Beginner's Mistakes

I'm reading the books, scanning the blogs and staring at my sheep a lot, but still, it seems I have much to learn.

It was January, we were in the midst of winter, yet many shepherd are talking of lambing. I chalked it up to warmer climates, most of them being in the South or West, but that made me wonder . . . "when will my lambs be here?"

My brilliant idea was to check on Whispering Pines' blog to see when  their lambs started arriving last year. Logic told me that since these sheep came from them, they'll continue to follow close to the same schedule. After a quick look, I started planning for the beginning of April. Mike and I decided to build lambing pens and give shots about the middle of March.

THEN, a few weeks later, barely into February, a local friend of mine asked if I had lambs yet. What? Lambs in February? No . . . we're planning for April. 

And as soon as that thought crossed my mind, I realized the fault in my logic. Sheltering Pines actually plans their breedings. We've just allowed Knox to enjoy his harem at will. I have no idea when the ewes became pregnant.

Panic quickly set it, and Mike and I cleared our schedules one weekend last month and built lambing pens.

We now have two nice-sized pens for ewes and lambies.

And then we had to figure out what to do about shearing. It was too cold to shear last month, but I really couldn't tell what was going on back there. So my friend Sue (she owns The Critter Ranch AND provided me with the llamas) came over and we crotched the girls.

Crotching is when you shear just the back-end and udder areas so that birthing is cleaner and lambs can easily find their milk supply. The ladies were so humiliated.

After getting through that day, though, I was more relieved about the imminent birthing process. Mainly, because none of the girls had really started bagging up too much, and bellies weren't quite as big as they look with all that wool on them.

We're now half-way through March, and we're ready whenever they decide to come. I've been watching udders fill, but nobody is huge. However, I've read over and over that bagging up isn't a reliable way to predict due date. It's still fun to see the progress though.

This was Sparkles two days ago. Today, when I checked, Peridot is in the lead. I'll keep everyone posted!

Great Expectations

My girls may not be pregnant much longer, so I took some "expecting" pictures this afternoon.

 Pregnant Emerald--this is her first baby.Pregnant Peridot--this is her second lamb.Pregnant Sparkles--those would be twins in that belly!Sparkles is a proven twin-er, and Emerald, her daughter, was a twin, so eventually I'm hoping to see twins from Emerald as well.

Peridot looks to be the smallest right now, but she also has a shorter wool staple length, so I don't think that's telling me much about who will go first. If they had been sheared, I'd have a better view of what's going on.

Sparkles and Peridot are starting to bag up (their udders are filling), but being seasoned moms, that's also not telling me much about when to expect babies. My guess is by the end of March we'll have all the lambs here. Maybe even this weekend, but I doubt it.

Leicester Longwool Locks

Say that three times fast!

I have a full Leicester Longwool fleece that was only sheared once that year, so the locks are almost (if not) a foot long. And the shine is amazing!

The only problem is that a LOT of it is cotted (matted) throughout. This past week, some friends and I sat down to some locks to see what we could salvage, and here's a sampling:

And to give you an idea of how long they are:

I was amazed at how shiny these are! They're the same locks I used earily as hair extentions, but now they're available in the shop as sets for doll hair and felting needs. 

I really, really wish I was a felter or doll maker. I can imagine a lot of these as manes for horses/unicorns/pegesus' or for hair on fairys/sprites elves. Maybe it's time Morgan and I start making Woldorf dolls!

Yummy Fleece

I always have too many projects going, so what's one more?

I recently purchased a simply wonderful BFL-cross fleece; the sheep's name is Aster. Barb Barnett of Barnett Sheep and Wool has been working on crossing breeds to get just the right fleece for her. It's also just the kind I like!

Long staple, but not too long. Soft feel, but still strong. And a gorgeous, silky handle. What more could you ask for?

This is the raw fleece right out of the box.

I washed and carded a handful, and the fiber didn't disappoint. It was easy to prep and then wonderful to spin.

This is 2.5 oz. of singles on the bobbin. I'm planning to spin up a second set of singles to ply with this for a 5 oz. skein of yarn.

The rest of the fleece will be washed, carded, dyed and put up in the shop. I'm just happy to get to play with it so much!

Knox!!!

My newest friend, Hannah, came over yesterday to help with fiber work and shovel out the critter pen. She thinks it's fun work! Good friend to have, right?!

Another of the many benefits to having Hannah around is that she's always taking pictures.

Check out this close up she got of Knox.