Solstice Sheep Of The Day - Short Round

Short Round only came here because I wanted something good to come out of sweet little Early's short life.  

There had been a screw up in the lambing shed the day Early was born and Kathy thought Short Round was only going to have one lamb so she grafted a triplet from another ewe onto her. She was headed to the other farm when I pulled in later in the morning and she told me to keep an eye on the adoption, but that she thought it looked good.

I made my rounds of the lambing jugs and when I got around to the grafting pen there were three lambs in there.  Okay, I must have gotten confused, so I checked the other jug pens again.  Nope, I had been at the right pen.  At least four hours after she'd had her first lamb, Short Round had a second lamb...and now she had three lambs :-o.

Early wasn't in the best of shape, but we finally got him squared away as best we could and I brought him home with me that night.  I don't fault Short Round for not getting him up and going better on her own.  She would have under normal conditions.  She was a good mother and always raised good lambs.  She could count to two though and she knew she was already taking care of two lambs so I'm sure she just did not understand what had happened.  

Early was a delight in every way.  He was cute and smart and funny and just a corker.  Once I got to know Short Round I realized she was where he'd gotten his big personality.  She's a delight as well and has become one of my all time favorite sheep.

Since we're including treat information about each sheep I'll tell you first that the old flock ewes don't really know anything about cookies and crackers.  They are not pets and they don't really care to be pets.  Short Round and her daughter Ellie hopped off the trailer when they got here the next year and she took one look around and said "No problem, I can be a pet sheep.  Whatchu got in the way of treats, lady?"

Short Round will eat anything.  I mean anything.  I think if I handed her a Big Mac, she'd eat it.  I've never seen anything like it :-D.  One of her favorite treats is bananas.  I'd like to think B. Willard taught her to eat those, but I have a feeling she'd have figured it out on her own.  She also likes oranges and she loves pumpkins too, but seriously, she'll eat anything you hand her.

She's living in Easy Breezy because she's very arthritic, but on good days she still heads out to the yard for a graze.  She and Jared were special friends and I know she misses him almost as much as I do.  They always grazed the yard side by side and when Rocky died, she stayed out in the yard with Jared all afternoon.

Jared

I got home late one night.  After dark.  This was unusual.  I really don't leave the farm that much and if I do, I seldom get home after dark.  Hardly ever.  I think I'd been doing something fun.  Probably with Auntie Reg.  I can no longer remember. 

As I drove up to the barn my headlights flashed onto Jared standing up on the hill watching down the driveway waiting for me to come home.  Everyone else was tucked into the barn.  Just Jared, out by himself, in the dark, standing watch.  Making sure I got home safe.

Jared and I spent hours together in the driveway.  Up until just a few days ago, he met me out there every morning.  We'd greet each other and then I'd go make a quick barn check and come back out and drink my coffee while we watched the sun rise and the day begin.  He loved to watch it all.

We'd stand side by side, my hands stroking his face, rubbing his ears and twining in his wool.  If I was tired I'd sit on an apple crate or an upside down bucket and he'd stand there beside me.  The last few months, he stood leaning against my leg and I helped hold him up.  And then I couldn't hold him any longer.

All of my sheep are special.  Jared was outstanding.  As I waited for the vet I talked about all the sheep and dogs and horses and cats who had gone before him.  We talked about Rocky.  I told him to look for everyone and tell them we were all doing okay.  

I told him some of my favorite stories.  

I just realized I forgot to remind him about beating up Pinto when he joined  the flock and tried to steal all the 'wimmens'.  There's no chance Jared had forgotten that one though.

I reminded him about how he and Rocky defended the flock from the stray dog.  How proud I was of them.  

About him and Rocky going way out in the field together to graze even when no one else wanted to go out.  How I loved seeing them do that.  Such great friends.  Brothers. 

What a great job he did welcoming everyone to the farm.  He was so kind.  The friendliest face.  I don't think he ever missed getting up and walking out to greet every single person who visited.  

I brought his sweater out to the barn and thanked him for giving me such a beautiful gift.  He looked and sniffed it all over.  I never showed him something that I'd made that he didn't show interest in.  

How much I loved him and how much I was going to miss him and how sad I was...which I couldn't hide even though I tried to put on a brave face and finally gave up.  

How I wished we could stand out in the driveway one last time.  

And I thanked him for taking the time to stand out in the driveway with me all those mornings.  And nights.  And it came into my head that maybe he'd say the same to me.  And I hope that was a message from him.

May 2010 - August 22, 2024

I think I'd been doing something fun.  Probably with Auntie Reg.  I can no longer remember but I'm trying.  The date isn't important.  It's just a time stamp to find a picture I'm pretty sure I took.  Of Big J standing at the top of the hill watching down the driveway waiting for me to come home.  

I'd give anything to see that one more time.

Gone Batty

Knitting small stuffed animals seems to be my go to summer project.  Remember that cute frog from last year?  This year designer Claire Garland came out with a bat pattern.  You know that one went straight to the top of my queue!

The pattern called for size 0 needles and fingering weight yarn.  The smallest needle I have is a size 2 so I picked out some sport weight yarn knowing I could still knit the pattern, but that my bat would just be a little bigger.  

The pattern was well written and fun and knit up easily.  When I got to the part where I needed to cut out the felt wings I realized that my bigger bat was not going to fit those smaller wings so I drew a bigger design.  

Since I was drawing a new wing pattern anyway, I changed a couple of elements.  First, since mine was now a big brown bat, I edited the wing design to more closely match that species.  I also thought it would be cute if the wings would fold around the body so the bat could go to sleep and changed the placement just a bit so they would tuck cleanly under her face.

I didn't have any matching brown felt so I took a piece of gray and dyed it myself.  For as "anti-colorful" as I am, I really do like to play with making colors for special projects. Instead of stitching the bat's "fingers" as folds in the felt, I used a tiny crochet hook and made crochet chains that I then needle felted and stitched them into the wings.

One last thing I tweaked was to insert short pipe cleaners into the toes.  I did that with a needle and just threaded them down through the foot and out the toes.  I left them sticking out a bit on the ends, folding them up behind the toes when she's awake and ready to fly and unfolding them when she's ready to go to sleep so they can securely wrap around a branch or a loom rod :-).

The next fun part was trying to figure out how to get the best pictures of her.  I started out in the Wool House, but that's one of the worst places to try to get accurate pictures of dark yarns...so I moved outside...where it's also really hard to get pictures of dark yarns if the sun is still shining, even if you move into the shade...so I made one last effort last night after the sun dropped below the horizon.

"Miss Bat?" (Now named Stellaluna :-)

"Yes?"

"I know it's a bit early yet, but I was wondering if you could fly about for a bit so I could take your picture."

"No problem.  I'd be happy to!"

Bats really are pretty agreeable if you aren't yelling at them and trying to swat them with towels.  Bats are very beneficial and, like so many other animals, are really struggling now.  I love having bats in our barn and I encourage everyone to do what they can to help protect these hard workers.

I used the Rocky and Jared sons and daughters Lamb Camp Legacy dark gray/brown yarn for the body. For the belly patch and the details around her ears I un-plied a strand of the medium gray and held it double with the dark brown.

The eyes are black glass and glued into the eye holes.  I've never tried that before, but it seems to be working just fine.  For the nose and mouth I took a short strand of the dark brown yarn and dyed it black.  I didn't add any fangs or teeth because she wanted to be a smiling bat :-).

The felt, before and after.  The felt is 100% wool I believe.  If it's not, it's only a very small percentage of acrylic.  It took the dye wonderfully.  It did shrink a little, but I was prepared for that.  Once it was dry I took a steam iron to it and it pressed into a luxurious fabric.  

Auntie Reg found a perfect button in her button box.  Not only is the size and color perfect, but if you can zoom in enough, the design looks very similar to the "spokes" of the bat's "fingers"!  A little early evening sunlight shining through topped it all.  We used velcro to fasten the wings/cloak so we didn't need to make a button hole.

As the barn bats started flying out last night, I set the little knitted bat out on the fence so she could watch them and she decided to stay out all night.  I hope she had a fun out flying around with them

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

.Good morning, Miss Bat.  Sleep well :-).

The Power Couple

I was planning on FINALLY writing up a post about my pumpkin patch, but when I downloaded my pictures I really wasn't super happy with them so I'm going to try again, maybe in the morning.  

I did get a sweet picture of Jared and Short Round though.  I call them my "power couple".  When they were grazing in the yard over the winter, I frequently found them together.  I loved that.  

Short Round is still creaking along, but the old man is slowing down.  I know he's old, but I also think he misses Rocky.  He still loves to stand out with me in the mornings and watch the sun rise though and I treasure those times.  

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

My Favorite Tree...Of The Week...Or All Time

The Crowing Hen and her tiny friend Blondie have been here for almost ten years.  There were originally two tiny hens and the two tinies hung out together and the Crowing Hen, now affectionately called "Yaya" because that's what the bantams sound like when they're talking to me bossing me around, was brave enough to mingle with the big hens.

The two tinies slept each night side by side on one of the beams just over the cart stall in the barn.  Yaya chose the Sheep Chicken's perch in the outside stall.  The big hens are locked securely in the coop.  I've always wished all the chickens would sleep in there, but the bantams have never wanted to do that.

Something happened one night and the two tiny hens moved from their normal perch to way up into the rafters for a few months.  They eventually moved back down and then the silver hen started having trouble getting up into the lower perch.  She let me help her for awhile and then one morning a year or so ago I found her dead.

Blondie continued to sleep over the cart stall for quite a few months and then one night she wasn't there.  I eventually found her sleeping in the rafters over the Easy Breezy stall.  I'm not sure what scared her over there, but she seemed okay with that spot and that's where she's slept for many months.

A month or so ago I found the Crowing Hen with a bare spot on her neck (!).  I'm not sure what happened, but I feel like something had tried to grab her, luckily unsuccessfully.  Because I knew that a. she was pretty comfortable with the big chicken and b. she was in a location I could easily get to, I started picking her up and locking her in the main coop at night.  She still makes me move her each night, but at least she's basically okay with it.

One night last week Blondie moved back over the cart.  There is a nest of fledging barn swallows near where she had been sleeping and I wondered if they'd told her to get lost.  The next night I found her in the tack room.  I made her a perch in there and hoped she'd move in there at night, but the following night I couldn't find her anywhere.

She did show up the next morning (whew!), but that night I again couldn't find her.  That went on for several days.  I tried to be as stealth as I could, watching her every move, trying to clue in to where she was going, but she kept eluding me.  The fifth morning she showed up looking very tired and cold. I really needed to get this figured out.

Tuesday night she walked into the Wool House and looked around, eyeing the loft.  I love this little chicken...but not that much ;-).  I'd seen her poking around a little with the big chickens recently, I think trying to talk herself into moving in to their secure coop, so I tried to stick her in their with them, but she was too scared.  I set up a small cage in the wash room like she'd slept in during the Polar Vortex and she settled right in.

Last night I propped the door open and hoped she'd go in there on her own.  As I walked back up to the barn after dinner I found her heading across the yard.  I stood there quietly, watching, thinking at least now I was going to find out where she'd been sleeping every night.  She headed for the big pine tree and just as she was going to make her big leap, I scooped her up.  

My first thought was how scared she must have been to move out of her long time barn home into the "wilds" and how scared she must have been out there huddled in a tree all night.  No wonder she looked exhausted.  

Then I thought about finding blind Rocky out there after the night he wandered out of the barn and got lost.  And Salt always sleeping under that tree and Ewenice and Renny and Kate and Tilly and sitting out there with bottle lamb after bottle lamb and who knows who else has sought shelter in and under that kind tree.

It's had a rough life.  The top has been ripped out of it time and again by wind and ice and lightning.  Because it's lost it's ability to grow up, it's grown out.  Way too far out.  We've tried pruning it back a few times, but I know it's days are numbered.  It maybe does as well because it's setting a bunch of pine cones this summer.  

I'm hoping I can harvest some seeds from these cones...but I mostly hope I don't need a replacement for a very long time.

The Legacy

Rocky

May 2010 - May 10, 2023

Rocky was a product of a specialized breeding program at Nistock Farms in NY.  He was a lovely ram and produced quite a few high quality lambs there including our Hershey, Spud and Murphy before moving, along with Jared, to Tring Farm in 2016.  Two of Rocky's sons worked at Final Frontier Farm, making Biscuit, Muffin, Andy, Mini Moose and Ellie his grandsons and granddaughters.

Rocky and Jared were used at Tring Farm for a small crop of Christmas lambs and two spring lambing groups before retiring here in 2018.  Their own fleeces were award winning as were their son's and daughter's and now grandson's and granddaughter's and they helped offset expenses on all four farms.  Their wool, either in raw fleece, processed roving or finished yarn (Lamb Camp Legacy) has traveled all over the country.

Good family and good fiber are good legacies...and also some good stories.  My favorite is how they fought off that stray dog who came after the sheep a few years ago.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

I'd forgotten about them not getting along with Hank, or Hank not getting along with them I guess, in their early days here.  And how Rocky didn't approve of Jared trying to make friends with Frankie. Actually, I had forgotten that in the early days, Rocky was the tough guy.

Rocky really was a tough guy.  For the last couple of years he's lived with a weird cud chewing and rumen issue that there wasn't anything we could do about, especially at his age.  He just toughed it out and never let it slow him down.  

He was still going out into the far fields with Jared to graze back in the summer, but stopped over the winter.  Actually, they both stopped going out.  I was very relieved to see Jared start venturing out again this spring, but Rocky continued to stay in the barn.  

I realized he was having vision issues and by the last couple of months, he was almost completely blind.  He could still find his way to the feed trough though and was happy hanging out in the safety of Del Boca Vista. 

For the last few days he's had trouble getting up and yesterday morning he didn't want to try.  I was able to hoist him up and once he was up, he seemed mostly okay, but he wasn't very interested in breakfast and seemed very tired.  I decided to make the call.

Our sheep stay here until they die and we've had a lot of sheep over the years.  Those calls are never easy.  Some are hard because they are my dearest friends.  Some are hard because they are someone else's dearest friend.  Rocky was Jared's oldest and dearest friend.  They were brothers.

Jared left the barn when the vet got here, but he stood at the entrance and watched.  I have never been so grateful for the quickest and easiest euthanasia ever.  Rocky calmly laid down and was gone in less than two minutes.  

Jared walked back in the barn, but hurried right past Rocky. Not too much later I saw him grazing out in the yard by himself looking happy and peaceful.  I was a bit surprised by that, but I hoped that Rocky was out there with him and everything was okay.  

Still...something seemed off.  First he laid down out in the sun.  He doesn't lay down outside and definitely not in the full sun on a hot day.  I kept watching him from the porch and realized he was watching me as well.  His friend Short Round was laying down just across from him in the shade, but  that was normal behavior for her.

He then got up, so Short Round got up.  They both moved further up under the tree by the Wool House and both laid down again, this time nearer each other.  I continued to keep an eye on him and he was chewing cud and seemed okay, but still... 

He never went back in the barn.  I stopped to sit with him a few times as I went about doing other jobs.  Tim came home to bury Rocky and Jared stayed outside.  We went to our neighbor's for a quick dinner and Jared stayed out.  I finally walked him into the barn as it got dark.

Some dinner cheered him up briefly, but once the food was gone he started walking around the barn, staring out the back gate, I am sure looking for Rocky. He seemed equal parts sad and scared.  In looking back through all the old posts I think that while Jared held the spotlight between the two of them, Rocky was always the calm, steady leader in the background.  

I grabbed a jacket and my barn chair, turned off the barn lights except for Rocky's nightlight and sat down in the stall.  Jared stood next to me for almost an hour before he finally laid down.  I could tell he was exhausted.  I sat with him until I felt him relax and start to doze off and then gathered up Bea, Possum and Archie and headed to the house.  I checked him one last time before I went to bed and he was sleeping.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

This morning Jared walked out into the driveway and stood with me for a few minutes and then went back in.  He did eat breakfast though and looks a little less bug-eyed and I'm sure he'll be okay...eventually.  I've never had a sheep grieve so hard.  We should all be so lucky as to have a friend we miss that much.  

There's no better legacy than good friendship.

My Favorite/Least Favorite Sheep Of The Week

MURphy (said like "Newman" from Seinfeld)

MUR-PHY!!! (yelled as he tries to open the gate at least four times Every Day to get into Easy Breezy to steal their food)

HeLLO, Murphy (said with appropriate eye roll)

Hi, Murphy, you big knucklehead.  Yes, I love you too.

There are times though...

Murphy can open just about any gate or door on this farm.  He can manipulate a double ended snap.  He can untie a casually tied hay string.  He can use his front legs to pull gates toward himself to open them. He can wedge his pointy head into almost any size crack in the heaviest door and then use his massive body/strength to force the door open.  About the only thing he can't do is jump his fat body over Pinto's gate.

He might not be able to go over a fence, but he can find a weak board and push his way under (see eye roll above).

I'm not sure of Murphy's status in the flock.  I know they will go out to graze without him if he's caught sleeping in, but probably 95% of the time he leads everyone out.  This happens in the morning and afternoon.  Is he actually the leader...or does he just assume that he's the leader?  

I'm going with he assumes he's the leader much like he has great confidence that everyone in the world loves him.  And we do.  Most of the time.  I try not to be crabby that of all those really nice Nistock boys who have lived here over the years, that I'm left with the only one of them that I've toyed with stuffing back into a box with some air holes and dropping off at the post office!

For all the trouble he causes (have I mentioned it's on a daily basis?), Murphy produces one of the nicest fleeces here.  His dad is Rocky and he gets his good looks from him for sure.  The devious brain must have come from his mother's side of the family ;-).

I started this post on Monday and here it is Thursday.  Murphy won't even know he's been cheated out of several days of being the SOTW because everyday is Murphy Day in his mind ;-).

My New Screen Saver

I set up the trail camera in the barn last night because I was curious as to what Baba was getting up to.  Remember, she's the oddball who likes to go out and graze by herself in the middle of the night. I knew she was doing something because the wooden gates I set up to keep Rocky tucked in are always pushed open by morning. 

She left the barn the first time at 10:30, just minutes after I turned off the lights.  Jared tried to go with her, but couldn't get up the nerve.  I actually think he might have just been looking for me.  She came back about ten minutes later, slept for a few hours and then got back up around 2:30 and headed out again.

Maisie doesn't miss a trick!

This time Maisie got up with her, but didn't make it past the ladder.  Most of the pictures are of her watching out the front door, chewing cud, but she must have noticed the quick flash of red light and looked over.  I would love to know what goes through her mind.  Maybe ;-).

Being the sheep/barn guardian, I wonder if she got up more to just watch out for Baba than thinking about going out to graze.  I think if she wanted something to eat, she'd have gone on out.  I'll put the camera back up tonight and see if this is their normal routine. 

In the meantime, I think this is going to be my new screen saver.  Both of us looking at each other saying "Go back to bed!" :-D

March

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

I took out as many pictures as I could and it's still a long one.  I left a bunch of weaving pictures in because there were so many steps for that project that I wanted to remember.  There are a lot of Archie and Possum pictures, too.  And Maisie in her puffy coat.  We can never have too any pictures of that :-).  

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.  

View this post on Instagram

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?

The Jared Sweater

If you disregard the fact that I started this very simple raglan sleeve sweater with basically only one technical element all the way back in September, it appears as if I've been very productive lately.  Alas...

I really don't know what to say about why it took so long to get this one right.  It truly should not have been a difficult journey.  I wanted a bulky sweater that looked like bulky Jared, knit from a big squishy yarn spun to resemble big squishy Jared.  Both the heavier weight yarn and the basic design should have equaled a fairly quick knit.

I picked the pattern mostly because I liked the zipper, hence the name Zipper Sweater.  The folded over collar was also interesting and although I didn't know it at the time, the Italian bind off around the cuffs and the bottom has become a new favorite.

I know I posted several IG updates as I knit (and unknit and knit and unknit...), but I just don't have it in me to scroll back through nearly five months of posts to pick them out.  I will share two near the end though.  One because it shows said zipper (with, of course, a mistake I needed to take out and reknit) and the other because of the option to make whatever size yarn you want/need if you spin it yourself.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

The zipper is sewn in by hand.  I'm not a great hand stitcher, but I felt that would give me the best control over exact placement and also between the very close color match of the thread to the yarn and the texture of the yarn, it would be hard for anyone to even see any of the wonky stitches.

I used double sided basting tape instead of straight pins or sewn basting stitches and that was very helpful.  I was a little intimidated at the start of the zipper installation, but would now willingly do a zipper again.  

I was hoping to recreate my Ravatar artwork, but they were both too focused on the cookies to settle down and pose exactly the same.  Still, I love them standing side by side.  Such good buddies.  Both are 13 this spring and I'm glad Tim got this picture.

This is the best view of sweater.

And here I just look like a crazy old woman who never combs her hair, but I love Jared looking at me...or probably just smelling my mouth to see if I have cookie breath.