You are also always welcome to come to the farm and visit the sheep and save your shipping costs entirely.  Punkin's Patch won't be setting up at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival later this month, but I'll be around that weekend and we would all love a visit :-).  Please send me an email to let me know you are coming.

We hope you love our yarn :-)

Thecrazysheeplady, Punkin, PPPP, Ewen McTeagle, Keebler, Graham Lamb, Baaxter Black, Lila, Liddy, Blossom, Maisie, Bullwinkle and Biscuit

It's All Been Fun...

...but washing the yarn is the best part :-).

I've spent the last month (or so) working on the new Lamb Camp yarn release.  Remember the bottle lamb fleeces I sent to Stonehedge Fiber Mill?  Here's a video link.  

I've got the yarn "finished" (skeined, washed and ready for tagging).  I wrote a short book telling a little about the yarn and all the sheep who made it.  I also created a picture of each sheep as a lamb to go with each story.  There was a huge learning curve there, but I'm happy with the end results.

At that point I realized that the project was much more than just throwing together a pamphlet with some yarn and more of a celebration of all the sheep and each of their special stories, so I designed a small project bag, some Equinox Farm inspired stitch markers, a project tag and a wooden ornament to all go with it.

Whew!  I've got way more time in this project than I should, but I always end up putting more time into each lamb than I anticipate as well, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.  

The first batch. 

The yarn isn't "finished" until it's washed and dried.  The main reason you need to wash it is to get rid of the spinning oil and any residual dirt, but washing it also wakes up each fiber and allows it to relax back into it's original character.  Some fibers bloom into fuzzy yarns, some get really stretchy, some get puffy, some relax with more drape and flow...  This yarn, being a blend of several types of sheep does a little bit of all of that.

One skein before washing, on the right.  One skein after, on the left.  Isn't that fun?

The yarn is really pretty.  I've made a lamb sweater from it and also a matching short poncho for myself.  The lamb sweater was pretty straightforward, but I have some epic stories about the poncho that need to be shared here so I can add more details than what hit Instagram at the time.  Miss B made a gorgeous sweater from the yarn and I would love to share that as well.  My poor neglected blog.

So, yes, there will be some of this yarn for sale and my plan is to post it on Sunday for Mother's Day, mostly for sentimental reasons.  Of course I don't have any pictures taken and it's crazy/normal springtime on the farm and Frankie and I have our first horse show tomorrow... so it may be the afternoon before I can actually pull that off.  

Wouldn't it be nice if I got all that done and posted a horse show update tomorrow evening like the good old blogging days?  I'm going to try.

Hug A Sheep Day Is Extra Special This Year

The first year we celebrated National Hug A Sheep Day was October 30, 2010.  Punkin would have been 18 that day.  This year the "last Saturday in October" has once again come back around to the 30th, Punkin's birthday.  He would have been 29.  Twenty...nine...

Punkin...what a funny life story.  Who'd have thought one little "throwaway" lamb could change a person's life so completely and inspire an official holiday. 

Days of the Year has posted a great update, adding in more information about sheep and wool products.  Happy Days 365  has as well.  It's fun to follow #hugasheepday on various platforms to see sheep from all over.  Don't forget to add the hashtag to your photos!

This year our farm party will once again be virtual.  That actually ended up being pretty fun last year because everyone could watch.  We'll do another virtual flock walk, cookie party and of course, the now annual embarrassing of Maisie.  That too sounds like something that could become a new national holiday, but we all know that at some point she's going to take us all out and that will be the end of that ;-).

This was the original Hug a Sheep Day logo, with my good buddy Ewen McTeagle, the best hugging sheep ever.  Punkin would let me hug him, but pretty much tried to punch anyone else.  Still, as it's his birthday this year, I updated the logo to match his cute fuzzy gray face.  Feel free to use it for anything non-commercial.  If you would like to use it for something commercial, please just email me for permission.

The Titan

There has been a group of sheep here over the years that I've considered titans.  Buddy, Woolliam, Ewen McTeagle, Jester, Marcel, Keebler, Graham Lamb...  Big in stature...and personality.  Count Chocula was The Titan.  

We've been trying to fight through a bladder stone attack for a week.  He patiently tolerated everything we tried and we tried pretty much everything.  I finally had to call it. 

I will sure miss seeing you standing in your doorway.  Thank you for one final classic picture last night.  You were a good sheep.  The bravest Titan of them all.

May 2013 - June 26, 2020

Fiberuary Day Three - Knit In 2019

I'm trying to do I am doing the February fiber challenge Fiberuary again this year.  I enjoy these month long challenges because a. I like a fun challenge and b. I frequently think about things I wouldn't normally and sometimes learn something new either about myself or my craft.  I've also made some great friends following other posts.

Yesterday's challenge was "Knit in 2019".  The obvious first thought was the epic Muffin and Pepperpot sweater. I've used that for a several posts already though, but the only other thing I could think of was a teddy bear sweater I knit over the Christmas season.  I stewed on it off and on all day while caring for a sick sheep and just couldn't get enthused.  

And then it hit me.  I did have another 2019 knit that I hadn't already over-shared.  The Rebecca Boone cape.  The cape I really enjoyed dyeing the yarn for and knitting. The cape I sent off to the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival and won a blue ribbon with.  The cape I...had still never even tried on. 

I don't know why I hadn't.  Maybe because I was afraid it wouldn't fit or I'd look stupid in a cape and I would no longer love it the way I did.  I know I'd hoped to wear it during the Kentucky Wool Festival or for the Rhinebeck Blues party, but both events were too warm.  I didn't worry about it though because I knew I had plenty of time...until I didn't.

The sick sheep I'm caring for is Rebecca Boone and she is very sick.  I had hoped it was "just" pneumonia due to the crazy weather, but is most likely a heart problem that has now developed into pneumonia.  The vet was back out this morning and we are trying one more thing, but I don't have a lot of hope.  One thing I can say about Cotswolds though is they don't go down without a fight and she is still fighting. 

So as I sat in the truck where I could watch her without bothering her (she is quite over being doctored) I beat myself up for forgetting to do a "dressed alike" photo shoot with her.  Then I added in never making the Ewen mittens and the PPPP sweater or Renny's steeked flower sweater and...

The only one of those I could maybe fix was Rebecca Boone.  I decided to try and called my neighbor to see if she could come over and take a couple quick pictures while I sat down with her in the barn...and I went in to get the cape...that fit perfectly and I now loved even more.

I had hoped she'd just keep laying down and I could crouch down next to her without bothering her too much, but she saw both of us coming and made a run for the door.  I quickly grabbed a bag of cookies in hopes that would stop her and it did and she even ate two for me while Jennifer quickly snapped a few pictures.  We then hightailed it out and let her go back to bed.

Jennifer got several pictures that most people would think looked fine, but as I know the sheep (and the shepherd) I look at them and mostly see a sick sheep and a sad shepherd...who is wearing a lovely cape she made from the wool of one of her very favorite sheep.  I hope we get another chance to re-take these pictures.

Once Upon A Time...

...a sheep walked into a bar.  Ewen McTeagle would have followed me anywhere.  It was truly an honor.

Ewen McTeagle

April 2007 - December 28, 2019

Golden Oldies

My original paragraph started by stating "Renny is the youngest sheep in the Golden Oldies group...", but I wanted to make sure about Rebecca Boone and then started checking everyone and, yikes, time has flown.  

PPPP is 14, Ewen is 12, Billy Belly is 14, Rebecca Boone is 11, Woolliam is 11.  At 10, Renny is not the youngest sheep.  That would be B. Willard, who is just 9.

(!)

Ewen McTeagle.  It seems like just yesterday you were terrorizing the cat food on the back porch.

There's a new puzzle :-).

It's Going To Take More Than A Couple Weeks

I've been told the only difference between a good haircut and a bad one...is about two weeks.  I think these are going to take a bit longer.  When the majority of the flock was shorn back in March, we didn't shear the oldest sheep.  If you are frail and thin or not super mobile, you shouldn't have to work hard to stay warm until the weather breaks.  

The weather has broken.  Or is broken.  It was 90 yesterday.  In May.  That extra wool needed to come off.  I managed to get Ewen, Woolliam and  PPPP sheared...and only had to call the vet once. Needless to say I'm not going to quit my day job and start shearing sheep anytime soon.  Or any time.  

PPPP doesn't look too bad.

Well, relatively speaking...

A little Biscuit and Muffin break midway through :-).

Kate nervously watching yet another storm headed our way.

"Rebecca Boone.  I'm trying to take a picture of Ewen."

"Whatever."

Handsome Ewen

"She snipped me under my jaw and to make matters worse, because it's summer and fly season, she called the vet out and she put six staples in on top of it."

"I"m sorry, Big Wool :-(."

By this point it was raining hard so I sat down with everyone to wait it out.  You can tell by Kate's ears (glued to her head) that she wasn't enjoying the storm break as much as I was.

Oldies But Goodies

I think I've talked about "Easy Breezy" on the blog, but in case I haven't, it's the bigger version of Del Boca Vista, utilizing the end of the outside stall and the level paddock next to the barn.  DBV is perfect for a couple sheep, but when the population as a whole starts getting older, more and more sheep needed to move into "assisted living" this fall.

Silly Lila, one of my very favorite bottle lambs from quite a few years ago.  She's not exceptionally old, but she has some arthritis issues that make it hard for her to keep up with the younger sheep.

Popcorn PeePee Pants.  Her birthday is in January, but I don't remember the exact day.  I'd look it up on the blog...but she's older than the blog!  She will be 14 next month.  

PPPP is the lamb on the bookmarks we hand out in the festival booths :-).  She makes a nice puzzle, too ;-).

Renny the invincible.  She's not old and definitely not skinny, but she's starting to have trouble with her horribly damaged back legs and can't negotiate the hills on the other side of the barn any longer.  She's loving the Easy Breezy life ;-D.

Billy Belly and Heidi.  Heidi is another of the old girls.  She'll be 13 this spring.  Billy Belly is only 11 this year, but he was a bit thin heading into fall so I moved him into Easy Breezy so he could get some extra food.  He's also loving the EB life ;-D.

Ewen McTeagle (11), Woolliam (10) and Allie (12) do still come out and graze at least a little bit.  Ewen can usually be talked into grazing in the yard for a few minutes after breakfast if I stand out there with him.  Allie likes to go out in the afternoons and Woolliam does a bit, but he's also quite happy to hang out indoors and eat hay and wait for the next Bingo game ;-).

Old Friends

I wanted to add Ewen McTeagle and Woolliam to the "easy breezy" paddock.  Allie was doing really well in there, even getting out to graze some, so I knew if I could talk the boys into moving they'd be happy.  

Well, they weren't.  The two grumpy old men who have always slept in the back of the inside stall were absolutely Not Happy that they were now being forced to sleep in the front of the outside stall.  I had to lock them in there the first night.

The next morning (yesterday), when they only had to walk a few steps to the breakfast bar and could just step out the door to graze, they started to come around ;-).  This is what I found when I headed back out after dinner this evening.

Woolliam and Ewen would normally already be tucked deep into the barn, missing out on a nice evening outdoors.  Allie, too, but she'd be more to the front...and yelling at everyone to come in with her.  They all have to be happier outside on a nice evening.  I know I was happy to see them out there :-).

Warm Winter Sun

It can be way down in the teens, even single digits, and as long as it's not windy and the sun is shining, it feels warm to me. Some more pictures from the Del Boca Vista Distraction Party the other day.

Maisie

Heidi - who's foot is all better now since I popped a big mud ball from between her toes after the Boxing Day cookie party :-).

That is Muffin (!) standing just to the right of Levi in the foreground.

Renny

Bullwinkle, Levi and Spud

Biscuit

The Sheep Chicken and Woolliam

A little slice of heaven...and two new puzzles :-).  

Enjoy!