So Much I Should Say

Honestly, I guess at this point there is a little part of me that just really can't believe he didn't live forever.   He was a helluva sheep.  It was an honor.

 Jester

2000? - June 30, 2017

It's That Time Of Year...Again

It's time for the Tour de Fleece!  20 is still assembling my complete line up for this year's Tour (fingers crossed he goes easy on me ;-), but I wanted to share a sneak peek at my special "big" project.  

Last year, when I was organizing the wool storage/skirting area, I found an old fleece of Elizabeth's. It was from 2013...hence the wool storage area needing to be organized :-o.  Since I already have a completed Elizabeth project, I felt like this gave me a free pass to try something "dangerous".

Several months ago, Miss B and I separated out some dark, some light and some mix of the two and then dyed it various shades of blue in hopes of ending up with a "denim" color.  We then ran it through the picker to start blending it and I planned on carding it all.  

I have no idea what made me try combing it the other day, but I'm so glad I did.  I hadn't been jazzed about the carded samples.  I loved it combed.  My only issue then was the amount.  How much would I have to comb to get enough to make a shawl (my planned project).  

Turns out you can comb an entire fleece if you just stop whining about it and do it!  Who knew... ;-)

You can click the "combing wool" label at the bottom of this post or on the right side bar for more detailed information about "combing wool".  I'm just going to share some quick pics for curiosity and posterity.

Messy to "faded denim".  I love this color...and I think we nailed it :-D.

I still have no real idea how this works*, but it does.  You start pulling the fiber through a diz (yes, this one is straight from my recycling bin ;-)...

...and keep pulling and it all comes out in one long, ready to spin, wool [thingy].  What would be a descriptive word I'm looking for here besides "top"?  Rope?  I then wound/rolled each [thingy] into a "bird nest" (man, this post gets more confusing for non-spinners all the time :-o) and tucked it into a basket.

Natural gray/brown, white, medium blues, dark blues...

...and a couple brighter blues...that I may try to tone down a bit so they are a little less "dangerous" ;-).

That's a big basket of wool!  17.2 ounces total.  I had more waste than I should have, but I learned a whole lot for next time.  The trick now is actually making myself spin it.  I'm so enamored with the basket of un-spun fiber that I'm worried I'll just keep petting it and never move on.

Another similar shot, but with Tilly helping "pose for scale" again ;-).

The colors are more accurate in the previous picture, but I like the light on the flowers and our old truck in this one.  

I finally finished this year's Ravatar/cartoon this afternoon.  Anyone already in the Ravelry group can get a sneak peek.  I'll post it here tomorrow...which most likely means Saturday morning the way things go ;-).  It's pretty cute!

* "It's still magic even if you know how it's done."  Terry Pratchett - A Hat Full of Sky

Yes, that's one of the Tiffany Aching books that I just burned through one right after the other.  Fabulous fun!  With a nod to the old Yarn Along posts...  

Part Of My Wednesday Post...On Thursday

The rest of yesterday's post is getting too picture heavy, so here's one to sweeten up your morning.  

I like to check on everyone periodically through the day.  I just casually walk down the barn aisle to check the older sheep. No one wakes up.  Biscuit and Muffin I have to sneak up on.  Any hint of my coming around might mean BABAS!!!  

Biscuit still likes to sleep in the creep feeder.  I'm guessing this feels safe to him after sleeping in the dog crate in the kitchen.  I love that Muffin sleeps near him, nose to nose.  They are so cute together.  And the white fuzz on her is Biscuit's.  Black sheep problems ;-).

Ten More

Random horse shot as they randomly decided to gallop back to the barn.  Hank loves when they do this ;-).

Early this spring I caught a tiny flash of brown dart out of one of the bigger lavender plants.  I quietly walked over to see and sure enough, a tiny baby bird in a teeny tiny nest.  I quietly told the little bird to always be very quiet, especially when there might be a stupid cat around.  

I'd stroll through every day, never doing anything that might attract a cat's attention and watched.  And worried.  And one day I saw a tiny fledgling in the nearby dye garden and the nest was empty.  A tiny success story!

Well, part of a tiny success story.  There remained an unhatched egg.  It's still there, tiny blue in a tiny horse hair lined nest.  So pretty.  I think it was a chipping sparrow.

I love this honey bee with her face deep in a bloom.  A good place to be :-).

There are actually three new puzzles - two with lavender and one with the horses.  I worked the horse puzzle last night and it was a fun one with lots going on.  Click the puzzle to get to my folder of puzzles.  There may be others you haven't worked yet.

Enjoy!

Take Your Dog To Work Day

Also known as Every Day, so even though it was technically last Friday...

The lavender garden is almost in full bloom.  Once again I am unable to bring myself to cut even a small bouquet, so the "let's plant a huge lavender garden and harvest it for wool sachets" plan is, yep, once again a complete bust.  Luckily Saint Tim is a good sport.

I can't take a picture that really shows what the real garden looks or feels like.  I thought maybe putting something in for perspective would help.  I called in the trusty border collie sitting right outside the garden gate.

Kate took one look and was overwhelmed by the beauty of the garden the piles of little sticks (mulch) that were everywhere, just waiting for her to come play with them!

"This is the best playground ever!"

So I called in the trusty corgi who was only right outside the gate because she thought Kate was getting treats or something since she was so excited ;-).

I took a bunch of pictures and picked out a bunch of that bunch that I liked...and then couldn't narrow them down any further and I need to go feed Biscuit and Muffin so I decided to just post the first 10 pictures and tomorrow post 10 more.

You really can't have too many pictures of lavender.  

And bees.

And another surprise.

Tomorrow!

In the meantime...

Enjoy!

Green Pastures

Another shot of a few Final Frontier Farms ewes and lambs at the nursery farm.

And a new puzzle :-).

Enjoy!

You Again?

In all the excitement of picking up Muffin and her mom, now known as Mrs. Pepperpot (thank you, Saint Tim!), I almost forgot I took some pictures of a few of the Lamb Camp lambs while I was there!

"You again?"

Prime real estate, here!

A lamb after my own heart...in the shade.

I wouldn't be surprised if this ewe wasn't one of Pepperpot's daughters or granddaughters or at very least a niece.  Between the fleece and her dark skin face with not much hair, she looks like she has some Wensleydale in her background.  Might have to have Kathy check the flock books.

This cute momma has run out of shade, but she's so comfy on her lamb pillow it's a little hard to get motivated.

And what are those crazy kids up to?

Playing king of the mountain on the compost pile :-).

And look who's in the background!

It's the Krista Ewe and her two cute babies :-D.

Looks like it's time to find some new shade.

Here is a new puzzle.  As always, click the picture or this text to get to the actual puzzle.  

Enjoy!

Because Some Things Once Seen Cannot Be Unseen...

As I didn't catch this on camera, I thought I might create a yet another Maisie cartoon for creative documentation.  This is a family friendly blog though and rather than post an embarrassing picture of Saint Tim, I'm reposting one of my very favorite pictures of Maisie from the early days.

If you remember back a few posts to my story about "edumacating" Maisie (and are a long time follower of this blog), you probably won't be at all surprised to see...an update.  What follows might be Maisie's Finest Funniest Moment.  

Saint Tim was in the barn with me last night because we needed to catch Burrnie and trim his feet. I had my back turned and missed what happened, but heard Tim squalling, using some, um, grown up words and turned to see Maisie hightailing it out of there.

Honestly, I was surprised.  She's been good lately.  Really, really good.  She hasn't butted me, pawed me, even gotten in the least bit snarky.  We've had many good evening chats, lots of tummy rubs and even ear scratches!  What on earth had happened?!?

"She pulled my pants down!"

Maisie drops mic and [runs] away :-D

Almost Late For Dinner

Biscuit's favorite place to graze is still on the driveway although he's doing great out in the paddock eating "big boy food".  I no longer have to worry about putting a lead on him to get him to come back.  I just "call him for dinner" :-).

Looks like he's brought a little dinner back with him :-D.

Have a funny Maisie story to share, but I think it needs a graphic.  I'm working on it ;-).

"Happy" first day of summer...