Olympic Medal

I ended up really happy with my Winter Olympic spinning.  I didn't get yards and yards of yarn spun, but I did spin all but two days (the Superbowl and an Illinois basketball game ;-), I challenged myself to spin different types of yarn and I liked them all.

I spun two different weights of Murphy, a worsted and a DK.  I spun each a little differently, but that's a post for another day.

The creamy white is Peter, a special sheep from Tring Farm.  The prep on this was a bit rustic, but she wanted a bulky yarn so I tried to embrace the rustic and I got better at spinning bulky and I think it turned out pretty nice.

I spun the Jacob (Tabitha) on the right a soft bulky weight as well and was happy with how that turned out, too.  It could have used another pass or two through the carder to smooth out the fiber, but that would have smoothed out the colors.  I loved the streaks and speckles of gray mixed with white.  I think I'll do some more of that one. 

The light gray skein is Mini Moose and it's just a soft and squishy as he is.  The dark gray is Jared, always a lovely spin.  The white in the front is the Romney I posted a week or so ago.  I will spin some more of that as well.

I really enjoyed making pretty yarn during the games and I've left my wheel up at the house and have continued on.  I'm spinning some Muffin right now.  It's nice to get back to doing the things that remind me why I got started on this whole sheep journey in the first place.

By The Way

That was Nistock Farms yesterday.  Probably most of you already knew that, but for anyone who doesn't know about their award winning sheep and beautiful wool and wood products, here's a link.

"I heard you used to be better at this blogging thing!"

Fun With Friends And Family

Chocula Chip, Merino...and of course Saint Tim and Naughty Bea...went on a short vacation over the weekend.  Of course it involved sheep :-).  Can you guess where we went?  Would you like to see more pictures?  Maybe some new puzzles?

Things To Know

If you are headed out on the I-64 Spring Fiber Fling Trail this weekend, here are some things to know if you are coming here.

Yes, the Wool House is my studio, but it's also a fiber shop, class room, gathering spot, place of respite.  Please come on in!  

Everyone is welcome here.  This is a safe space.  

If you want to just stop by and get your passport stamped, that's perfectly fine.  

If you only want to meet the sheep, that's fine too.  I'd  probably bring some toll "money" - vanilla wafers or saltine crackers ;-).

If you'd like to spend an hour or two sitting on the porch with your spinning wheel or current project, watching the sheep and horses and listening to the birds (or the rain fall on the metal roof), that's also fine...and encouraged.  Bring a picnic lunch!

If you are stumped by your current project or spinning wheel or spindle and feel comfortable asking for help, I'll do my best to get you back on track.  Note that I am more hack than genius, but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good :-).

And obviously, if you are looking for some unique local yarns or spinning fibers, learn to spin kits, wool sheep ornaments, farm inspired folk art cards,...  please fill your free My Favorite Sheep bag to the top :-).

Yep, if you stop by during the I-64 Spring Fiber Fling, you'll get a free tote bag (while supplies last).

And if you've enjoyed your visit, but just don't need anymore yarn (whatever), but would like to tip the sheep, you can always Buy Them A [Bale Of Hay]

* * * * *

The forecast is not great, but it's Kentucky in the spring...  The Wool House will be open from 11:00 to 4:00 on Saturday and 1:00 to 4:00 on Sunday and again next weekend.  Other hours can probably be arranged.  Just email to make an appointment.

The Best Day Since Yesterday

There's a darling IG feed with a smol bunny and two golden retrievers and their tag line is "And it was the best day since yesterday."  If you need some kindness and joy, I encourage you to check it out.  

Hug a Sheep Day was the definitely the best day since yesterday and one of the nicest we've ever had.  So nice that it was actually hard to hug sheep because they were out enjoying the beautiful weather like we were and were not all huddled in the barn against the normal cold and rain eating cookies until they nearly popped.

I only took one picture all day...and it was of Betsy (insert face palm).  Even at 16, Betsy still loves a good party and I was so happy to see her out there...but it doesn't make a good feature photo for a sheep party...

The two flock walks were nice, however, and I've included them here.

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While every day is a great day to hug a sheep, it was really nice to have a really nice one for a change :-).

How did you celebrate?

Solstice Advent

The holidays can be so stressful and are frequently not nearly as fun as I wish they would be.  I always manage to get my tree put up, but there have been some years it's only because I don't want to hurt the tree's feelings and all the ornaments who I know are looking forward to their time to shine.  Once it's up I'm always glad I did it :-).

Last year Wing and a Prayer Farm offered a beautiful Solstice Advent calendar and I decided to treat myself as a challenge to be more deliberate in looking for joy throughout the season.  Every day I had to do something, even just something small, a glimmer, and if I did so, I got to open my solstice treat that night.  I'm good at challenges like this.  I didn't miss a day...and I ended up enjoying every day.

The year has not been an easy one and even though early on I had formulated a plan to refill the solstice calendar pockets this year, I was finding it hard to garner any enthusiasm as it approached.  Still, I knew if I didn't make the effort, I'd end up disappointed so I started scouring eBay for my calendar pocket fillers.  And in doing so...finally started to get a little excited.

By the time all the little boxes arrived and I handed them off to Auntie Reg so she could to open them all up and tuck something into each pocket, I was actually looking forward to December first and thinking about all the little things I could do so I could have a miniature solstice party each evening.

December 1st

Oh!  A new sheep and she has a lamb by her side!

* * * * *

I'll share my solstice prize each night on IG and FB.  If you'd like to play along virtually, please join me!  Try to do something every day that brings you some holiday cheer.  It could be something as big as baking cookies or as small as sitting down to drink a cup of tea with your cat and thinking about a happy memory.  

This is going to be fun :-)

Small, But Mighty

About a week ago I posted on IG about looking for a picture of Bea to use for a blog story about her.  That in itself became a funny story because I tried using the search feature on my phone and got not only pictures of the actual dog I was searching for, but also a "poodle dog" and a "hound dog" and both categories pulled pictures of handsome Jared (!).  I could sort of see "poodle", but "hound"?!?  Yeesh...

Between then and now things got, well, much like the entire year have been/seemed and I'm just now getting back to telling the crazy/amazing story about Bea.  I ended up just taking a picture of her calendar page and companion note card so I could dual purpose and mention that the 2024 calendars are done and I will get them up on the website soon, hopefully by this weekend.  

I'm sorry they have been so delayed and I appreciate the email inquiries.  I think I've responded to everyone.  If you haven't gotten an email back, please let me know.  The flock has been able to support itself starting a few years before Covid and have been holding their own since. The calendars play a big part in that, plus they are just nice to have around...both the sheep and the calendars ;-). 

No one will ever go without here, but it definitely helps make that call to the vet easier when it's needed...and on that note, here's an amazing story about our favorite corgi.

There were two sheep who needed to be seen by the vet and I had both penned up and ready when Dr. Bridge pulled in last week.  The rest of the sheep had been turned out into the Pumpkin Party field and were happily munching away.

Bea raced over to say hi to Dr. Bridge while we were chatting about what needed to be done, the weather, news from town...  The next thing I see is the sheep all headed back into the barn.  My first thought was how odd, since they'd just been let out into the prized area...and then I saw Bea trailing them all in.

It's a little scary to even type these words.  She knew that the vet was here and because of that decided we must need to get the sheep penned in the barn.  She didn't understand that I'd already caught the two sheep we actually needed.  She just realized that "vet here, need to get sheep" and while we watched, put everyone in the barn. 

Bea has a lot of natural herding instinct and does help with some sheep activities so it wasn't a complete shock that she brought the sheep in.  For her to think it through and do it with no cue from me, just on her own comprehension of the situation...I'm sure her Welsh ancestors were mighty proud.  

As part of the wrap up on the back of the calendar I said "[Bea's] finally grown up enough that she's actually become as useful as she thinks she's always been."  On her month, "Our farm manager is small, but mighty..."

Bossing sheep (and everyone else) around is not Bea's only strength.  I yelled at Lancelot for chewing on the fence one time and now any time the horses come near the fence, Bea runs over to remind them that someone is always watching.  She is also my ears when the coyotes start calling.  

"...We've learned to pay attention to her though because she's frequently telling us something we need to know."

The Puzzle(s) Of Sunbeams

If this was back in September, when I should have been working on the calendar, I'd have maybe put this picture in the running.  I love sunbeams breaking through trees.  Add in some sheep or horses and it only makes it better.  I love the peace of this picture.  I could look at it for a full month...

...if it wasn't so heavy on the dark bottom area.  Using a square format now, this sometimes happens.  If I crop the picture to balance out the heavy lower half then I lose a bunch of the sheep and sunbeams that make the picture what it is.  As it is, the sheep are almost lost, becoming part of the background.

I like this cropping better and I brightened it up to better match real life that morning.  The sheep are now as much of the story as the sunbeams.  As they should be ;-).  I really like this picture.  I'd like to use it for the calendar.

Here is a further cropping...which would put it in the correct format.  The sunbeams don't look too bad.  The sheep look okay, too, but there are now three missing from the first picture.  I'm not sure which three, but it doesn't matter.  I don't want to lose any sheep.

Ah...overthinking...  

The first thing Saint Tim would notice was the broken fence plank ;-).

I thought the top picture would make a fun puzzle and it did.  When I saw the picture posted to the blog was when I noticed the unbalance and so did some editing.  The second picture made a good puzzle, too.  You can find them, and other puzzles, here.

"Morning, Murphy!"

I've often been asked if there is a leader within our flock here, and honestly, other than certain sheep that everyone seems to respect or sheep that take on certain roles, I've never really noticed one particular sheep that has ever truly assumed control...until this summer.

I wish I could scroll back through time and see when Murphy started bowling the other sheep over to get out to pasture first.  Has he always done this and I never paid any attention until I started locking the back gate at night and opening it each morning, watching them all head out?

At first I just thought it was Murphy being a bossy piggy, wanting to get to the choicest grass (since there's such a shortage of it here ;-) first, but then I (finally) started noticing that no one ever left the barn lot until Murphy said "Let's go!"

Murphy is frequently not the earliest riser.  I usually find a big cluster of sheep already milling around the barn lot while he waits until the last minute to get out of bed, however, no one ever makes a move towards the now opened gate to the back fields.

The first thing Murphy does when he gets up is check the gate latch headed to the Easy Breezy alfalfa stash.  Once he's sure there's nothing to pillage in the barn, he marches out through the gathered sheep, bouncing off anyone who doesn't get out of his way.

At that point everyone falls in line behind him until he reaches the threshold of the gate where he usually stops to survey the back fields.   They all stop as well.  I'm not sure if he's looking for danger or just trying to decide if he's heading towards McDonalds or Hardees.

Once he's made up his mind and starts walking again, everyone else starts walking again as well, but no one ever passes him on the way out.  Whether he goes left or right, he's always in the lead.  After they all reach open ground, everyone begins to make their own decisions.

There have been some fun series of photos of this behavior all summer on IG.  It's not really a puzzle in itself, but if you are looking for a new one... ;-).

As The Way Most Things End...

A couple of weeks ago I had a decent sized pumpkin starting to grow from one of the Big Moose pumpkins.  Most of the rest of the plants have died off.  While I had my hands full hauling out some potentially diseased vines I left the gate unlatched...got sidetracked...sheep got in...pumpkin got eaten.  

That one was completely on me.

I've pretty much given up on the Great Pumpkin making a showing here.  I'd add "this fall" to that sentence, but at this point I don't think I'll ever give pumpkins another try.  How I could have so much fun last year and so little fun this year...  

I just started to have one more potential pumpkin making an effort to save the day.  This is one of the extension office plants.  As I was checking on it this afternoon I saw a little blemish...looked closer...a stupid chicken had pecked it!  

My last grasp at success...pecked. by. a. chicken.

My first thought was "Well, that's going to be a goner now.  Those little holes will let bacteria in and that will be the end."  

I decided it couldn't hurt to try to cover the hole.  I was thinking masking tape would be the least destructive...but my masking tape has apparently run off with my half empty glass.  The only tape I could find was some vintage sheep duct tape from Auntie Reg.

Maybe the sheep will end up saving the day!

State Of The Fiber Farm Address

I've had some questions about whether we'll be setting up at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival this weekend and sadly, we are not.  Auntie Reg and I had talked about it, but the way this year has gone so far, I'm incredibly relieved we didn't sign up.  There have only been about two weeks all year that I felt like we could have pulled it off...and this one (even though it's only Tuesday) ain't one of them.

Between not having many any 2023 fleeces skirted yet and having done almost no spinning or other fiber work all year and the 7528 hours it took to knit a stupid simple sweater, I'm struggling to even feel like a real fiber farm/fiber artist right now. 

But...the sheep are happy and healthy. I did finally finish that dang sweater and got to wear it quite a bit before it got hot.  I wove a nice shawl during the Iknitarod.  I've taught a couple of new people how to spin.  We had good shearings here and at Tring Farm and I was able to help Annemarie sell a few of her fleeces.  

Our fleeces are safe and sound and will be ready to skirt, wash, process and spin whenever I'm able to get to them.  I've purchased several really fun looking project patterns including a tiny 7" tall fox who needs 29 pages to come to life.  Wait, what?  29 pages?!?  Yeah...I can't get out of my own way.

Wait, one other "win" is that our sweet little group of spinners, knitters, weavers, crocheters, sewers, hookers, felters, punchers, storytellers (and there have been some doozies :-), bakers, and their cats, dogs, sheep, chickens...from all over the country is still crafting right along via Zoom every Tuesday night.  They're getting stuff done :-D.

So, yes, the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival in Lexington is this weekend and the Bluegrass Classic Stockdog Trial is going on just down the hill as well.  Both will be lots of fun!  I was talking to one of the local Crafters last week (oh, when I sheared her old sheep, so that probably counts too...if we're keeping score...which I need to stop doing) and we decided, in the spirit of the festival, to do an in person/on farm Crafter's meet up this Saturday.  

This super casual on farm event is open to all the farm friends, not just Crafters.  You do not need to be a fiber person.  If you would just enjoy sitting on the porch or bringing a picnic dinner out to the farm, come on! Everyone and their house cat is welcome...but please leave your dog at home ;-)

I'll be here from 3:00 on on Saturday and would be happy to teach spinning or fiber processing or sheep care...*  You can bring your own wool or spindle or wheel or borrow one of mine.  There are plenty of sheep to borrow who would be happy to teach you how to feed them cookies.

I doubt I'll pull off anything fancy in the way of food or beverages, but I'm sure Auntie Reg won't let us go hungry.  Feel free to bring snacks or a picnic with you or call in a pizza for pickup on the way.  You should probably toss in a chair.

   Update on food - we're going to set up an ice cream bar!  Throw on some nuts and a banana and you've got yourself a nutritious dinner.  Bang! :-D

* * * * *

*I'm also happy to teach fleece skirting, wool washing, barn cleaning, field mowing, flower planting, weed pulling, chicken wrangling, corgi 'wrasslin'... ;-D  

I say all that sort of joking, but if you are interested in buying a fleece, especially if you are new to raw wool, this could actually be a good thing!  I could help you pick one out, we could skirt it (and maybe a few others ;-) together and talk about how to go on from there!

I am also happy to bring out various colors and types of roving, some Lamb Camp Legacy yarn and there are six skeins of Lamb Camp Bottle Lamb yarn left, too, so just ask if there's something you'd like to see.

If you have any questions or need directions, please send me an email.  We are about 35 minutes from Lexington and about 20 minutes from the hotels in Georgetown. 

Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch...

What. An. Insane. Week.  So much so that as I was sitting here trying to remember what all happened this week and finally had to go back and check my own IG feed I realized there wasn't even much on there either besides the Great Bee Move.

That in itself is probably worth at least two blog posts, but before I do that I'm going to revisit Burrnie's Sheep of the Week post to answer a great question.

You say that his wool is creamy white but his hair is yellow. What is the difference between wool and hair?

There are actually some breeds of sheep that only have hair.  They are commonly known as...wait for it..."hair sheep".  Some examples would be Barbados Black Belly, Katahdin, St. Croix and Dorper.  All sheep have at least some hair though.

Here is a closer picture of Burrnie's face.  All around his face (eyes, nose, mouth) is hair and it feels much like a short haired dog's coat.  Where things get fuzzy on his cheeks and forehead is the start of his wool and his wool covers all of the rest of his body except his legs, which turn back into hair.  

The hair on Burrnie's face and legs is the same yellow color.  While his wool looks nearly the same color here, it's actually a creamy white...when it's clean.  You can see that in the hat I made as a thank you gift from him to Robin.

Burrnie's wool is very soft and, as we talk about in regards to wool quality, very crimpy.  What that means is if you run your hand over it, it feels "fuzzy", not smooth like hair.  If you look at it under a microscope however, each fiber that looks fairly straight and just fuzzy is actually zig zaggy (special pro term ;-).

A fine wool sheep (like a Merino) can have up to 100 zig zags per inch.  A coarse wool sheep (like a Cotswold) might only have five per inch and their zig zags are more like loopy curls.  I've never counted Burrnie's zig zags or crimps per inch, but I'd guess it's...well, I should just go pull a lock out of his bag and do the math.

Here's a fun way to think about the difference between hair and wool.  You would stroke Burrnie's smooth face, but you would bury your hand into Burrnie's soft, fuzzy wool...when it grew back out ;-).

Keep the comments and questions coming!  

Tour de Sheep

 

My Tour de Fleece is more of a Tour de Sheep this year.  So far I've spun 10 sample skeins.  Let's see if I can remember them all...PPPP, Henri, Petunia, Boudreaux, Woody, Buddy, Rebecca Boone, Count Chocula, Miss Ewenice and Hershey :-).

I have really enjoyed pulling out these old friends.  I'd forgotten how soft Boudreaux was, how luxurious Hershey was, how...everything Miss Ewenice was.  She's been gone 10 years now.  I have some Renny set aside for tomorrow.  I can't spin Ewenice without spinning some Renny :-).  

May

 

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What a busy, but fun month :-).

Maisie's Red Sled And Some Of My Favorite Things

I mentioned the red sled that went a** over tea kettle "several" years ago and broke into a million pieces.  See the kind of weird red plastic Christmas tree ornament?  It was made from that sledding wreck :-D.  It's one of my very favorite ornaments.

I love ornaments that have special stories or memories behind them.  Even years when I don't really feel like putting up any decorations, I always do because I'd hate to not visit with these special friends. 

I had plans to do a post every day this week sharing something special from my Christmas.  Even though it's only Wednesday now Thursday (!), I feel like the week has completely gotten away from me.  And actually, I just realized that one of the main reasons my week has gotten away needs his own blog post before I go any further.  Be right back. 

Okay!  Archie was a pretty good Christmas gift, eh?  :-D

I don't do a lot of traditional holiday stuff, but I do have some favorite things I'd like to share in case you might be struggling to find some Christmas spirit this year.  

One of my very favorite Christmas stories is The Tree Nobody Wanted by Tom McCann.  I love audiobooks and McCann does a wonderful job narrating if you go that route.  It's short and sweet and even if it's not a true story...and it very well is...it's a true story.

I always make a pan of gingerbread from Fields of Greens by Annie Somerville.  This year's (first :-) cake was my best yet.  Turns out if you use the actual called for size cake pan you don't have to stress about how much longer you have to bake it or how to get the middle done perfectly.  Thanks, Auntie Reg :-).  Sometimes I top it with poached cranberries (also in her cookbook), but usually I just warm it up and pour milk over it.

 

Years ago Tim put together a CD collection of our favorite Christmas music.  Yes, a CD collection, that's how long ago it was :-D.  He listens to his copy now on an iPod, but I'm still playing the CDs ;-).  Here's one of my favorite songs.  Sing along and sing it loud!

Of course my favorite sheep are maybe the best part of my Christmas.  I love being in the barn at night any night, but Christmas Eve is always extra special.  We'll once again do a live cookie party at some point in the evening.  I'll post the time on Christmas Eve...which is tomorrow :-o.

Baa-shing Through The Snow...Or Rain

Well, the weather outside is looking a bit frightful, or at least damp, but we're all wearing wool anyway...right?  If you were thinking about coming out today to see the sheep, come on out!  The barn is actually quite cozy even on the nastiest of days.  

* * * * *

A...um...few years ago my friend Susan and I tried to pull one of our trusty sleds like this (sort of ;-) with Handy. I don't think I even got a turn on the sled before it went a** over tea kettle and broke into a million pieces. That wasn't our first sledding wreck...and it wasn't our last. Those are some of my most favorite-est memories.

I'm not sure Maisie would agree, but I think I can almost hear her laughing...or maybe that's Susan or possibly 20, my other favorite sledding buddy ;-D.

If you'd like to work this as a puzzle, here you go :-). 

Merry Christmas!

April

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What a crazy, but beautiful month! 

April Flowers

We had two hard freezes a week or so ago and I was very worried the low 20s would zap all the nearly ready to flower trees.  Whew!  This was yesterday.  Today is just about peak. It's been raining ever since I got home just after lunch, but maybe I'll get some good pictures tomorrow.  Beautiful!

How about a new puzzle :-).

Meanwhile Back At The Wool House

20 has taken over shipping out orders because he says I'm disorganized and make too many mistakes.  Fine by me! The house is pretty disorganized as well...just sayin', 20 ;-).

20 has a stack of packages for me to take to the post office this afternoon and now that he's on board, we are hoping to be completely caught up by tomorrow except for a couple of special orders.  Hay feeding season started two nights ago and it's amazingly comforting to know that the farm calendar sales will cover that bill and at least part of the straw bill.  

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Thank you all so much!!! 

Hug A Sheep Day - The Fleeces

Here are the fleeces from this afternoon, in no particular order. If there is something you'd like to purchase, send me an email at thecrazysheeplady AT gmail DOT com.  I will try to check in to see if anyone has any questions, but I've got my normal farm work to do, so it might be hit or miss for an hour or so.   

 

By the way, HSS stands for Hand Spinner Select, which was how we sorted fleeces on shearing day at Tring Farm.  The fleeces from our farm are all HSS, too, just not marked that way.  I took all these pictures last night without thinking that the breed crosses and some names were missing.  They were added to the tags before the video, so hopefully I showed the tag long enough...

If you are local and would like to come out and pick up your fleece(s), we are offering Barn Side Pickup ;-).  I'm happy to ship them as well, but obviously there will be an additional charge for postage.

Here is a nice fleece and farm video from Tring Farm.  Enjoy :-).

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A fleece and farm tour at Tring Farm 🥰. Fleeces getting ready to go live on the website. Link in profile.

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Oct 31, 2020 at 2:59pm PDT

Happy sheep :-).  Happy shopping :-).  

Betty 8 lbs  $80

Daisy  8 lbs  $80.00

Pocket's Daughter  9.25 lbs   $92.50

Tansy  9 lbs  $90

S34   7.75 lbs   $77.50

Clara  6.25 lbs  $62.50 Sold

Moe  8.5 lbs  $75.00

S39  8.5 lbs  $85.00  Sold

Penny   5.5 lbs  $50

Maybelline  7 lbs  $70 Sold

Bowtie  5.25 lbs  $52.50

Crazy Eyes  Beautiful fleece, but not for handspinning.  Make an offer.

Elizabeth  7.25 lbs  $72.50  Sold

S44  5.25 lbs  $52.50  Sold

Petunia  5.25 lbs  $65.00  Sold

Mini Moose  7.5 lbs  $95.00  Sold

Andy  6 lbs  $65.00  Sold

Levi  8 lbs  $96.00  Sold

Spud  8 lbs  $96.00  Sold

Tara  4.5 lbs  $60.00

Burrnie  5.25 lbs  $55

Tessa  3.75 lbs  $50

Tabitha  4.5 lbs  $60  Sold