Author: denisemor

Just keep spinning, just keep spinning.

This morning I finished Daphne’s haircut! She was such a good girl, and it went pretty fast. And all the while, Fiona stood watching and munching hay close by. Maybe it helped to have company in the shed. 🙂

Funny how the front third of her is already sun-bleached- after only, what a couple weeks?

I’ve already got the first bit of her wool in different stages of processing- with about 3.5 oz spun up

I think the first skein is a little bit under-plied, as my swatch has a smidge of bias- so I might run it through Moto, my e-spinner, again quick to add little more ply twist.

But it feels really nice. And I love the rich, nutty gray/brown color.

I’ve also got Fiona’s fleece washed up and ready to play with-

And I wanted to share an update on Welsie, my rehab chicken. I can’t remember if I’ve shared much about her here, but she was in a pretty bad way about a month or so ago.

She’s been living in the shop in a dog crate while I’ve nursed her back to health, and I’m so pleased that she’s pulled through. She’s growing new feathers and putting on weight, and I’ve been letting her out in the yard for supervised field trips so she can scratch and peck and dust bath and such.

Today (as I write this) she is out in the shed getting reacquainted with the flock.

Let’s hear it for the girl!

Baby Fiona’s first haircut is complete!

Now that she’s trimmed up, you can clearly see her darker markings. Pretty little girl-

One other clip I grabbed while out with the sheeps today was Esther digging in at the feeder, which I take as her official approval of this year’s hay.

No small thing, as she takes her munchies pretty seriously.

In other news, I finally finished my color sampling swatch for Alcott-

And it’s a hat! So that’s cool. I’m still trying to decide if I’m happy with the colors. But the fabric feels so nice. Super soft and light. Mmmmm.

Also finished up last bit of Frank’s final fleece this week- about 240 yards. Was glad I went to the trouble of handcarding it into rolags.

So that was the week. The week in wool. 🙂

Had the sheeps gathered up yesterday for hoof checks, and it occurred to me that I really should shear the Icelandic girls, Daphne and Fiona, sometime this Fall so they won’t be all matted and felty in the Spring.

They both have a lot of wool on them already, only about 4 months growth for each, and I’m thinking that if I trim them up now they’ll have plenty of time to fluff out again before it gets cold.

Thankfully they were both pretty cooperative (& alfalfa pellets help) 🙂

Here are the girls in their current, partially sheared state

And here are their lovely wools! (they were both damp at shearing, so I washed the fleece right away)

Fiona’s baby fleece is so soft!

I’m going to be off late this week, so hope to get them finished up then 🙂

I’ll sign off with this crazy little bugger in his happy place photo.

Wishing you all some “Gus in the Compost” comfort and happiness.