Tour de Sheep

 

My Tour de Fleece is more of a Tour de Sheep this year.  So far I've spun 10 sample skeins.  Let's see if I can remember them all...PPPP, Henri, Petunia, Boudreaux, Woody, Buddy, Rebecca Boone, Count Chocula, Miss Ewenice and Hershey :-).

I have really enjoyed pulling out these old friends.  I'd forgotten how soft Boudreaux was, how luxurious Hershey was, how...everything Miss Ewenice was.  She's been gone 10 years now.  I have some Renny set aside for tomorrow.  I can't spin Ewenice without spinning some Renny :-).  

The Willard Pillow

Billy Belly has always loved sleeping on a pillow.  I thought it was just him, but in searching for that 2007 picture, I found quite a few of Emily, his momma, sleeping on her last lamb, Casper Belly.  I'm trying to remember who he used to sleep on before he moved to Easy Breezy...ah, it was Boudreaux!  That's right.  Good old blog :-).

He frequently snuggled up with Renny, even in the summer.  I'm glad he has B. Willard now.  If I had to pick a wool pillow...it would definitely be Willard.  Good old B. Willard :-).

A sheep of (mostly) Impeccable Character ;-).

Charge!!!

As soon as a gate is opened, any gate, but preferably one out to a field the flock hasn't been in for awhile, everyone comes running.  Even sheep who really can't run anymore.  This is Big Excitement in sheepland!  

Yesterday was Integration Day for the two "boys".  We need to use their paddock to park cars Saturday and they were ready anyway.  Both had started sleeping outside the barn next to the two gates into the main barn at night.

Charge!!!

Chocula has the jump and run down pat, but somehow Clover Belly got out ahead of him this time. That's Levi making a quick getaway in the foreground. 

Baby Belly, Daniel and Buddy.  The group charge is always cheered on by Buddy yelling at the top of his lungs.  This is also how I know if an Unscheduled Charge is taking place.  Buddy is always the very most excited...much to escapees chagrin ;-).

Lila and Renny

Now Boudreaux and Woolliam

Allie and PPPP, under the shade cloth.  Buddy, out front, didn't get very far before he started chowing down.

Maisie and Hershey, bringing up the rear.  Usually Maisie is out front.  She must have gotten stuck in a traffic jam ;-).

No  one got very far.  And they were far too interested in all that green grass to even think about the two boys.  I always like to integrate the main flock into the new sheep's area.  Not only does the main group have more interest in the fresh grass, but the new sheep know the 'lay of the land' and are more confident in familiar surroundings.

And interestingly, Bullwinkle had lived with the main flock for at least a month or two before Levi got here, right?  I know I have pictures of him with B. Willard and Petunia.  See, this is why I shouldn't have slacked off on the blog over the summer.  Bad records.  Anyway, Levi marched right over to the big group, but Bullwinkle stayed back out of the fray for quite a while.  When did Mr. Bossy get so bashful?

And to answer the earlier question about Kate...I was sitting on the Wool House porch knitting. Knitting!  Cooking I can understand.  Anything involving sharp knives or possibly burning the house down, sure!  Spinning I sort of get, too.   Your tail could get squished under a treadle or your pointy nose bumped in the turning wheels.  Knitting?  You're going to go sit under a tree, not able to bear watching me knit???

Sadly, she's probably pretty smart.  I was sitting there happily knitting away on the re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-start of the Renny sweater, thinking all was well.  I was knitting both sleeves at the same time and they were the same tension and same size.  I had over-dyed some of the pink yarn to a more fall color that I really liked.  I was plotting my next Yarn Along post sharing my great successes......

I still think the gauge is not good.  On the size 6 needles I think it's just too tight dense inelastic wrong.  I didn't really like the gauge on the size 7 needles any better though.  What am I going to do? I haven't wet blocked a size 7 sample.  I guess that should probably be my first step.  Although at this point I think I might join Kate under the tree :-/.

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The winner of the second giveaway is Renee :-D.  Send me your mailing information and which calendar you'd like!  I'll post the final winner tomorrow.  I'm thoroughly enjoying reading about everyone's favorite blog posts!  Blogging is a ton of work and it's so nice to know it's appreciated :-).

Tour de Barn

While the barn set up has been easy to work with (as far as handling sheep) over the years, we have battled air flow in the "inside" stall, especially in the summer months and especially when it's been super rainy or super hot - check and check this summer.

We've talked about taking down the wall between the two stalls forever, but never did it for who knows what reasoning.  It's down now and I can't believe we didn't do this years ago.  The barn is so light and airy and much more comfortable temperature and air quality-wise.  

The view from the outside.

The new view inside.  And by view I mean view!  I can stand in the aisleway and not only see almost any sheep in the barn at any time, but I can also see sheep in the side paddock, like Auntie Lila and Bullwinkle.  Yes, there are still some blind spots, but man what a difference!

We obviously weren't going to take down any supporting beams and the outside addition is slightly higher than the inside floor so we replaced the old wall with gates.  I can still shuffle sheep from the inside stall to the outside stall, shut the small gate and then push them down to the working pen with a solid wall, just like the old days.

And we didn't take out the old wall feeders because everyone likes to use them as pillows and standing blocks.  Woolliam and Woody standing up on the far right.

And the gates make good pillows, too :-).  Andy.  And Woolliam, who would just like to Go To Sleep Now Please!

The "assigned seats" got jumbled around a bit for awhile, but there are still most of the familiar faces here.  Keebs, Renny, Burrnie, Ewen, Boudreaux are all accounted for.  Woolliam got knocked down the wall for a couple days, but he's now back where he wants to be ;-).  Somehow Chocula managed to make every picture, day and night, all over.  That's his butt in the gate pillow pic.

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The Tour de Fleece is rolling right along, too.  Well, some team members are rolling better than others, but we are all having fun.  It's not too late to join and even if you don't want to spin, you can still follow along and cheer lead!

Yarn Along - Are You Ready To Make Some Yarn?

Other than taking care of the "live" fiber, there has been very little "fiber" work done here lately. Am I just not good at prioritizing my time?  Probably.  Is there really just not enough time in the day? Surely I could Find Five somewhere.  Am I just lacking some inspiration?  Uh, I'm surrounded by inspiration every day :-o.  

Well, guess what!  It's Tour de Fleece time...again...seriously...it is almost July and the Tour de France already...again?!?   Time to prioritize my time, Find Five (why do I have to keep fighting the same battle over and over?!?) and get ready to be inspired.  Hopefully this will be just the kick in the pants I've been needing.

I did actually finish skirting all the spring fleeces the other day.  Well, almost all the fleeces.  Right after I took down the skirting table, put away all the sheets and bags, cleaned up the discarded wool...I found two huge bags of wool from Baaxter's cousins at Foxglove Farm.  Sigh...

As I was skirting, I started washing fleeces headed to the mill next month.  Boudreaux was his usually messy mess, Ford is so old and frail that I wasn't sure his fleece would even be salvageable, and Graham...  I'd taken some fleece off him before I took him to the diagnostic lab.  I'd not saved any of his adult fleeces, assuming he'd live forever :-(.

My dear old guys...  Three of my fanciest and favorite-est fleeces over the years.  How did it get to be so many years.  I knew Graham would be okay.  Ohio Valley Natural Fibers always does an amazing job cleaning up Boudreaux.  Ford...I wasn't so sure.  I decided to dig out my wool combs and see what I had.  

Gray - Ford    White - Graham     Dark gray - Boudreaux

Beautiful, as I knew it would be.  I'm not sure how I'm going to spin this or what I'm going to make, but I'd like something to have and to hold from one of the funniest, most irritating, Why you little...! wanted to strangle half the time, dearest sheep ever.

Ford.  You can almost tell by looking this is a bit iffy.  Not only is the fiber maybe not as sound as it used to be, but he has some skin scurf in there that would be gross not be fun to work around. Combing is always the best bet for fleeces like this.

The combs will catch most of the VM and it did take out almost all of the little stuff.  And yes, it does look like a lot of waste...

...but what is left is classic silky soft Ford :-).

Sheepmom - don't look at this next picture!

Boudreaux came from Nistock Farms and should have stayed there and been the superstar of the wool world that he could have been if he'd lived the life of luxury, wearing a protective coat and been meticulously maintained.  That's what it would have taken. Missing something?  Boudreaux probably has it stuck in his fleece somewhere ;-).

Luckily the big machines at Ohio Valley do a great job cleaning most of his yearly collection. Combs would be my choice if I wanted to process it all at home.

Ooh!  Ahh!  Sort of...

This picture looks horrible here now that it's uploaded and that's because blogger "auto enhanced" it. There is a way to turn that off, but it's 71 degrees this morning and I have better things to do than sit in front of a computer.  Sigh...

And yes, I'm still using my trusty beer cheese container lid diz.  Boudreaux and I are classy if nothing else ;-D.

Boudreaux's "bird nest" - an actual spinning term, not just a reflection on his (lack of) cleanliness ;-).

Have you ever tried to take a picture of dark wool or yarn (or other dark items) and had this happen? The color is correct on the pictures above this one.  Would you like to know why your camera does this and what to do about it?

A tiny gift basket, ready to kick off the Tour de Fleece Saturday.  

Once again we have a Punkin's Patch/My Favorite Sheep team started on Ravelry.  This is open to anyone!  You do not have to be a good spinner.  You could even use this event to LEARN to spin. It's just for fun and to challenge ourselves to make yarn, maybe lots of yarn, maybe just a little each day, learn something new...actually get a wheel out, dust it off and see if you remember how to spin.  

Not to worry, it's just like riding a bike! ;-D

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I have no books to share this week.  I started three different (very popular) ones and haven't loved any of them enough to keep listening.  Wait, I did listen to the latest Stephanie Plum mystery, Tricky Twenty-Two, and Bullwinkle and I powered through that.  

Any recommendations for something silly like that?

Joining in with Ginny...

Assigned Seats

When I peaked in on everyone this afternoon, Boudreaux was cashed out, eyes closed.  He was so cute I had to go get the camera.  Of course he was wide awake when I got back.

"I wasn't sound asleep, I swear!"

"That's right, because no one sleeps sound when I'm around hee hee hee ;-).

As I was reviewing the pictures I noticed Boudreaux was in his spot, Maisie in hers.  Beanie Baby and Andy were in the old hay mangers, right on cue.

Ewen's sleeping in his spot.

And Keebs...the first one not in his assigned seat.  Surely it's not cooler in this stall (?).

"Nope, it's hot both places." 

Bullwinkle provided a little distraction for Baaxter...who is, yep, in his assigned seat.  If I had the time I'd go back and pull out all the old posts that show everyone in these same seats year after year. I think that's interesting.

Stay cool!

Yarn Along - Back On The Trail

A quick race update.  Baaxter and I are finally back on the trail and still mushing for Nome.  We lost yesterday working the shearing trailer at Final Frontier Farm, but luckily that put us in good shape for the shearers coming here tomorrow.  This is a huge relief.  It's most important to take care of the "team".  

I think we still have a decent chance to finish before the Red Lantern, but it's going to require some late nights.  I'll share more about the new project hopefully tomorrow.  

A few more snow shots.

Who's in there?

Why it's Murphy!

And Ewen McTeagle!

And Count Chocula!  Boudreaux and Maisie in front.

I'm sure going to miss those fuzzy fleeces, but spring has come early and the sheep are not going to miss them one bit.  Yes, I will take pictures and probably a video of Liddy.  I am so so so not ready for her to be "all grown up" :'-(.

Books.  Let's see...it's been a blur.  Finished The Snow Child and give it an "okay".  Feeling the need for something truly delightful I decided to re-listen to My Grandmother Said To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman.  Just as good the second time around!

Joining in with Ginny...

Wool Pillows Are The Best

Billy Belly and Boudreaux

Anatomy Of A Photo Shoot - Equinox Farm Style

They'd predicted less than an inch of snow the other evening.  I had an inkling they might be wrong when I saw the neighbor haul an extra load of silage to his cows ;-).  We ended up with four inches of some of the prettiest, most perfect snow ever.  

Since it wasn't super cold to begin with and they were calling for temps in the high 30's later in the day, I knew I was going to have to work fast.  We hadn't had snow since before Thanksgiving and who knew if we'd ever get any more (gasp!). I like to have at least two, if not three, good snowy calendar scenes.  Time to get busy.

First and foremost, always be prepared to bribe with food. This crew will do almost anything for food.  I decided to use the heavily flocked white pines as my background so I set out a bale of hay...and opened the side door.

Hank made a quick safety check loop.  There's not much he and I like more than a good fluffy snow :-D.

It was still pretty "dark", but I could tell the sun was going to try to peek through.  Getting the timing right is the thing.  Let them out too late and I miss the golden light.  Too soon and they fill up on the bribe and go back to the barn and settle in for a long winter's nap.

I couldn't figure out why I had so many of the "same" pictures until I noticed Hank working his way back down the tree line.  Gotta love Hank :-).

And here comes the sun :-).

"We don't really care if you make us go out in the snow to take our pictures as long as we get to eat yummy hay."

That's Buddy and Boudreaux looking at us.  I almost missed Woolliam buried deep in the middle.

"I'd rather eat grass."

Keebs is always so complicated ;-).