Category: Blog

Ovine Artifacts

Cleaning out the sheep shed today and found a couple of objects of interest in the sofa cushions, so to speak-

Felix’s recently shed mini-horn.

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What I find so interesting about this is that it’s all hollow inside- where there was another little horn right behind it. That’s kind of neat. It did bleed some, though. That’s how I’d noticed that he’d lost it Friday morning.

And someone’s regurgitated CoSeCure bolus.

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Dang.
So I’m only 4 for 5 (as far as I know).
No telling who coughed it up. Oh well.

Have made fairly good progress on the vest this week, but it became very clear by the time that I finished the fronts

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that I wasn’t going to have enough Huey left for the whole back.

So, off I went to the stash to see what might work.

Among all the skeins of handspun that I have hanging around, I have a few that would have been a nice color complement, and another couple that might have worked texture-wise, but nothing that was the right weight.

Amazing.

Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.

The solution: Back to the wheel!

Texture-wise, I figured that Frank’s long, wavy rear-end fleece would probably be the best match.
My thinking- spin the long silky locks into a nice low-twist single, that I could then chain ply into a soft, lofty aran-weight yarn.

Thankfully, I already had a batch washed up!

And I think that the creamy white looks really sporty with the caramel-y Huey hues.

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That’s a solid base hit to center, scoring Huey from third.

Way to go Frank!

The Shape of Knits to Come

So, it occurred to me that I really haven’t posted anything about knitting projects in a while.

And that’s because I really haven’t been doing much knitting lately. Been pretty focused on the sheepers and the fleeces.

So, I decided I needed to knit another Oregon Vest.

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I already have one Oregon vest, and it is one of my favorite handknits. I wear it all the time.
I’ve been meaning to knit another one for a while. So, I’m finally getting around to it.

This one will be primarily Huey. I’d like for it to be entirely Huey,, but I’m not sure I have enough left. So I’ll find something else complementary in the stash to finish it off if need be.

So, there’s that in the works.

And then I just looked in on Brooklyn Tweed yesterday, and found the sweater that I’ve been meaning to design for myself!
Brownstone is all I’ve been wanting in a pullover- shawl collar, raglan shoulder, in-the-round construction.
Hurray for Jared!
I’m lovin’ the idea of a Griff Brownstone. Destined to become a wardrobe staple.

Don’t have any Griff samples spun up yet, but he’s about half washed, so he’ll be on the bobbin soon! And it’s dreamy stuff.

Here are first skeins of Felix/Franklin and Edgar, both approximately sport weight-

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I’m also kind of itchin’ to make some more of those cute Estonian Sheep Puppets that appeared in Spin-Off a couple of years ago.

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Perhaps one like each of the boys?

Walkin’ the sheeps

Got the boys a playground ball today, thinking that perhaps they could use some diversion out in the pasture, since they have so much leisure time.
But they didn’t seem to know what to make of it, we did some halter training instead.

For the first time ever sheep got to go out of the pasture on a field trip!
I thought we could walk around the yard, enjoy some unfamiliar grass, and then stop around back where there is a bunch of ivy growing (they love ivy).

Edgar is really my go-to guy for this kind of stuff.
He is so cooperative and just loves the attention. So I slipped on the halter and away we went.

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He walked like a champ. Wish I had a video of it. We walked around the yard, and over to the orchard, and back to the ivy, where we stopped to let him much for a while.

Munch munch munch.

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Here’s some shots from Chone’s turn-

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with everyone from kitty to chickens (in the bushes to the right, where you can’t see them) in attendance to see why in the world the sheep are out of the pasture!

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Chone was a little too nervous to enjoy the ivy so much, but did pretty good, considering that Wally was heckling him the whole time.

And here’s Edgar, talking me into giving him another go-

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I’m such a sucker for a sweet sheep 🙂

Three Bags Full

Finished up the last three guys this weekend!

It all went pretty smoothly,, but my back and legs are really shot.

Here is Griff making his wool donation-

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(And Edgar making sure that Griff doesn’t get all the attention.)

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Freshly shorn, with the next volunteers waiting in the shed behind

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Short video of Felix’s haircut in progress:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC-a0mP15eY&w=480&h=390]

And all the boys in their birthday suits:

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That wasn’t so bad, right guys?

Here are some samples from the harvest:

All the boys

Clockwise from bottom left: Griff, Chone, Edgar, Felix/Frank (they are pretty much the same, and got jumbled together)

Neat, eh? I was thinking that Griff and Edgar were pretty much the same color, but it turns out that underneath, Griff is a much more walnuty-smokey brown, where Edgar is a more  reddish tone. Griffs is also a bit shorter and crimpier, where Edgar’s is more wavy. Hurray for variety!

I combed up a little bit of Felix and Chone this afternoon.

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I’m mighty anxious to take this for a test spin,, but there are just not enough hours in the weekend.