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.