Groundhog, Schmoundhog

Feb 2 came and went.
Punxsutawney Phil prognosticated that we’re going to have 6 more weeks of winter.
But in my experience, the weather guessers (people and rodents) are fairly unreliable, so I’m keeping a good thought for a nice mild remainder of the winter and a timely transition to spring.
Can’t hardly believe it’s February already.
Before you know it we’ll be pruning the fruit trees, and shearing the sheep again!

It was a beautiful weekend here, and I was glad to get some “hangin’ with the sheeps” time in

The boys were just chillin’ in the pasture

and I thought I’d maybe get a little fleece preview, but noone would let me get a good fleece picture.

But in summary-
Edgar and Griff look fabulous, a little lighter than last year, beautiful golden brown/taupe, both fleeces seem to be in really good shape, Griff is very crimpy, Edgar more wavy and silky.
Chone, a little shorter than I expected by now, but probably about 3 to 3.5 inches overall. some white fibers throughout. Starting to get a little matted in places where he scratches himself against the fence.
Frank and Felix- the fleeces are lookin pretty rough right now. Frank has managed to get a whole section of his back covered in some sort of green mossy stuff, and they both look very matted and bedraggled.

Would like to get in there and clean them up a little, but they aren’t guys who volunteer for a trip to the beauty shop, so I’ll just wait until next month hope it looks more promising under the surface.

Griff says, “It’s all about the fleece, baby”.

In sweater news, I was very excited about getting the sleeves and body joined up this weekend and getting to work on the yoke.
But then in handling the pieces I detected a slight inconsistency in weight between the two sleeves. Turns out the yarn I used in the second half of sleeve #1 is a little bit heavier than the rest.
The measurements are still pretty much right on. But it was bugging me, so I ripped it out.

So I’ve gotta go back and do another half of a sleeve. Not a big deal, but a little bit of a setback. I’ll reuse the slightly thicker yarn in the yoke where it won’t cause an imbalance.
Still think I can get it done by the end of the month. 😉

Moving Right Along

Shadow is shaping up nicely!

Sleeve #1 is blocked

and Sleeve #2 is underway-

Really enjoying this knit. Nice cable pattern that is easy to memorize.
Little nervous about the sewing up part, but I guess I’ll figure that our when I get there.

I’m also doing some planning for the next project- a Chone and Spike Cobblestone

I’ve liked this pattern for a long time, and just had someone express interest in having me make one, so here we go!

Chone

plus Spike

Equals

I just love doing swatches.

Haircut Buddies & Sharing Spaces

I think that Chone has forgiven me.

The silly bugger was really good for most of the haircut, but then out of nowhere he just kind of flipped out on me and he refused to let me finish. So now he’s got a really silly lookin’ fluffy butt.

Here’s his album cover shot.  He likes this one because you can’t see how silly his rear end looks.

Thought this was a cool shot of Edgar’s one-month grown out fleece. Starting to get a little curl back on the tips.

Looks so cute and sporty.

Yeah, I got all short and sporty this week, too. Probably not showing off to best effect here, but you get the idea.

Sadie got all brave and ventured into the pasture with us this morning. Here are she and Edgar negotiating her visitor privileges.

Thought this was a nice shot of the rivals playing nice and getting pets.

On the other side of the fence:

“Wow, did I just lay that?”

and “Hey, are you going to be done anytime soon?”

“Can’t wait any longer. Sorry!”

Home from the Fair

I didn’t make it up there this year, but I did send a couple things in for the Wool Show

And I’m pleased to report that they both made a fine showing.

Spike’s two ply skein and the stashbuster raglan both had lots of fun and received high marks, but I’m glad to have them back home again.

In other news, I think I’ve taken my little weaving project as far as I can go on this loom setup.

It’s about 19 inches now. Hopefully long enough for me to fold into a little handbag or something. Will see what it looks like once I figure out how to get it off the loom!

And the boys got pedicures again today (still trimming and treating with copper napthenate about every three weeks). I made it up to them with some pea vines from the poor neglected garden. It’s mostly been a chicken playground this year. Figured the boys can help me get a start on the cleanup!

I’ve got all of Edgar’s summer fleece washed now- today was a great day for drying al fresco in the cherry tree-

so I hung out some Frank/Felix yarn, too!

Nothing like wool in the breeze. 🙂

Have a great week!

The Wool Report

Just over 3 months ago I sheared the first of the boys.

So, I thought it was about time to  talk about how the fleece processing is going!

Today, I just finished washing up the last of Franklin/Felix (they got jumbled together).

So now I’ve got a whole smorgasbord of homegrown Shetland fleece to work with!

And I’ve already got some of it spun up-

Of the five fleeces, Griff and Edgar are the best for drum carding. Good length, but not super long, not much veg.

Chone’s fluffy texture is good for drum carding, but he’s the veggie boy, so I’ll probably have to flick card or comb most of it first.

Frank and Felix are pretty darn long. The length is good for combing, but it separates out the longer fibers from the shorter ones , and I’d prefer to keep them all together for the most part, so I’ve been flick carding and spinning from the lock. I really like spinning that way.

Realized after I took the other yarn picture that I was missing a two ply skein of Felix that I spun early on-

Frank has already made an appearance in the (primarily) Huey Oregon vest-

But he’s the only guy who’s made his way into a project at this point.

I may need to use a little bit of Chone to finish off my current stashbuster sweater (I’m getting really close!)

He’s told me that he’s ready to pinch hit if I need him.

What a swell guy 🙂

Three Bags Full

Finished up the last three guys this weekend!

It all went pretty smoothly,, but my back and legs are really shot.

Here is Griff making his wool donation-

(And Edgar making sure that Griff doesn’t get all the attention.)

Freshly shorn, with the next volunteers waiting in the shed behind

Short video of Felix’s haircut in progress:

And all the boys in their birthday suits:

That wasn’t so bad, right guys?

Here are some samples from the harvest:

Clockwise from bottom left: Griff, Chone, Edgar, Felix/Frank (they are pretty much the same, and got jumbled together)

Neat, eh? I was thinking that Griff and Edgar were pretty much the same color, but it turns out that underneath, Griff is a much more walnuty-smokey brown, where Edgar is a more  reddish tone. Griffs is also a bit shorter and crimpier, where Edgar’s is more wavy. Hurray for variety!

I combed up a little bit of Felix and Chone this afternoon.

I’m mighty anxious to take this for a test spin,, but there are just not enough hours in the weekend.

Will Work For Fleece

It’s been a good weekend.
Always helps when you have a couple extra days.

I really should do that more often.

Thursday I went over to Schoonover Farm to help with their shearing.
I always jump at the chance to help with something like this, because it’s a great opportunity to learn (and earn a really nice fleece!)

This year I chose Spike.
Here he is being shorn:

The fleece:

And the first yarn:

Mmmm mmmmm good.
Good show, Spike!

Saturday, we did our sheep maintenance routine- hooves, deworming, and administering the CoSeCure boluses for the first time.
It was a bit hairy, getting the boluses down them, until we developed a technique,, but they all got done. And it doesn’t look like anyone has spit them up, so I think we’re good!

This afternoon was really beautiful, so I was going to go out and get some fleece photos, but the boys wouldn’t cooperate.
So, I decided I would take samples instead.

Went back to the house to get the nice new little shears that got just recently.
Thought I would just get a couple snips worth, as a preview.

But when I got out there, Edgar just walked right up and said “Take it off. Take it all off”

And so I did.

First he just stood there while I was clipping.

Then he sat down.

And I just kept on clipping.

At some point, the other guys got curious and came around to see what was going on.

I had Frank climbingup on my back, and Chone nibbling on my ear.

Crazy guys.

But it was fun. Edgar was so relaxed, and I just kept chatting him up, telling him how sporty he was gonna look in his new ‘do.

Probably took an hour or more.
I just took it slow and made sure not to get too close to any skin.
He’s still got a half inch to an inch of wool on him everywhere, so I don’t think he’ll get too chilly.
Seems mighty relieved to be rid of the heavy coat, actually.

And I’m glad to take it from him.

Edgar’s a bit lumpy lookin’ and the fleece is a bit jumbled,, but I think we’re both pretty psyched about how it went.

Who’s next? Perhaps on we of the big boys?

Woolly Resolutions

This year I resolve to branch out and try new fibers.

As much as I love Shetland and Romney and Border Leicester,,, I feel as though I should probably try my hand at some other spinnables.

Does that mean I will be forsaking wool and spinning things like cotton (eeks!) and silk (gasp!) ?

Heck no.

I will be seeking out fleeces from different breeds of sheep that I haven’t worked with yet. I’m most interested in trying out wool from sheep raised right here in Western Washington. I have leads on the following already:

Navajo Churro,

California Variegated Mutant (CVM),

Icelandic,

East Friesan,

Black Welsh Mountain

Sounds good so far, eh?

Others I’d like to try out probably won’t find locally include Cormo, Polwarth and Tarhee.

Anybody got contacts for those?

The Man has agreed to go to Eugene, OR with me this summer for the Blacksheep Gathering (making Denise a Very Happy Girl), so I’m sure that will open up all sorts of possibilities!

Blue Monday

That’s what I heard on the radio this morning. Today is supposed to be the pits: the holidays are over, it’s cold & rainy, everyone has realized the extent of their Christmas debt and are already breaking their New Year’s resolutions.

The heck with that. As far as I can tell, today is a pretty darn good day.

I’m off work. It is beautiful and sunny out, though a bit cold. Blue Sky. (Maybe that’s the blue they’re talking about?)

I’ve got two happy pups to keep me company.

I’ve got lots of wool to play with- and thanks to the first item I mentioned, I have time to play with it!

It’s always best if I can do my wool washing and dying when the man is off working or distracted with other activities, so today is my day. I’m washing up some of that lovely dark Romney lamb fleece, and dying some gray yarn and some white fleece from the stash.

It’s a mighty rare day in January that you can dry fleece outside, but that’s what I’m doin’.

And here are some more of those January blues. Nice , eh?