Fiber Swap

About a month ago (I think), gypsyspinner and I made a trade; she sent me some beautiful grey alpaca, and I sent her some of my moorit CVM cross.

I had started playing with the alpaca right after I got it, but it didnt like the way I was preping it, I got frustrated and it went back in the box.

Last weekend I had some ladies from the Elko spinning group here to learn some home preping techniques. I absolutely love to prep wool at home, love to get to play in it! I also love to share the knowledge that I have gathered over the last 4 years with others. Anyway, I had all my prep tools out on a card table along with some wool; the Clemes & Clemes drum carder, my trusty doggie brush and cutting board, my mini combs, and my hand cards. The meeting went great, we munched and talked and learned.

Afterward, as I was carrying various things into my 'stash' room, my eyes happened upon the box with the alpaca in it. I slowly turned towards the living room, and there on the table were my hand carders. Bathed in a bright yellow beam of light, they glowed at me as if to say "you havent tried us yet!". I havent had my hand cards out in a long time, pretty much since I got the Clemes & Clemes. I think they were mad at me, to not have mentioned before that they could do the job better than the drum carder, but I was forgiven when they were brought forth to be fondled by all those fiber-loving women!

Fiber Fun Day

Here is some of the fruit of my labors the other day.
Unbelievable weather!!! It has been snowing sideways here since 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon! It didnt even snow this much at Christmas! My car wont be leaving the driveway soon, as DH had to put the truck in 4 high to get out of it this morning. Doesn't look so bad, but its slicker than... well, I'll let you fill that explative in.
ALL of my sheep (except the 4 rams, who do have some cover) are in the garage right now. I am wondering how they are going to fare in there, as it seems a bit cramped, but maybe better than standing out in a 24 + hour snow storm.

Small Correction...

I inadvertently called the moorit fleece a merino; it is romeldale cross. Ooops :)

Christmas in April, Part Deux?

Fleeces from The Wool Ranch came in today! Yay! This Merino fleece is lighter moorit than the Romeldale X I bought from her last year, but no less beautiful, has a comfort factor of 96, and if I remember right micron count of 21. A washed lock next to an unwashed lock...

This gorgeous pile of delectable Merino has a comfort factor of 99 and a micron count of 18!!! I was actually surprised it was still available. This type of merino has an open defined crimp that is easy to prep at home. I am not fond of typical merino, I really like to see that crimp!

Washed and unwashed locks...

Now off to the washer! I have a heavenly, fiber filled day to attend to :)

We have Twins!

And we're done!
Honey had twins today, two beautiful (and normal) ewe lambs! Look at that color!! Both healthy girls weighing in at 10lbs each!

I love Honey because of her strong face, long back, color and disposition. Her ears are a bit shorter than I would like, but she makes up for it.

Zip, my aussey/golden cross is checking out the new arrivals...

So thats it till next year, total count? 6 ram lambs, 4 ewe lambs. Congrats Girls!

Gorgeous Days, cant put it off any longer...

Last year, I bought a bag of orchard grass seeds. We use to have horses, so we have a large area that is virtually covered in horse manure. I thought I would get it planted in the fall, so it would be ready to come up in the spring. Yeah, well, I'm a procrastinator. So here is Spring and the seeds didn't get planted last year.
The bag says it will cover about a quarter acre, I don't plan on doing that much, not sure my well can handle it. So we started by hooking the drag up to the truck and dragging the dung out into the less well covered areas, didn't work as well as if I could scoop it and dump it, but this is the method I have access to. Then we hooked up this homemade aerator not sure where it came from but it was here when we bought the place. It has 3 inch bolts welded to it in rows all around, and if you take a t-post and lay it across one row of bolts, it makes a really good furrow!

Now, I'm stuck, but not for long. The truck is just too big to get around in this area without furrowing the entire property, so I have someone with a 4 wheeler coming out this evening to drag my 'furrow'. I will be planting tomorrow! Yay!

BTW, it is in the mid 60's right now, supposed to get into the 70's today!

Grace and Jari were sitting in the truck while Kevin and I were working some drag issues out Sunday... she is so adorable!

Christmas in April...

The scattered snow showers and very, very cold wind not withstanding... Moorit Romeldale (CVM) Cross, above
Grey Romeldale (CVM) Cross, below

Fresh from Morro Fleece Works today, both the romeldale cross fleeces I sent out back in October. ...or was it November...

Anyway, they are delectible, as always, Shari does such an awesome job!

I am going to be sending in two pounds of kid mohair and two pounds of the new merino I'm getting from Terry of the Wool Ranch to Morro in the next week or so. So exciting!

I am willing to sell 3lbs of the grey, and 1lb of the moorit. The grey is $2.50 per ounce, the moorit $2.85. Both of these wools are very clean and very easy to spin. They also both do things to dyes that are pleasing. The colors turn out so rich!

Honey is still fat, but her sides have caved a bit... not too long now!

Good News!

Apparently, I have attracted the attention of a retired veterinarian in California, who is heading up a study on Hairy Shaker disease. He is pretty convinced that is what I have here and is going to make a special trip to back-woods Nevada to take blood samples from the ram, ewe and lamb.
Yay! I feel kinda special, ya know, to be a part of the study... And grateful, I wouldn't be able to test them for awhile, at least not until I get a job.
I asked him about exposure and he said that he is fairly sure there is a genetic side to it.
We shall see!

Update on Grace and Furry

Grace is not a happy lamb right now. We have taken to putting her out in the garage during the day, she still comes in at night, but that wont last for much longer either. She is the most pitiful little thing! I go out every few hours to feed her and to check on Honey (the gargantuan ewe in the last post) and when I leave the garage she baaas and baaas in her high 'Oh my gosh! My mom is leaving me!' voice. I have her in with the ewes and the other lambs (she needs to learn how to be a sheep eventually, right?) but she is scared of them! I even sat out there for quite a long time making sure the ewes weren't mistreating her. I have four ewes (none of the tunis) that are bad about beating up other ewe's lambs, but the three that she is in with now are really quite tolerant. I suppose she will get used to it.

Furry is also doing great, I have concluded that he is just different, Laura commented that it is genetic, far be it from me to try to understand it. I have my areas of expertise, genetics is definitely not one of them. Of course when Honey lambs, if any of hers are not right, then the blood testing will have to happen.
In the meantime, he has gained three pounds, still no teeth though. Wonder if they will grow at all? That will cause problems...