More Lambs to Show Off

I've gotten behind! Yesterday afternoon, Sparkles had the best looking little girl! I really love her facial markings, and she's HUGE.

I watched Sparkles in labor via the lambcam until it looked like things had slowed a bit with the lamb's head out, but no further progress. When I went out to inspect the situation, I saw that we had a nose and only one hoof. Sparkles was pushing, so instead of trying to push the baby back in and adjust the hooves, I turned the lamb a bit to ease the shoulders and out she came.

And this morning, EmmyLou gave us an equally HUGE lamb ram! He's similar to Sparkles' ewe, but with a solid head. In fact, he's and HST (head, socks, tail). He carried the Katmoget genes, so I'm just assuming that he's got spots covering up those markings.

I don't have a pretty collage of him yet because I only had time for a few shots before heading to Kat's preschool for the morning.

Rose and June should be the next two to lamb!

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!