Tag: sheep

Free-rangin’ Field Trip

denisemor 2 August 23, 2015

So, I had this thought the other day that maybe the sheep could save us some mowing.

We have a couple patches of grass in the lawn that are still growing, and with as dry as the pasture is, I figured the sheep might enjoy some fresh greenery.

So I invited them out into the yard-

And all they wanted to do was eat the fruit trees. I should have figured.

(please pardon Felix’s shaggy butt and undercarriage. He has not been very cooperative when I’ve attempted to tidy him up recently)

I was finally able to lure them back into the pasture with more branches. Was kind of fun having them out for a while, and they were pretty well behaved. Too bad they wouldn’t eat the grass for me though. Guess we still have to mow.

In other news- the market was a lot of fun this past Thursday. I sold some carded fiber and hats (way cool!), but not much yarn, which I found surprising.

I’m going to go back to the Bow Little Market for their last day of the regular market season, Sept 3 (since I’ve got the prep done already) Think I’m going to try and knit a couple more hats between now and then, to highlight how the yarn on display looks when used in stranded colorwork-

Mmmmmm.

Meet Skye!

denisemor 3 August 11, 2013December 8, 2013

Skye is a sweet handsome golden retreiver/white shepherd boy, and he just moved out here to the boonies to live with us on Thursday night.

He’s been pretty busy the last few days, checking the perimeter-

frolicking with Sadie-

meeting the sheep-

and checking out the best comfy spots in the house-

He’s still pretty excited about the sheep and chickens, but I think that will subside once they are not such a novelty.

And speaking of sheeps, we have begun to extending the entrance to the sheep shed-

the hope is that a smaller, lighter gate out a little further will make it easier to catch the little buggers inside.

I sure hope it works,
‘Cause the sheeps are wise to all my other tricks!

(that’s Edgar’s wise look)

Groundhog, Schmoundhog

denisemor 0 February 5, 2012

Feb 2 came and went.
Punxsutawney Phil prognosticated that we’re going to have 6 more weeks of winter.
But in my experience, the weather guessers (people and rodents) are fairly unreliable, so I’m keeping a good thought for a nice mild remainder of the winter and a timely transition to spring.
Can’t hardly believe it’s February already.
Before you know it we’ll be pruning the fruit trees, and shearing the sheep again!

It was a beautiful weekend here, and I was glad to get some “hangin’ with the sheeps” time in

The boys were just chillin’ in the pasture

and I thought I’d maybe get a little fleece preview, but noone would let me get a good fleece picture.

But in summary-
Edgar and Griff look fabulous, a little lighter than last year, beautiful golden brown/taupe, both fleeces seem to be in really good shape, Griff is very crimpy, Edgar more wavy and silky.
Chone, a little shorter than I expected by now, but probably about 3 to 3.5 inches overall. some white fibers throughout. Starting to get a little matted in places where he scratches himself against the fence.
Frank and Felix- the fleeces are lookin pretty rough right now. Frank has managed to get a whole section of his back covered in some sort of green mossy stuff, and they both look very matted and bedraggled.

Would like to get in there and clean them up a little, but they aren’t guys who volunteer for a trip to the beauty shop, so I’ll just wait until next month hope it looks more promising under the surface.

Griff says, “It’s all about the fleece, baby”.

In sweater news, I was very excited about getting the sleeves and body joined up this weekend and getting to work on the yoke.
But then in handling the pieces I detected a slight inconsistency in weight between the two sleeves. Turns out the yarn I used in the second half of sleeve #1 is a little bit heavier than the rest.
The measurements are still pretty much right on. But it was bugging me, so I ripped it out.

So I’ve gotta go back and do another half of a sleeve. Not a big deal, but a little bit of a setback. I’ll reuse the slightly thicker yarn in the yoke where it won’t cause an imbalance.
Still think I can get it done by the end of the month. 😉

Out with the Old, In with the New!

denisemor 3 January 2, 2012

First, the sheeps helped me close out the old year, by recycling the christmas tree

They like evergreens, and it makes their breath all fresh and piney 🙂

Then in order to get the new year off on the right foot, I brought out the other herd, my spinning wheels, for a cleaning and oiling.

Don’t they look swell, all shined up and ready for 2012’s challenges?

I also dug out the partial distaff that I got with Sophie (on the right), and found a branch out in the yard that might serve as the basket-type part on top. I’m going to work on drafting from the distaff and see if I can get the hang of it.

And lastly, I got a start on my next sweater project- the Chone/Spike Cobblestone

Still have 3 or 4 more skeins to go for this one, so I’ll be working at it from both ends for a bit-

Goal completion date: end of Feb.