The Blog Is 18 Years Old!

I'm glad the blog is still here and it's back doing more than just recording the month end compilations, but just the same, here's January.  Lots of good memories of one of our biggest snow events since we've been here :-).

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Cheers to another month and another year!

PS  As I'm typing the labels (far right column and a good way to search for things if you are looking) I realized that I don't think there are any Possum pictures this month.  That would be because Possum spent most of the month curled up in the house ;-).

Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Baaxter Black

Baaxter was quite the wild man when he was a bebe, but that was quite a few years ago and he doesn't move too well these days...until it's breakfast or dinner time and then it's amazing how fast he can get motoring.  He's the menace of the food bowls and I have to stand next to him to make sure he doesn't gobble his food and then knock everyone else out of the way to steal their food.

When he was a little lamb I had to stop feeding him from a bottle because he would eat so fast that he'd get a tummy ache.  I was told to feed him from a shallow pie plate and that fixed the problem.  I worried he wouldn't understand how to switch over, but didn't have any trouble.  He's been a good eater from day one ;-).

Baaxter loves all treats, but he especially loves stale bread.

A Good Day

 I love it when the oldies are having a good day.  What a fabulous fall we've had.

That wrinkly nose :-)

Respite

This has been the hottest summer I can ever remember.  Usually I can count on one hand the number of days over 90.  I've lost track of how many we've had this year...so far.  Today was a blessing.  Low 80s, a nice breeze, low humidity (because we are so, so dry unfortunately).

After lunch I grabbed my favorite chair and settled in with some of my best friends.  

Bea was by my side.  Jared and Short Round were napping to my right and Baaxter and Tabitha were napping behind me.  

Wait! I'm Here! I'm Here!

I'm off to a late start, but we are finally ready to hit the trail.  I'm still not 100% certain of what I'm making, but I'm going to be using the Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb yarn so I put everyone on the Ravatar with me.  I'll start knitting tomorrow.

When you aren't competitive and are mostly in the race for the experience, it's called a "camping trip".  That's going to be my plan for this year.  I'm going to enjoy spending time with some of my very best friends and hopefully have a vest to show for it at the end.

Can you identify all the sheep above?  A couple are a little vague, but the "characters" should be easily recognized :-).

One Last Christmas Post

These pictures from the same night as the Archie picture are too fun to not share and save over here, especially Short Round sitting out in the field wearing her lights.  Unfortunately these were all taken with my phone, so they are not as clear and sharp.  Still keepers though.

I'd love to be able to talk to Short Round and hear what she thinks about her life over here.  I think she gets a kick out of all the silly things we do :-).

Surprise!

We've had some weird potential predator sightings lately, one right up by the closed chicken coop door (!).  I picked up a cheap game camera yesterday to see if it could be of any use.  I've long loved following Colorado Farm Life's captures of not only the wildlife around them, but also their daily comings and goings, so I was pretty excited to see what I'd find here.

I need to do some thinking on how best to focus on the chicken coop area without the horses messing with it, so for last night I set it up looking out towards the back of the farm, just up from the creek.  I'd seen a coyote further out from there and figured if it was going to trek to the barn, it would likely cross this path.

I knew something has been coming around at night because Bea has been on high alert and doing a good job sounding the alarm.  Interestingly though, I've not heard any coyotes calling except way back on a neighboring farm.  I'm not sure if this is what she hears in the evenings as the time stamp was from early morning, but look!

Just strolling through, using the bridge.  I've never seen a deer here.  I've never even knowingly seen any signs of deer when I've been out walking, but of course their tracks and droppings look very much like sheep...  No coyote or fox sightings.

I'm only going to run it at night to try to save on battery usage, but for fun I left it on this morning until all the sheep had gone out.

Murphy, leading the way.

Baby B

Burrnie:  "I feel like someone is watching me."

Liddy is never up with the early risers ;-).

 Bullwinkle and Biscuit bringing up the rear.

I haven't decided where I'm going to set it tonight.  I think I can rig it up near the coop, but I'm also toying with watching the creek.  I'd like to set it up back at the ponds, too, but need to let it do it's main job for a few night first.

Stay tuned!

My Favorite Sheep...Of The Week

This week's Sheep of the Week is Spud, although as I scrolled back through all the old Spud posts, he was usually referred to as Sweet Spud.  

Spud arrived here in the summer of 2014 along with Murphy and Woody to be buddies for Baaxter.  They got into all sorts of fun that first year.  Besides normal teenage hijinks, they dressed up for Halloween and even had a Christmas party.  Do you remember the Spaceship?  He was one of the Spaceship sheep :-).

Spud earned Sweet Spud by, well, by being sweet.  He loved Hank and would always stop to visit with him and "close talk".  Hank never seemed to mind.  Spud would also check in with me almost every morning, lean into me for a sheep hug and we'd visit for a couple of minutes before he headed out for breakfast.  

My favorite Sweet Spud story however, is how he was one of the main Sheep Chicken sheep, helping the old hen up onto her perch each night.  My favorite of those posts was this video.  There are several pictures and a couple of videos of the sheep working to help that old hen.  I loved that.

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The picture up top was taken last winter.  It's the December picture on the 2023 calendar.  Salt was Miss December in 2022.  That calendar is still hanging in the wash room.  I can't bring myself to take it down.  I doubt I'll take 2023 down at the end of this year either.  I had to make the hard call this past week.  

Sweet Spud

Spring 2014 - February 13, 2023

He was one of the very best.

My Favorite Sheep...Of The Week

Some sheep here seem to get more than their fair share of online attention.  It's not always all about Maisie or Jared or Short Round or the lambs...well, it usually is all about Maisie...or else someone pays the price ;-).  

Still, there are lots of really great sheep here and in an effort to keep up a better blogging routine, I'm going to start doing a Sheep of the Week feature and give someone else a chance to shine. It will probably be whoever gets a good picture during the week, but if there's someone special you'd like to see, shout it out in the comments!

This week's Sheep of the Week is Baaxter Black, also known as Baby B or by what he thinks his real name is, Lamby Lamby.  Baaxter was one of our funniest and most precocious lambs and he got in so much trouble as a baby.  

We made the mistake of giving him a piece of a corn chip in the kitchen one day - I'm sure it was really early on - and he became a corn chip junkie.  He'd climb as high up the counter as he could and try to steal corn chips and if he knew you had chips in your hand or on your plate, he'd jump on you like a naughty dog.

He still loves treats of all kinds, but tends to hang towards the back of the crowd during cookie parties.  If I want to sneak him something, all I have to do is quietly call "Lamby, Lamby" and he ducks around and comes to find me.

Baaxter's wool is no longer black, but a fairly light gray.  He's a Jacob/Polypay cross, so it's pretty soft and very easy to spin.  I have a blanket I wove from his lamb shear and my Carbeth sweater came from his second shear.  I seldom get to use the blanket because Archie has claimed it, but I wear the sweater all the time.  His gray added a hint of color to the Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb yarn.

Baby B is still a character.  At nine he's starting to slow down, but he still goes out to graze with everyone.  He likes it when I sneak him some extra food though.  His favorite person in the world is still Auntie Reg and I'm going to wrap this up with my favorite Baby B video :-).

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.

Wovember Day 24. Stash

I've decided I need a new sweater.  While I really don't mind wearing any of my handknit sweaters out to the barn, the sweaters I reach for the most are Baaxter and B. Willard - the simple, dark colored pullovers.  I'd wear Ford too, but that's 20's favorite sweater ;-).  

I was also looking for a simple, almost mindless evening knitting project and a simple sweater definitely meets that criteria...until I mess up something ;-).  I have Jared's yarn set aside for the Iknitarod in March, but who wants to wait that long!

Remember the Jacob yarn I spun for the Tour de Fleece a couple of years ago?  It would be perfect for a cozy warm barn sweater.  I then searched Ravelry for a new pattern and picked the Sophiasburgh sweater by Sam Lamb.  Just enough color to keep things interesting and it has an interesting design feature I want to try.

I was sure I had something in the yarn stash that would work for the patterning and I did.  I could tell it was Jacob, but I couldn't remember which sheep it was.  I had a couple guesses, but unfortunately I hadn't tagged it.  I scrolled back through the blog and found it under a Spinzilla post from 2015.  

To refresh your memory, the dark Jacob yarn was from our very first five Jacob sheep.  I think it was a 2005 shearing.  It had originally been processed by Ohio Valley Natural Fibers as quilt batting, but when it became obvious I was never going to get a quilt made, I had them re-run it as roving.

The light gray? It's a blend of Emily and Annabelly, our very next two Jacobs!  Nothing could be more perfect.  

The historical significance of these yarns is (inspiring/heartwarming/exciting....?).  I'm really looking forward to spending some time with seven of my most favorite Jacob sheep ever and wearing the finished sweater while working around our present day flock.

Stash for the win!

Romeo Or Knight In Shining Armor?

We've had some pretty snows this winter.  Some accompanied by grey wet skies and a couple (so far :-) with the brightest blues.  It can be way down in the single digits, but if there's no wind and the sun is shining, there is no place better than hanging out in the barn lot with the sheep.

The other morning I noticed Big Moose was the only sheep with snow covering his back.  That seemed a little odd, but as he frequently sleeps near the back of the barn or just outside keeping watch with Maisie some nights, I didn't really think anything about it.

And then I noticed one other sheep with snow on her back.  The only other sheep with snow on her back.  Ah ha, I thought I knew what was going on.

Kaala is one of the popular girls.  One that frequently attracts attention from a few of the boys.  Well, mostly just two boys these days, Jared and Big Moose.  There used to be other boys, but Jared has schooled on them pretty strongly about who the "wimmens" belong to...and it being Not Them.  

Big Moose is not a slow learner.  Quite the contrary and he's very well versed in the 'duck and run' any time Jared turns his attention to him.  However, if there is anything Big Moose aspires to, it's to be Big J when he grows up.  He idolizes Jared.

How Big Moose and Kaala ended up outside together, apparently unsupervised, all night...   Well, she's another sheep who frequently sleeps outside.  The weather was really pretty nasty.  Maybe Big J decided to stay cozy indoors and finally let the kid have a chance.  

But...it wasn't just snowing that night.  It was also really cold and windy.  Why would anyone want to stay out in that when they could stay indoors?  Was something wrong with Kaala?  No, she looks fine (and that is yet another boyfriend, Baaxter, with her above ;-).  Then I remembered the girl fight from the night before.

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I missed videoing the bigger fighting earlier.  This was the wind down.  Girl fights...  I am now wondering if Kaala had decided to remove herself from that crazy, hormone powered fist horn fight and Big Moose stayed out with her all night to protect and keep her company, much like he stays out with Maisie some nights.  

The next morning...note Tessa only has eyes for Big J, but Big Moose and Baaxter are still hopeful ;-).  

Always remember, boys...

Rule Number One - all the 'wimmens' belong to Jared.  

Rule Number Two...refer back to Rule Number One ;-).

Lamb Camp Legacy Yarn

After we got Baaxter back under control, I was able to get a couple really sweet pictures of the sheep with the new yarn.  

(new puzzle :-)

I always wonder how much they understand about...life.  I know they understand that getting sheared makes them feel a lot better, but do they know that what's in the basket is the wool from their backs?

Or their kids backs?  Rocky was very, very interested in the yarn.

Remember when I threw Rocky under the bus for being a spoiled sport about getting his picture taken?  Jared...  This is as close to the yarn as he'd get and it was just for a split (and blurry) second.

"Dudes, I don't know nothin'  about that yarn.  I'm just here for the ladies...and the cookies."

So this is the Lamb Camp....Legacy yarn.  It's a limited edition, small batch run, spun from some of the nicest lambs sired by Nistock Farm's Rocky and Jared when they were working over at Tring Farm, before they retired over here.

The yarn is a really versatile DK weight and I think it would be suitable for almost anything, except possibly socks...but I'm not a sock expert, so I could be wrong.  It's comfy and soft, but still has some texture and feels like actual wool.  I'll stop here before I say something disparaging about over processed merino... ;-).

Rocky and Jared are Cotswold crosses and the mommas are crosses of North Country Cheviots and Polypays and maybe a little Dorset, so the blend is a lovely mix of crimpy down type wool with a lovely longwool drape and luster.  I love the natural colors and the soft sheepy feel.  It really is beautiful.

Each washed skein measures 250 yards and the two grays weigh around 3.5 ounces and the white weighs almost 4 ounces, so it's on the heavier end of DK weight.  I can also wind off skeins without washing, for weavers.  Unwashed skeins are measured at 262 yards to account for shrinkage.

I've knit the three color sample and dyed and knit the Forest for the Trees hat.  I've also woven a dollhouse rug  with it for a friend.  I enjoyed each project and am very happy with this fun and useful yarn.  I'm also getting ready to start a small cable project, too, you know...for marketing purposes ;-).

Speaking of marketing, each skein is $18.  And it often goes without saying, but buying this yarn supports not just our farm and sheep, but also Tring Farm, who raised these legacy lambs, and Stonehedge Fiber Mill, who spun the yarn, and our sheep shearers, our veterinarians, our local feed mill,  our hay and straw producers...  (In case you were needing a way to justify breaking your New Year's Resolution to not buy more yarn ;-D.)

By the way (more marketing) there are still about a dozen Equinox Farm calendars and 4 Lamb Camp calendars left in case anyone is still needing a 2020 calendar!  We are no longer able to recycle paper here (do not get me started!) so I'd love to find them good homes.  Sale prices $10 (farm) and $8 (Lamb Camp).

As always, if you are interested in making a purchase, it's as simple as just sending me an email.  More details at our farm shop page :-).  Thanks!

Baaxter's Stripe

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Baxter’s stripe 😀. #skirtingwool #kentuckysheepandfiberfestival

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Found it!

I've been skirting fleeces, getting ready for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival this weekend.  I've tried to post some pictures on Instagram/Facebook as I've gone along and almost forgot to look for Baby B's stripe this afternoon. 

You can't see it on the top side of his fleece, but if you turn it over to the cut side, there it is :-D.  I don't think it will significantly show when whoever buys his fleece spins it, but I think it's kind of fun to know that it was actually there, just like the picture from the other day.

(screen shot from Instagram)

I'm bringing several pretty fleeces from Tring Farm and sixteen fleeces from our farm.  Most of the fleeces are in good order, but a few have a bit more VM in them than I'd like this year.  It was a super wet muddy year and we had to feed a lot of hay...  They are marked accordingly.

There will be plenty of pretty roving and the usual Punkin's Patch "swag" and unless we don't think we can safely manage them in the hot weather, three special sheep coming.  You'll probably never guess who!*  And of course 20, and he's bringing a friend as well!

Once again the festival coincides with the Bluegrass Classic Stockdog Trial, just down the hill from the festival (with free shuttles all day :-) and that's always a good time.  The dog trial is going on every day.  The fiber festival is Saturday and Sunday.

Come out and do some site seeing and shopping :-D

*Don't get too excited.  It's not Maisie ;-)