I really like this fiber!

I have to say thanks again to Sam, your sense of fibers has really come through in this blend. I mentioned in my post yesterday, this fiber is a blend of CVM (Romeldale), alpaca, and guanaco (the 'g' is silent). Also I mentioned that it has character. I really had no idea until I finished this hat and washed it. It has white hair all through it, makes it look like it would be scratchy, but it sooo isn't! Jari modeled it for me but I made it for Kevin, hoping he will like it. It is so thick and is going to be so warm. If he doesn't want it, I might keep it :)
The pattern is out of 'Luxury Yarn, One-Skein Wonders', pg 43.

Cold

Its been down in the low 20's for three nights in a row! I really don't like winter at all.
It snowed in the mountains yesterday, and spit a little on us here in the valley. Mt. Louis has a fine dusting this morning, always means winter is here.

We will be taking delivery of the last load of hay for the winter today. I hope that with reducing my flock I wont have to worry about hay again until next fall. I have 7 sheep left now, not counting the last lamb that will go in January, down to Carmine and his 6 girls. I still haven't been able to shear the last two girls that I wanted to get done, its just been too cold. I am afraid what I will have to do is shear them and leave them in the garage-barn for a couple weeks until their wool grows back out a bit; it doesn't look like we're going to have any more warm nights.

I finished Joy's scarf! I did it a few weeks ago, just hadn't had a chance to take pictures of her with the hat and scarf on. I really enjoyed working it up and the end result is more than satisfactory!
Kevin and I took a trip to Moab, UT a couple of weeks ago, where my good friend Sam (Mary Ann) Cunningham lives and raises Tunis sheep, along with guanaco, guanaco/alpacas, Navajo Churros, CVMs, and various other wool/hair/feather bearing critters. She got the last two Tunis lambs I had. We do this pretty much every year, I take her registrable sheep and she gives me elk meat from an elk ranch in Montana (I would personally rather eat elk than beef; it is leaner than beef and you know its not raised with antibiotics or growth hormones). And as a bonus, I always go to Arches NP when I'm there. Kevin was the only one of us that hadn't been, and I think he really enjoyed himself! We both ended up wishing we'd had more time, as there is sooo much to see and do in the Moab area. It's the Jeep capitol of the world, they say! I haven't had a chance to go to Canyon Lands NP yet, maybe next time.
We took so many pictures, but I think I like this one the best. I don't know what this formation is called, but it should be something like 'the knife'.
This is the 'Delicate Arch', the one that adorns Utah's license plate. We hiked up a hill (thought I was going to vapor lock, I need more exercise!), about 20 minutes to get this close (click for big); come to find out there was another trail that takes you right up to the arch, but that is a 4 hour round trip! Glad I didn't try that one lol
Sam also threw in a few pounds of roving for me, along with a big box of canned itesm. She is always more than generous, giving more than she takes, no matter how much I argue. I have been reprimanded by her more than once for trying to give her more than she gives me, or tell her to not give me any more than what I think she should. The roving is a blend of CVM, alpaca, and guanaco and is very pretty. Kinda wish it was something besides gray, I have so many grays, but it is soft and has a lot of character.
Since I started spinning, I have done well at fingering weights and lace weights, spinning fine threads for fine yarns. Truth be told, it is very hard to do anything else now. The control freak in me pulls out every nep, drafts out every thick spot. So when I spun this fiber I made my control freak go away. I spun it with a long draw and just spun it! Ok, so my control freak straitened or thinned out a couple spots, but I managed to keep it to a minimum :) I'm making a hat out of it now.
I finished a scarf that I've given to my bff, Brenda, for her birthday, she loves it thank goodness!
I bought the fiber at BSG, two bumps of merino silk top, one was a brown, the other the same color brown with maroon/pink ish areas. I spun each then plied them together.
This picture doesn't do it justice, it is very pretty and lustrous with waves down both sides affected by knitting in short rows.

Joy is growing up so fast! Almost as soon as we brought her home she was standing in our laps rather than laying prone like infants usually do. Now she's walking! She started about 6 weeks ago, now she almost has it perfected :)

Feeling Sheepish

I found my card reader, and I won't go into where it was or how many times a day I walk past the spot... OK, it was on the TV stand. Sheesh.
I started on this in like June or something and Kevin and I just finished it a few days ago. Other things just got in the way. But I'm happy with the finished product and I think the chickens are too :) This was taken during the day. Something else I don't think I posted about was the nest boxes I built, you can just see them to the left.
I didn't think I'd gotten any aracuna chickens in this mixed batch, but I did! I love these chickens; they're bold and have neat personalities. I'm thinking I would like to order more of these next spring, but that will depend on whether I can enlarge the coop or not by then.
These black hens are either Jersey Black Giants or Australops, still don't know because I haven't caught them to look at their feet (one breed has yellow feet, the other pinkish).
I have three white hens, could be Plymouth Rock or Leghorn.
These two are either Rhode Island Reds or Hampshire Reds... the hen in the foreground is one of the three left after the coyote attack, notice the size? Those are either some really large chicks, or some small hens :) Actually its both; the assortment of chicks I got are all standard. Why they call them standard I don't know, every breed in the assortment is large. The Jersey's are the largest with hens weighing in at 8 lbs and cocks at 10. That's a big chicken!
This is my one Dominique. Looks like a Barred Rock to me, but they said it wasn't.
You can just see the tail of the one Buff Orphington.

Camping!
So we went camping for my birthday... I know, its been too long since I posted last.
We went to Wilson Resevoir, north and east of Elko, about 2.5 hrs from here.
We took the 'big' tent. This is the same tent that Tad and I set up about 6 or 7 years ago that I thought had a missing pole. It is a really nice tent!
Yes, these are pelicans! There were so many water foul there that when one took off, hundreds would leave the water, making a sound like the roar of three semis running down a dirt road.
The water is so low this time of year that you can't fish off the bank by the camping spots, you have to come to this end of the lake where the rocks slope down into deeper water.
And here is part of the catch. I was the only one to land any fish this trip, although Jari had a really nice trout on, she didn't get it over land quick enough and it flopped off back into the water just as she went to reach for it.

Dinner?
I just HAD to include this picture; I decided to make stuffed meatballs and it was delicious! So here you see stuffed meat balls with marinara/alfredo sauce on wheat noodles, and asparagus with hollandaise sauce. Anyone wants the recipe let me know :)

Joy!
She is starting to walk, which means we are all gonna be just a bit busier than we have been trying to keep up with her. She is also pulling herself up on couches, and I know the short drop to the floor behind one of our couches is not to far off. Here she is admiring the baby in the mirror.
This is a mountain ash tree in our back yard, it is telling us that fall is indeed here, regardless of how unseasonably warm our days have been in the last week. I wasn't done with summer yet! And its hard to believe that I will be putting Carmine in with his ewes in another week. This year has just been weird.


I haven't taken a picture of Joy with her scarf on yet, but it is done! Hoping it doesn't take me two weeks to get it posted :)
Having a yard sale this weekend, went through the garage yesterday and found a bunch of things I thought were no longer with us, and lots of treasures for other people to hopefully, take home.
GarySue and her sister are coming to pick up her sheep and they are going to help me shear a couple sheep (hoping for 4 :).
Have a great weekend!

Lots to say....

But I can't find my card reader! I have a huge amount to say and to show but without the card reader, the pics are stuck in limbo on my camera.