Very fine Romney fleece.

I am SO glad I didn't start on my fiber journey with this fleece.  I would have cried and given up right away. I feel like I know enough now to know what to do with this. It's a white Romney fleece I had bought awhile back. I washed it and put it in this bag and forgot about it. Some things are just meant to be.

I finished the Shetland fleece I'd been working on for about a week. So took some of this fiber out and put some on the drum carder. It just kept sticking on the licker in wheel like crazy. And  had lots of nebs and things on the bigger wheel. When I took it off the wheel, it was so fine, I only had to do one swipe with the tool that separates it to get it off. With the Shetland, it took all the strength I had to get it off.

So, I got the hand carders out. I have not had a very good relationship with these things. I had tried them a few years ago when I first got them. And I hated them. I really didn't know how to use them then. At my spinning class, I tried some again and figured out how.

So I put some of the fiber on one of the carders and then used my little dog brush to comb it in. This way, I only had to card once.

                                                    Just look at this fibery goodness!

I did a basket full and started a bobbin on the wheel. I love spinning from what ever these little puffy clouds of fiber are called.

It's really spinning up pretty. It's going to take a LONG time to hand card that whole bag of fleece. I hope it will be worth it.

     It's looking good so far. I just love working with sheep fiber. But I think I will be investing in a set of fiber combs soon. And a blending board. And a loom maybe? Oh, there is so much to dream about!

Animals in the cold.

     So, all the animals made it through this bitter cold night. I think I was a little worried about the chickens. I have not put up the plastic around their coop at all. I have been adding more and more straw to the bottom though. I did have to move one lone hen over to some other hens. She may not have made it all by herself. So this morning, I went out there and they were all outside, scratching around. And laid 2 eggs to boot! They were just fine.

     And all the old cats were fine as well. I have 6 cats that are between 8 and about 12. Maybe even 13. Last year, I let them go in the little house when I had hay over there. But now it's my studio and ain't no cats going in there! They have the room next to the kitchen that we call the cat room. They are fed in there. And there are lots of nice boxes with pillows and blankets and things. They are quite toasty in there.

    Of course, the 2 dogs are inside. because they are inside dogs. When Bubba was a puppy, 6 years ago, he was an outside dog. But it was so hot that summer, he got sick. I took him to the vet and they kept him a whole week. He had pneumonia. Really bad. Poor dog. And so now, he hates the hot weather. So he stays inside. And so Stella, his best friend, stays inside with him. Because, she has to be right by Bubba's side at all times. And, when they do go outside, they bark. At anything. They bark a lot. And when they  bark, they look back at the house to see if we're looking. Because they want to be inside. And we let them in.

    Then there are the sheep. They are such sheep. They are fine in this weather. Unless it's windy. Which it was last night. So they wanted back over in the smaller pasture with the stalls. And since the wind was blowing from the North, the stalls are facing South, so they had protection from that wind. And they were happy. And they have the most amazing warm wool coats on. So I do not worry about them. They are out back tonight, laying under the trees and stars.

    And the alpaca boys are with the sheep, so they are happy too. They love their sheep so much. They make the saddest noises when the sheep leave them behind. Which isn't much. But they are always the last ones through the gates.

   The bees now, I am not too sure. I did wrap them up yesterday. This morning, I went to check on them. I did see a lot of dead bees in the entrance. I opened the entrance reducer and there were more laying on the bottom board. I know that's probably normal this time of year. But until I can see them getting out again, I will worry about them. I hope they'll be ok.

    So that's the wrap-up on the critters. Now tonight, it's still freezing, but only 17. If they all made it through 9 degrees, this will be a piece-a-cake, right?

All tucked in...

 for the night. I had to do something to help my poor cold bees. It was so windy today. The wind was blowing so hard from the North, so I put that board there. Then later, I got this old heavy quilt and tucked them in for this freezing 10 degree night. I hope it helps. It's going to be 17 tomorrow night and 16 Friday night.

I was over in the studio spinning til almost 8 tonight and the ground was already frozen when I walked back home.

I went out after covering the bees to pick kale for dinner. It was frozen.

The sheep and alpacas will be just fine with their nice wool coats on. I put them back over here for the night, so they can get out of the wind in the stalls. They seemed happy to be there.

I am ready for spring. How about y'all?

P.S. I just left a comment and went past the robot thing and just clicked publish. Went through.  I have tried everything I can to get rid of that, but it's still there. So, if you would like to comment, just ignore the robot and hit publish. Just that easy!

Freezing nights and honey bees.

My good friend Beth gave me this cute little hand blown bee hive ornament she found at Tuesday Morning. Made in Poland. I just love it. I hung it in the window in my studio.

It's going to get to 10 degrees in a few nights. And it's been in the 20's at night. I hope the bees make it. I wonder if I should put something around the hive to protect them. It's supposed to be really windy too. I have an entrance reducer on already, with only the smallest hole open for them.  I tried to lift the top a few days ago to see if they've eaten the fondant I put in there for them and it's been sealed shut by the bees, which is a good thing. I suppose they know what to do. Bees are really amazing smart creatures. They've made it so far with not too much help from me. But I am a little worried about these extremely freezing nights coming up. 

Does anyone else have bee hives? What do you do when it's so cold at night for them? Or do you just let them be? 

Hand spun Shetland

 I bought this Shetland fleece in November. I went on a crazy fleece buying binge and bought several different kinds of fleece. I wanted to try Shetland too, so was glad I got this one. I also bought a Shetland ram lamb fleece at the fiber show in Tn in Oct. too. It's a brownish-red. I need to get it washed. It's so soft.

Sp anyway, I washed this. I washed some in Dawn and some in Orvus Paste. They were both about the same, couldn't really tell a difference. But I wasn't happy that they didn't get white, like I thought they should. I really want to get some of the Unicorn scour cleaner. It's on my wish list. Along with some wool combs and a blending board.

So finally started carding and spinning the last few days. And I am so loving this fleece now. It's got this pretty brown undertone all through it. My eyes are really getting bad. Plus bad lighting in my studio. It looks like cinnamon sugar. It's so pretty.

And I don't know if it's the Shetland or I am just getting better at spinning, but I got this really thin. It took so long to get one bobbin full. And I did 2 full bobbins so far. I have plied both those bobbins into 2 skeins of around 70 yards each. I am now working on another bobbin. My legs started really hurting so had to stop. Or I'd still be spinning.

I am really impressed with myself on this spinning. It is amazing and soft and I love the color. I want to knit a cardigan now. I can just imagine me wearing this.

I just love natural colors. I like the colorful yarn ok. But not all the glittering shiny stuff that's in them. I will just stick to natural fibers. And mixing the colors when I feel like it. And if I do start selling my yarn, people can dye it themselves, right? To get the colors they want. But for now, I'll just stick with what God put on these wonderful animals.

Happy 1st Monday of January 2015!

And it's beautiful outside! Cold, but the sky is blue and the sun is shining! There are birds flittering around all over. Checking out nesting houses. The Blue birds never leave. We have several pairs that stay here all year.

Can you see them in these trees? And look at the leaf buds already.

Here are the 3 bird houses that are really busy this morning. For the past several days, the birds have been looking at them. Might even be some moving in. The sparrows always get these houses and the blue birds end up in the trees.

Here is a fat fluffy Mockingbird, my favorite bird. They can be annoying, but I love them. Yesterday, sitting out on my studio porch, there were some blue jays, making a lot of noise. So lots going on out here on the farm. Maybe an early spring?

And yesterday, the honey bees were out and about. Very busy ladies. I went out this morning to check to see if they were out yet, but it's still too cold for them. They will be out later, I'm sure. I'm so happy this hive is doing so well and that I still have bees here!

Campbelle says good morning to all my blogging friends out there. And we both wish you all a very happy first full week of 2015. We hope it's going to be a great year for all.

Thankful today...

for all the usual things. Like a roof over my head. A warm bed. A wood stove to keep us warm and so much wood. A husband who takes care of all that. A beautiful area where we live. I love it out here.

But for the past few days, it has rained. And rained. And rained some more. When it does this, it reminds me of a movie I saw, years and years ago, of a planet where lots of children lived. I can't remember if there were any adults. But it rained every day of the year except one day. It would stop raining and the sun would shine for the whole day. They all looked forward to that one day and made a celebration out of it. One year though, someone locked one of the girls up in a room and she missed that whole day. It was so sad. I cried for her. I cannot remember what the name of the movie was. If anyone else ever saw it, I'd love to know it. And maybe would like to see it again.

With all this rain and mud and muck outside, it's hard to remember what sunshine feels like. And how much a person can miss it. And how there are so many people affected by that seasonal disorder, where they get depressed with all the dark dreariness.

Yesterday, I had slept later than usual. Had a late breakfast. Went over to my studio, in the rain, with my umbrella. I worked over there all day. About 7 hours. Spinning and plying yarn. Didn't even realize what time it was. I was getting hungry, so went home to fix dinner. I left my umbrella over there. And some lights on, thinking I'd be back after dinner.

But it really started raining then. And did not ever stop at all. It poured too. So I never got to go back over. And everything is over there now. All my yarn and knitting and crochet stuff. So I had nothing to do.

So anyway, I am SO thankful that it has stopped raining!!!! AND the sun has popped out to say hello a few times so far this morning! It feels so good to see the sun again. It did feel like a whole year since it's been out. I know we need rain. But good grief I think that's enough for awhile!

It's also not cold. But this week we could have some nights near 10 degrees. I do like frozen ground better than mud.

This picture is of some of my metal stars hanging in the dining room, reflecting on the wall, from the sun. So pretty. I hope you all have a great first full week of 2015!

Amarillo and Abraham

More spinning in the studio the past few days. I was doing this last night til about 10:30.

So the brown is from my ram Abraham. He's long gone, but his wool is finally being spun. He was a nice brown-red color and had nice wool. He's the father to all my lambs. So I decided to spin some of his with Amarillo's. She's in the photo below. She's the ewe that had the quads. I think it turned out really nice. I love the natural colors myself. I did one skein yesterday.  Today, spun another bobbin of each color. I had to stop because my shins are hurting, from all the treadling.  And my right hand too. I love spinning, but need to take breaks more between spinning. I'll ply these other 2 bobbins tomorrow. I'll get 4 skeins from them. This would be a pretty sweater, I think. This also has some black alpaca fiber in it. I love alpaca, but can't spin it by itself. It's just too fine for me. So I'll add it to the wool. And some of this wool needs alpaca for extra softness.

I tried to fix the robot thing. I hope I got it right. And thank you, Kimberly, for your nice comments!

Prove your a robot?

I have no idea where this has come from. I hate it. I will try to figure out how to get this off. I can't even comment on my own blog. Sorry bout this.

I love spinning!

I can't stop. It's so addictive and fun. I am getting better at it, since I first started. I wish I could be more consistent, but that will come with practice, I hope.

This is Adele's wool, all spun. I got 3 skeins of it. I did use a little bit of my white alpaca's fleece in this, because Adele doesn't have the best wool. It needed a little bit of softness added in. This will go to a friend who has a pretty little red headed daughter named Adele. I hope she can knit this into a pretty sweater for her. She can dye it if she wants when she gets it. I still need to set the twist, then it's done.

This is Adele. She's 3. Her mother was part hair and her father is Abraham, the Finn ram. So she is mostly Finn, but still had some course wool. This next shearing will    give me some really nice wool from her. It's looking really good. She is still not letting me touch her. I've had her since she was born here and she's always been this way. Her ewe lamb, Cassadee, is very friendly and will let me pet her all over. But not Adele.

I let the sheep out into the front yard yesterday to eat the pretty green grass. They didn't know what to do with it. Crazy sheep. So this is what some of them did, stared at me through the kitchen door. These 3 brown lambs are 3 of the quads. 2 of them are boys. The ram looked just like them. They were all 3 born jet black.

Here they all are on the green grass. They did eat some of it. Then I called to get a round bale of hay delivered for them. I had them take it next door to the bigger dryer pasture. There's a little barn with a shelter he put it under for them. So they can stay over there for awhile. It's so wet and muddy in the lot behind them in this picture. I sink up to my ankles out there. Not good for the sheep and alpacas to be walking in that.

All the sheep are looking pretty good. They are all fat and sassy. I love these sheep. And am so enjoying being able to finally spin their wool. I have 2 more bags of wool to wash, Annabelle's and her daughter Buttercup's. Then several fleeces I have bought. I need to get these all washed and ready before March. That's when the shearer will be coming. Then I will have 12 more to do!

Happy new year y'all! I hope it's a good one for everyone.

Just a few things...

 Some of the things I made as Christmas gifts for family.


This is my youngest, Abby, modeling her cowl, ear warmers and boot cuffs. I used Wooly Moss Roots wooden buttons. I love them. And I love green. Can ya tell?

This is Jason, Abby's husband. I made him 2 hats. Looks like this one will keep his head warm.

And my mom will hate me for this one, but it's the only picture I took of her 2 cowels.  Seems like I made a lot of these. Made some for the caretakers for Mrs. T too. They are fun to make. I am working on a knitted cowel for someone now. It takes forever to knit though.

I have been spinning for a few days now. I am sore. It takes a long time to get a few skeins of yarn from these sheep. I'll do another post tomorrow.

Ornaments...

I put some ornaments on the other tree this morning. I love seeing all the old ones I have had for years.

On the left here is an ornament my oldest daughter Heather made from an egg carton. It used to have a few more and some little bells. But it's only about 30 years old, so some things have fallen off. But I always put it on the tree.

The round ball in the middle is Heather's 1st ornament, from 1979. It goes on every year too.

And the little red box is an ornament our good friend Libby made for one of her Sunday school classes that Abby was in. 1983. I miss Libby so much. She died this past March, from a long battle with cancer. Still can't believe the Lord took her so soon.

And this is a little card a friend of Heather's gave her in school way back in 1987. I still put this on the tree every year too. Funny how certain things just mean so much this time of year.

This is my oldest grand daughter, Chloe. I made one of these for all 3 of my grand daughters for 2003. And I try to get them each their own ornament that has something to do with what they like, so they can have them when they get their own trees.

The little mice in the stocking is one of many ceramic ornaments I made a few years after my husband and I were married back in '78. A friend's sister had a ceramic studio and I'd go make some ornaments there. I made several of these little mouse ornaments.

 This is Coryn's, the middle child. She loves shoes.



And of course Kansas, the youngest.

I do wish each of you the merriest of Christmas' and the best new year ever!

Merry Christmas y'all!

                             Just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

Lots of spinning going on in the studio.

 I've been spinning. A lot. And I love it.

It's funny how some things are meant for certain times of your life. Like I've had turkeys, ducks, goats, cows, pigs. I've worked different jobs. Had 2 kids when I was 20 and 22. I could handle things at different stages of my life. Some things I've tried and will probably never do again. Just wasn't for me. Or it's just too much to handle. Then some things come back around and I start all over again. Like pigs. Which I will be getting 2 of in March. But I think I'll be ready for them by then.

But this spinning thing, I guess it's the right time for me now. It wasn't last year, when I bought the spinning wheel. Things just didn't work out. And I got too frustrated. And I had way too many sheep and goats. And life was just crazy.

Now I am ready. I knida sorta know what I'm doing now. Thanks to the class I took last month. And my nice pretty calm clean happy studio too. I can go over there now and spin all I want. I have everything I need there. And a good radio where I can listen to good music. It depends on the weather what stations I can get. But the past few days, it's been classical. Which is great to listen to while spinning. Country is good too. But the classical is calming.

So I went over to my studio yesterday and started spinning the beautiful Romney-Mohair rovings I got from the fiber show a few months ago. It's so pretty and soft. It's called Sea Turtle. I finished it today. Set the twist in the 3 skeins along with 2 skeins of the brown Romney I had done last week. And tonight spun some gray-silver roving I got from Polly at All Books in Chatt. plus some roving Sandra sent along with some fleece I had gotten from her. It was perfect to go with that little bit of roving. Made a whole bobbin full. I had some white Merino wool I had spun a few weeks back when I was practicing. It was pretty thick in some places. I spun the grays real thin. So when I plied them together, it turned out so pretty. They are all hanging on the drying rack in the studio to dry.

These are the 2 bobbins of single ply, ready to ply.

This is one of the balls of roving. I just love it. And my home made Lazy Kate, for holding the bobbins while plying. It works!

This is one bobbin full of the plied yarn. It turned out so pretty. Now to figure out what to make with it. It will go with my brown felted jacket, so maybe a scarf.

Isn't it beautiful? I am rather pleased with myself for being able to even do this. It is so fun! It's on the niddy-knoddy here.

Then off, ready to go in the wash water, to set the twist. I watched a video today and did it her way. It's so soft and smells good now.

On the left is the 2 skeins of the Romney. I still have about 5 more pounds to wash and card. On the right is the 1st skein of the  Sea Turtle.

This is the gray-silver I started later tonight.  It's all plied and washed and hanging too. I love this yarn. I'm going to use it to make something for Mrs. T's oldest daughter for Christmas.

And this is a little cowel I crocheted for one of my kids. I don't even know if it's really a cowel or not. I just started making it up as I went along. I did the popcorn stitch around the outside.  I like it. And it's fast and easy to make too. I need fast and easy right now.

So I am just happy to be spinning right now. I think I need to be able to do this. I hope to start spinning some of my own sheep's wool soon after Christmas. I want to take my time and do it right. Then in March, I'll have 12 more fleeces from my sheep to work with. I love my sheep. And the alpacas are growing on me. Poor Sugar King had some barbed wire caught on his tail yesterday. Of all the animals to have that happen to, it had to be the one who will not let me get near him. I had to go get feed and heavy duty gloves on. The grabbed the wire and pulled. It was wound around his wool, but not the skin. I got it out and he was just fine. He didn't struggle or freak out. He knew I was helping him.

Another long day tomorrow. Spending it with my mom. Then to the middle school to watch my youngest in her fist band concert. Then one more market and I am officially done til spring. I thought I would have a soap sale. Then I might start a Shopify account. See how that goes for me.

Happy week before Christmas, y'all!

Markets and dog fur.

Went to the last holiday market yesterday. Only had enough room for the length of 1 table, so had to get creative and go up. I asked my husband to make a tree out of the free wood a friend gave us, to hand ornaments from. And stacked the crates up for the soap. Brought the wire rack for soap too. I had the basket of dryer balls on the floor in front. So it all worked out. And got lots of compliments on how it looked. It was a really long day. It was over at 4 but by the time I was loaded up, it was 4:45. And still had to go shopping for Mrs. T.

And 2 of my lambs, Cara and Campbelle, were in a live nativity at a church in Lafayette Friday and Sat. night. So had to go get them. We all went and made it to the last tour though the town of Bethlehem the night Jesus was born. It was a really good depiction of what it was like, with people dressed in the clothing and selling things like bread and fish and baskets and oil. And live animals. My lambs were a big hit with everyone. And they were so good. I think they liked laying close to the little fire the shepherds had going.

This is the tree my husband made. He did a really good job. Everyone loved it. And this will be our Christmas tree! I'll put some lights on it and put some little ornaments on it and call it done. I sold several little sheep and pins cushions and dryer balls.

And this is some of the softest ever dog fur. I have been asking for a year now for some of Chester's dog fur from a customer. She brought me this bag full of it yesterday. I love it. It feels like alpaca. So I am going to spin this in with some of my gray-brown Romney wool and see what happens.

I think I'll go to the Main St. farmer's market this Wed. and that will be it. I said yesterday was the last market, but I'd like to sell more soap. So I'll have a sale buy 4 bars of soap and get 2 free. If anyone needs some, let me know. I can get them in a flat rate envelope or box. I know the box is $5.95 but the envelope is probably cheaper.

After Wed. my car will be cleaned out and stuff put away til next spring. I am tired. And need to be making Christmas gifts.