Author: denisemor

Yeah, I know- I’m a day late for the Star Wars tie-in.

But I’m very pleased to have finally gotten Dottie’s heavy coat off of her.
It was not an easy feat- we wrestled for a while, and in the end I had to call for backup- with an extra pair of hands (The Man) keeping her under control I was able to get her tidied up.

Crazy amounts of wool on that girl!

About a third of it went straight in to the suint bath that I started last weekend with seconds from Esther’s fleece.

I’d almost forgotten about the suint bath method, but was reminded of it by a recent podcast by Lydia Christiansen of Abundant Earth Fiber.

I used the lesser quality parts of Esther’s fleece to get it going- left it for 6 days. The wool that came out on Saturday looks pretty good now that it’s had a couple of rinses. It’s still drying, but seems nice and clean, except for some tips that are still a little bit junky.

Now that the suint mixture is charged up, I might use it to do a fair bit of the wool washing this year. Takes a while, but it really low-input.

This weekend also saw another improvement to chicken infrastructure- introducing the Chicken Atrium!

Still hope to move entirely away from netting at some point this summer, but this is a step in the right direction!

And Welsie is still sitting on her eggs, (due date is May 15).

In knitting news, I’ve got some cool mittens on the needles right now, but this post is already getting kind of long.
I’ll show you a interesting new mitten finishing technique I’m working on next week-

It was a beautiful weekend here- and I managed to get the shearing started in earnest.
No in-progress shots, but here is the girl all tidied up and looking fresh and springy-

And the take-

So, one down, 3 to go!

Tried to get ahold of Dottie today to make a start on her haircut, but she was pretty wary, so that will have to wait until later-

Meanwhile, in the shed, chickens enjoyed basking in the sun-

Except Welsie, my welsummer hen, who is intent on being a momma. She had taken up sitting on eggs in the most popular nesting box, and was getting a lot of flack from the other girls who wanted their turn, so I’ve moved her to a secure sitting location

where she can focus on the task at hand 🙂

And here’s a little shot of spring color that I spun up earlier this week-

That’s border leicester from Jonasson Farm that I’ve been sitting on since Nov. Just love those dyed locks!

Lamb cake, that is-

Yep- another one 🙂
But trying a different recipe this time-lemon pound cake with blueberries, and with just a bit of vanilla glaze. Dressed up with mint sprigs and tiny violets from the garden. (yay Spring!)

Really pleased with how it worked out! The lemon cake is tender and moist, and the glaze gives it a nice finish without being overly sweet.

Don’t know if I mentioned it an earlier post, but I’m also incorporating a tip I found at https://griswoldcookware.com/2018/05/22/how-to-make-a-cake-to-the-brenda-standard-with-a-griswold-cast-iron-cake-mold/ -flipping the mold halfway through the bake.

What I’ve learned so far:
Mold preparation is key- well-seasoned cast-iron, plus crisco worked carefully into all recesses of mold, then floured.
Reinforce the neck and ears with chopstick and toothpicks placed in batter before baking.
Do not overfill mold. only fill face side of mold level with edge. Resist the urge to let batter mound in center (use extra batter to make some cupcakes)
Flip mold half-way through the bake (30 minutes)

Still haven’t hit upon the next knit project, so working another brioche cowl just to keep the hands busy. And doing a little spinning.

Did manage to get spring sheep stuff done this week, so that’s cool. Onwards to shearing!

We’re finally catching up on our rain.

2.78 inches in the past week.

I was thinking I’d do spring sheep stuff this weekend (CDT, deworming, hooves) but I wasn’t really up for handling soggy sheep.
I’ll try again next Saturday. 🙂

I just about finished up the fingerless mitts, but came up just a smidge short on the multicolor yarn, so will have to get creative…

But I’m really hankering to start another sweater project. I just haven’t figured out what yet.

Did a little spinning this weekend in an attempt to take the edge off, but I’ve still got itchy fingers.

:/