Shetland Spook!

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The Fiber Life

What is "The Fiber Life"?  Let me see if I can help define that:

1.  fleeces on drying racks all over the house...
2.  balls of yarn in baskets on every table, in every vehicle, and in every purse...
3.  a whole room in the house devoted to warehouse-style fleece storage...
3.a.  ...with it's own sophisticated record system for easy categorizing and locating, that include sheepy drawings...
4.  sheep conversation at every restaurant, every family gathering, and every road trip...
5.  fray-edged stitch dictionaries with dog-eared pages on every table, nightstand, and coffee spot...
6.  half knit socks in plastic zip bags near every sitting chair, and one for the road "just in case"...
7.  a 'going away' scarf, a 'barn scarf', a 'visiting scarf', a 'restaurant scarf', a 'professional scarf', a 'try-it-out-  on-people' scarf, a 'blizzard scarf', a 'driving scarf', ....
8.  eyeballs for sheep...no matter WHERE you are driving!...
9.  ...in fact, you can name where all the sheep live in a multiple county area...
10. ...and what breeds they all are...
10.a. ...and whether or not they need to be sheared...
11.  a spinning wheel in the kitchen...
12.  ...and one in the living room...
13.  ...and a drop spindle handy 'just in case'...
13.a.  ...one downstairs....a few upstairs...
14.  balls of yarn next to the computer...
14.a.  a basket of yarn on the printer...
15.  a jar of needles on the dinner table...
16.  balls of yarn on the coffee table...
17.  skeins of yarn hanging from drying racks in multiple rooms...
18.  the latest photocopy of a pattern on the sofa...
19.  a basket of fiber next to the basket of fiber by the living room wheel...
20.  a kool-aid stash that would make a certain southern festival in spring look bland...
20.a.  an occasional lamb in diapers leaping and bounding into the next room...
21.  bags of frozen flower heads next to the meat and strawberries in the freezer...
22.  balls of yarn where the microwave used to be...
23.  the next fleece to be skirted near the back door waiting...
23.a.  next to the bored border collie who's staring at the door...
23.b  canning jars with needles on top of the hutch...
24.  handshears in the mitten drawer, next to the flower froggs...
25.  spinning oil on the coffee table...and near the kitchen table...and....
26.  a stack of dish pans the size of a normal pile of dishes at a busy restaurant...
26.a.  three ring binders labeled 'sheep' on every bookshelf...
27.  yarn tails forgotten between sofa cushions, next to the crumbs...
28.  a scissors of some sort every five feet...
29.  a basket of yarn under the table, and one in front of the TV...
29.a.  baas coming in the windows...
29.b.  ...usually during the most important phone calls...
30.  large glassed-in cases up against every bare inch of wall...full of yarns...
31.  yarny/fleecy ornaments in the christmas box...
31.a.  tapestry needles on my christmas list every year...
32.   sheepy magnets on the fridge...
33.   ...next to the newest yarn samples to view in changing daylight...
34.  ...trunk of yarns beside the piano...watch out you don't trip!...
35.   batts on the bookshelf...
36.   Honey?  Will you build me a batt house?? (Bat, Bat)
37.  sigh...I love the fiber life!

What a perfect day to...

 ...sit near a window and look out at the gorgeous foliage while knitting! (or spinning!)

I could sit near this window all day!  This is "Mary Maple", a favorite tree on our farm, and she's just outside our kitchen window.  I have a perfect knitting chair near this window, with perfect arms on it for knitting.  It keeps me sitting up nice and straight, comfortably knitting away in the brightness of natural, autumny daylight.   The finished part of my knitting keeps my lap warm, and I have a steaming cup of coffee nearby that smells oh so good!  It's so nice to take some time to enjoy the bright colors of the leaves.    Sometimes I get distracted from my stitches as I watch a leaf here and there flitter down to the ground.  The leaves are falling off much slower this year than they ever have before.  Most years, the leaves fall off in a waterfall, making a huge pile in just a couple of days.  For those of you who follow our farm blog, you might remember that I had best friends Maewyn and Posie grazing here last fall.  Remember how they watched for falling leaves, then competed over who'd get to it faster?  Silly girls.  Speaking of Maewyn, her fleece is on my wheel right now!  Stay tuned for future posts and I'll show you how it looks!

I'm ready for knitting!

So with the cool air we've had lately, and the steady rain showers, I've been busily getting my knitting projects all lined up.  The purplish yarn is a coarser yarn from a ball of roving I purchased, and the moorit yarn with the lovely highlights and heathering are from Maewyn's britch wool.  I was hoping to get a close enough match to make some really strong mittens that will last me a long time.  I never have enough time to make enough barn mittens for myself, so I'm hoping to remedy that this year.  And some years, my barn mittens get lost to other people who wish to have such warmth for themselves.  Once people experience how warm their hands CAN be, they WANT the wool!  

Are you ready for knitting?  When the cool weather settles in, are you like a squirrel, scurrying around searching for the patterns you want to knit up next?  I am! :)  Find your patterns, get your projects prioritized, and head on down to the market in the morning, where we will be waiting for you with many lovely yarns to choose from!  We'll have natural colors, dyed colors, and yarn of all gauges waiting to be knitted up into clothes you'll come to love, or feel proud to give away as special gifts!  Don't forget, due to the washout last weekend, we are still running our special of buy two skeins and get a crocheted flower of your choice FREE!  Just mention that you saw it here.  Also, don't forget to look for our new purple tent!

See you in the morning!

Lunch with the sheep

Autumn is in full swing here.  After a full weekend of pouring rain, we ended up with a soggy 3-4 inches!  After the first full day of rain, fog set in along with a hush across the landscape.  The smell of leaves, the colors, the warmth of the fog were all a wonderful and refreshing experience after a summer of blazing sun and 100 degree heat.  I decided to work a bit on the end-of-summer garden cleanup, only to discover after pulling (hard!) on some weeds and things, that the ground was so desperately in need of moisture, that 2 inches of rain barely sunk in more than in inch!  Other areas saw plain run-off, but where the water could sink in, it barely made it past the surface!  Something to keep in mind as we approach freezing.  Obviously, the tree roots did not get what they need yet!

 Fun little pumpkins!

Most of the harvest is in now.  We ended up with more than a dozen of these little Sweet Lightning pumpkins, and they are now all over the house!  What a cute way to make the house seasonal, bright and cozy.

A perk of the work!

When you knock yourself out all day, chasing all the things you have to accomplish in a day, it's nice to take a few moments for a peaceful lunch with the sheep!  Looking out my window, across the bird feeder and lawn, I have the ewes set up to graze on fresh grass.  They love the sugar maple leaves that blow around, and are experts at raking for me!  All I have to do is put them there, and they'll happily work on yard cleanup.  As I eat my lunch, this is the view I enjoy.  Peace.  The work stops for a moment, the day slows down, my feet can rest.  At one point, Minty sees me through the window and baas sweetly to me.  Claire contentedly chews her cud, standing so squarely on her large frame.  Hazel shakes herself off more, after being out in the good soaking rain the last two days.  Maewyn and Mona are competing for a delicious spot of grass together.  Suddenly, the day's pressures fade as I watch what they are doing.  Their fleeces are all fluffy now as they dry off.  The white sheep look really white again, and the black sheep look really black.  As they graze along, it's hard to convince myself that I have to get up and get going again!  How special it is, and what a great perk of the work, to have the sheep join me for lunch.

Which state is it? and Goldie's nine lives

Still doing lots of spinning!  Thankfully, we have gotten some steady rain lately.  It rained all day yesterday, for the first time in a long time.  Puddles actually formed on the ground!  That is such a relief with winter coming up...trees and shrubs need the moisture to survive the cold to come.  Listening to the rain fall while spinning is a true joy!

'Black' Shetland yarn, ready for plying

So which state, according to the American Sheep Industry Association, has the most sheep?  Vermont?  Colorado?  That was my guess.  There are a lot of sheep in Colorado.  Nope.  It's Texas!  California comes in at second, with Colorado in third.  Where is Wisconsin on the list?  Don't know!  Way down at the bottom somewhere I suppose.

Goldie the Farm Clown

Doesn't he look like a kitten attentively attending sheepy school here?  He's actually eight years old now and I believe on his...fourth life.  Let's see...he had urinary calculi and needed surgery for that, which we tearfully funded.  So glad we did!  We love this cat and he is such a gentle soul, and an outstanding mouser.  Then, he was shot by a passerby (which we didn't figure out until later).  After disappearing for nearly two days, he was found sitting in the doorway of the barn with a nasty wound where the bullet or something went in above his eye, and out below his jaw.  Very, very happy day to find him sitting there, alive!  After healing from that, quite some time passed before his next life came up when our neighbor called us.  She had been looking at the view out their lovely windows one afternoon only to see some commotion going on in the field just out her window...straight across from our house.  Seems Goldie had been over there hunting, only to be spotted by an eagle.  The bird of prey swooped down and tried to fly off with him, dropping him before getting too high in the air!!!!!!  When he landed on the ground, he took off running and got away.  Boy, did he ever get a ton of hugs that day!!!!!

I'm so thankful cats have nine lives!  He is so useful around here and so loved, responsible for some of our most treasured farm memories and hilarious crackups.  Tonight, he's safely inside, dozing in the warmth, full with the love his family gives him everyday.  Tomorrow, he'll be back outside, swinging by his paws from the Cupcake Tree next to the coop, acting like a statue in the garden while I clean up vegetables, running and stopping along with me on my walks on the land, and riding on the stall door each and every time I open it.  Oh Goldie, we love you!  

(Goldie is the kitty from Gram's garden.)

Whoosh!

Gee, it's windy today!

But sweet little Shetland sheep don't mind!  They come from a very windy homeland, so a little wind in the heart of a massive continent doesn't faze them much.  I love how their fleeces look, blowing around.  This year, we've not had much rain so their fleeces are not as fluffy as usual.  This picture was taken last year and is of Wheely Wooly Maewyn.  This is the time of year when the wind really kicks up, as warm and cool air mix.  Leaves skitter all around, swirling in circles, blowing across the grasses, and lifting high into the air only to drift back down when the gusts weaken for a moment.

Another tree on our farm...with amazing depth of color from light green to oranges, reds, and yellows.

What a great day to spin!  Let's see, who should I spin today...coopworth?  Wink?  Maewyn?  Time to check the fleecy supply and see who's next.

On a sheepy fact note, can you guess which state has the most sheep?  (Hint:  it's NOT Wisconsin!)

Brrrrrr!

 The trees are stunning...

...but we froze anyway!  A chilly wind has swept down on us from the northwest, bringing a change in the air.   Leaving for market in the dark, with the chilly winds rocking the vehicle brought winter into focus.  As we pulled out, we reminisced about leaving home with the sun in our eyes this summer, while wearing tank tops even at such an early hour!  Our new canopy was WONDERFUL!  The sidewalls went up easily and kept us out of the worst of the chilly wind.  The purple color was bright and even brighter when the sun came out.  We loved it!  We how have more space for displaying yarn so setting up this morning was a lot of fun for me!   The woolcrow with the black coat was a busy place this morning.  Black coats sure show off our yarns nicely.  Crocheted flowers were also popular, as were some of Claire's yarn.  We are now out of the watermelon color, so if you'd like to get some and missed out, just let us know and we'll make more.  Otherwise, I might hold off on that color again until next spring.

***Special next week!  Buy two skeins of yarn or one gift pack and receive a crocheted flower free!***

(while supplies last)

And now, after being out in the cold fresh air for hours and hours, I think I'll take my next cue from Sophie...

...and get warm!

Are you ready?

The general feeling among people we talk to these days is that few are worried about winter coming!  That is surely different from other years.  The heat and drought was so strong that winter is not so much a worry, rather a relief from blazing sun, parched grass, and sweat.  How refreshing it will be to feel the cool winds and see snow coming down!  Well, for a moment anyways!  We do know that winter is inevitable, and it's coming, so I guess we better prepare for it.  Are you ready?

I've been spinning...

...and knitting...

...and rounding up all the things we'll need for winter-wear.   Are there enough hats?  Socks?  Where are they?  How about mittens?  Seems we are always needing new mittens because they get used so much, moved around so much, stuffed in pockets, lost in vehicles...and how about hats?  Does everyone still have a nice hat that matches their coats?  Don't forget scarves!  Scarves are more than wardrobe decor, they are so needed on a cold, windy day!  Do the kids have a good scarf to keep their necks warm?  Are there scarves in your vehicles in case of bad weather and a breakdown?  Do you have barn scarves lined up with your 'going away' scarves?  Do any scarves need replacing because they are pilling, have holes, look frazzled, or are cheap plastic that makes your skin break out?  

I know I love wool, but I love to have scarves for different occasions.  I have nice scarves for going away to dressier places, scarves for meetings, scarves for the barn, and scarves to wear when eating out.  Some are for outdoors (worn with or without a coat), some indoors (not usually worn with a coat), some work for both.  I have mittens in my truck, mittens stuffed in my coat pockets, and half mitts in my bag.  If it's REALLY cold, I'll wear my half mitts inside my mittens for glorious warmth! 

As the winds begin to blow the cool air into our area, it's time to begin thinking about having our warm clothes ready.  Are you ready? 

Maples, Rooster, Minty

Autumn can be so glorious around here on a warm, sunny day in October!  The leaves are very bright, the sky so blue!  We've had gorgeous weather with mild temps, calm winds, and quiet stillness.  Mornings are dewy, and fresh.  So nice after all that blazing sun and heat!!  We still desperately need rain though.

 Our maple tree, so glorious!

I dug pototos recently.  The ground was harder than I can ever remember.  The hard dryness is deep.  It's amazing the pototos could survive in that, but the soil wasn't like that until the drought.  Before the dry-up, the ground was fluffy and loose.  Digging them up was hard work!

 A young rooster

This little rooster is only three months old.  He's not crowing yet, but that will come.  His legs and beak are a brilliant yellow, which reminds me of my maple trees.  His bars are not bad considering where he came from, and he has a very nice rock body type.  I'm quite pleased, even if he isn't the best specimen of the breed.  His temperament is great!  All the barred rocks have the friendliest, most curious temperaments.  They are an awesome breed to have pecking around your garden and farm.  We love them.  They are very busy foragers.

Little Minty

Meet little Minty!  She's not mine, she's not Shetland, and I did not name her.  But I love her!  She is a lamb that has just been taken out of a long quarantine with a clean bill of health and integrated into the whole flock.  She needs a good, steady rain to clean up the last of the dirt from her first home.  That's hard to get with the drought this year.  She's soooooo sweet! (and she gets hugged a lot)  We are very pleased at how she has progressed and also amazed at her sudden growth spurt.  It will be fun to watch her grow!!  She's chewing her cud here...can you see the 'gumballs' in her cheeks?  Her fleece should be a really fun fleece to spin, dye, and knit up.  I'm expecting her fiber will go into lots of bright colors, and made into lots of fun mittens and socks.  Welcome little Minty! 

Now for the rest of that interesting sheepy fact.  Did you know that we have tens of thousands of sheep LESS than we used to in this country?  Did you know that with the drought the last two years, the numbers of sheep are still declining?  Did you know that the demand for lamb has increased in our country due to larger numbers of people from cultures who love lamb?  Did you know that wool is very useful in preventing fires, so the military is very interested in it?  Did you know that some of the largest aircraft companies in the world are located within our 'wool borders'?  How does America rank in sheep numbers in comparison to other countries?  To put it politely, it doesn't!  Our country is by far outranked in sheep numbers.  In fact, some of those countries are smaller than ours, yet have many tens of thousands of sheep more than we do!  According to the American Sheep Industry Association, China has the most sheep in the world.  Next is Australia, then India, then other countries far, far away.  How is it that America has soooo feeewwww sheep?  Something to ponder.