Num-Yummy!

Just got my package from Columbia, er, um, I mean Morro Fleece Works.
:))
This is a blend of Targhee and Romeldale, so soft and lofty!
Sorry, not a very good pic, just started on this one this morning, I'll get another pic when I finish a skein.
Meet Polaris! This is one of Mim's Rams, his wool was so nice I couldn't pass it up, but then when I started processing it, something wasn't going well and I can't remember what it was. This was the longest wait I've ever had with Morro, it was about 5 months. She does such an AWEsome job though, it is worth the wait.
Polaris happens to be my all time, bestest, favoritest color in all of wooldom! Would love to have it again Mim if he is available!

One, two, .... oh my

From the last post you know that there are three ewes in the nursery under watch. We really thought Crimson was going to lamb next, she showed all the signs; head in the air, lip pulled back, turning to look at her belly, lambs rolling around conspicuously getting into position, pawing, pacing, straining, the whole nine yards. Then Misty started straining. I sat out there for a bit last night until I realized nothing was going to happen very soon, and went to bed.
This is what I found this morning.
I was so worried about this ewe last night. Misty was the first to have stiff legs. As hard a time as she had getting up I was afraid she was too weak and would have a hard time delivering. This is only her second lambing. She had twins the first time. So I gave her a B complex boost, 5 cc's in the buttocks, and apparently, wether I helped or not, she did a bang up job :)
Going to have to keep an eye on the lambs to make sure they are all getting plenty to eat, and will probably supplement them anyway. I was surprised at their coloring; they are a chocolate brown!
So, anyone out there know how to get a suckling lamb to take a bottle too?

Spring in Spades!

For the first day of spring we got... three little lambs :)
Eliza has done it again! She is such an awesome mom! Two big boys and one very petite girl, all fine and nursing and full of themselves!

Still waiting for Misty and Crimson to lamb, I believe one of them will be next. I took Misty (suffolk) into the barn about a week ago because she was acting ketotic. She was stiff and not terribly excited about food. I took Eliza in at the same time because I wasn't sure which was going to lamb first. Then Eliza got stiff. She has been ketotic before and it is a scary situation! Half the things you read talk mostly about death and how little hope there is of pulling them out of it. But we did obviously and she hasn't been there again. Well now I'm thinking it has to be something else. Both sheep have good cover and are not overly fat, how could they be ketotic? Besides there are no other symptoms. I went out to feed yesterday morning and Babs (Eliza's daughter, suffolk/dorset cross) is stiff too!
So now I know it isn't ketosis. I got to thinking about it and realized it had to be the grain I bought last week. I had moved up to 18% protein from 14% (it was all I could get), apparently more abruptly than I thought I had. I talked with Laura and she agreed the grain was most likely the problem. I had also made a call to the vet that had come to take Harry's (border lamb) blood as part of a study on Hairy Lamb Disease the day that Misty started looking ill, he called me back and agreed the first thing he would look at is the feed. He suggested I buy some oats to mix in with the 18% and if it didn't take care of the problem to call him back. We'll have to wait a few days to see if it works.

And on the chicken front, we are done molting! Yay! Now I have two and half dozen eggs in my fridge, but I wanted to show you this... I wanna know who let the turkey in the hen house!?!
I think I have two hens that, more often than not, lay double eggs. Poor girls!

As most of my friends know, I bought Gracie's fleece for three years before I bought her. I just realized tonight how much her wool has changed! The lock on the left is from three years ago. The lock on the right is from last year. I can't believe I hadn't noticed this before! I sheared her last year for goodness sakes! Wow!
Had to show you guys this; Jari and I got the 'barn' ready today, all except for the straw. I'm demonstrating drop spinning tomorrow in Elko so I can pick some up then, but while we were out running around the property collecting errant fencing (it always seems to move around during the winter), I was again noting the condition of my girls. It looks to me that either Eliza (dorset) or Misty (suffolk) will lamb first, they have the biggest udders at this point. But check this girl out! Holy sheep! And no udder! 'Splain that one to me Lucy!

Voila!

Oceans of three ply :)

Fiber Projects

I've been working on another three ply yarn; super wash merino, bamboo, and silk blend from Ashland Bay. It's a lot of work, but I keep reminding myself how beautiful a three ply looks when done, it really makes it worth it. I wanted the Panda blend, super wash, bamboo and nylon for socks, and accidentaly ended up with this, but I love it anyway. It is a really soft, lustrous wool blend that equals the Panda blend, at least in beauty if not completely in strength. It will still make nice socks. I will be getting the Panda blend soon though.

To do the three ply, I will have to get my extra bobbin out and put the full bobbins on a kate.
This is my scarf in progress. It's a very simple pattern, meant to help me fine my knitting technique. k1, p1. Very easy, but it is teaching me how to pearl in a more, um, graceful fashion lol
Made from the merino two ply in a previous post. It is a deep green, the flash washed it out but at least you can see the texture in this picture.
The weather turned icky again, we've had snow off and on all day, along with wind and cold. yay.
Hope it straitens up soon, we will be lambing by the third week of the month. I haven't been able to work my excitement up thinking of the nasty weather we may have to deal with along with the lambs. The garage is almost ready for them, I just need one more good day to finish it. Wish up luck! :)

OMGosh! Two, in one day???

There are just some things that can't wait. Such as this;
This is Rosie. She is out of Honey, my favorite (and oldest) Tunis ewe. She is a twin, her sister went to live with my friend Sam in Moab. One reason I kept her was her face; she has such a sweet face, with the not-quite feminine nose of her mother, though her ears are her sire's, a bit shorter than I like, but within limits. She has a nice top line, even if you can't tell it by this picture. Rosie has been in a coat since she was about 6 months old, it was big on her then, but was small on her when, today, I got round to taking it off. It bunched her wool up in weird ways.
Her wool is pretty nice, but not real consistent from neck to tail; this is about mid back...
This is about at her shoulders... hmmm I think I know where I'm starting :)

Ham?

(its a mirror :)

Good News!

We found Sansa! Well, not exactly 'found' her because the day after I last posted, she wandered into the living room. We looked at her, and I (totally expecting her to answer me) said "Where have you been??" Well she didn't answer me, not in the literal sense, but after she took a mouthful or two of food, a couple laps of water, she went straight back into the computer room and hid under the 'red chair' (it's ancient). The one place on this entire 5 acres of property we didn't look to find her.
I pulled her out and loved on her for a few minutes, then took her into Jari's room. I noticed that her fur was a bit oily looking like she hadn't been taking care of herself. She went straight to the window sill where I noticed something very odd; her right eye wasn't dilating. I looked like an upside down tear drop where the other pupil was almost none existent in the bright sunshine. The first thing that came to mind is that she got kicked or hit with something. Knowing how much she is loved in this house (and how long its taken me to get my husband to respect my cats) I knew no one here would have intentionally hurt her, but there ya go. Something happened. She was dehydrated, and had to be hungry. She refused to come out and when I put canned food in front of her she just didn't get as excited and a cat should with a plate full of canned food! I decided to take her to the vet and after a 45 min drive and 25 bucks, the vet agreed with me. She had no sign of any injury, no temp, but when he pulled back that right eyelid, where it should have been white, it was blood-red.
Not much we can do for her. When we got her home I forced some water, then did it again later. Now she's eating (if not with gusto) and must be drinking water because she isn't dehydrated now. Her fur is even looking better.

Thanks for all the well wishes!