Author: denisemor

(Sorry. Stupid Jedi Mind Trick.)

Anyway,
I finally finished the Groovy Red Toe-Up Socks, and here is photographic proof-

They were really fun to knit, but they took forever on little size 2 needles, so my fingers are very gratified to be moving on to this Cowichan Hat!

Gauge is about 3.5 stitches to the inch, so it’s going pretty fast. And I think it’s going to be really cool (and mighty toasty)
Almost instant gratification knitting 🙂

And in non-wool news, I have to report that I have discovered the neatest kitchen gadget ever.
I think these have been around forever,, but it’s new to me, and it has pretty much transformed my relationship with apple pie.

Here is the thingee-

It peels, slices and cores, all without the use of electricity. And eliminates any chance of me maiming myself with a corer and or paring knife. It’s like magic. (I got this little gem as a Christmas gift last year, and had almost forgotten about it. Many belated thanks to Carole!)

And here is my pie. Or what’s left of it right now. Probably won’t last long.
Guess I’ll get to play with my new toy again soon.

That’s about all the excitement here.

So, I’ll sign off with a message from Boo Kitten.

“Getcho own socks. Theses all mine”

Over the last 5 years, we’ve hauled a lot of rock out from various areas of the yard.

This weekend, we decided to recycle that rock into a jungle gym of sorts for the sheep.

Thought I don’t have any photographic evidence of the guys at play, they seem to really dig it. I think they like to be up on things. Must make them feel taller 🙂

Hoof observation and treatment continues, and I’m inquiring about soil and forage testing through Univ of Idaho.

Everyone seems to still be getting around without difficulty, and morale is high, so at least it doesn’t seem to be impacting their quality of life- but it does worry me and I really hope to get to the bottom of it.

I’m beginning to think that perhaps there’s something problematic in the sheep ration/alfalfa pellets that I have been giving them as treats- because Griff’s feet look the best of anyone’s, and he’s the one I’ve had the least interaction with the whole time they’ve been here! Thing is, I don’t have the bags for either product any more, and I haven’t had any sucess digging up content info for them online.
So, for now, I’ve discontinued the treats. Just hay, pasture (which of course isn’t growing much now) and mineral. So at least I’ll know exactly what the inputs are.

No sweater progress to speak of this week,, but I am still spinning down the stash-

Thinking of something vaguely Cowichan-ish for The Man.

Have a good week!

Denise

So is Felix.

He got to be the first to try out our new sheep deck chair today.

The Man built it from used T-posts, an old Navy mesh laundry bag, and a bunch of zip ties.
(such a clever guy!)
It worked out pretty well, except we probably need to make the seat a little deeper.
Couple of those sheepers have bigger tushes than we approximated.

Think it’s going to make keeping a close eye on those hooves a little easier.

And here are some of the boys coming back after their turn in the sling to take a closer look-

Many of the hooves are still separated. Some look a little better, others don’t appear to have changed at all.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading, and it looks to me that what we’ve got going on can best be described as “Shelly Toe”.

Thing is,,there isn’t really any conclusive info on what causes it. Seems most often people say its a result of neglecting the hooves.
That keeping them trimmed them up solves the problem. But these guys don’t have overgrown, unkempt hooves. And they’re only 5-6 months old. Some people say that it’s somewhat hereditary. But I don’t think that any of their parents had this problem.

I think it must be something (or lack of something) in the environment that must be causing it.
So, I’m looking into getting our soil and forage tested.

Maybe once we have a better idea of what all the inputs are, we can develop a game plan.

In brighter news-

I’ve got about 70-75% of a sweater

And managed to get some spinning done this week as well-

Left to right: Shetland/alpaca, mystery wool, and random leftovers drum-carded into submission.

Ok, so I got a couple pictures of Chone’s hoof. Sorry about the blur, but I think you can still see what’s going on:

Here is from the side. Gives you the best view of the separation, I think

And here is is more from the front- I’m separating the toes some a little so you can see the cleft area better.

And here is a scan of the tag from the sheep mineral:

The tag was bisected by the cord that stitched the bag shut, so you might not be able to make out the Manganese content- it’s 1,700 ppm.

Thoughts?

Edited to add: The hoof photos were taken today, after we’d applied the copper solution yesterday afternoon. So they’ve already hardened up some