https://myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com/https://myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com/p/about.htmlhttps://myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com/p/hug-sheep-day.htmlhttps://myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com/p/farm-shop.htmlhttps://myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com/p/punkin_11.htmlhttp://myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com/p/equinox-farm.html

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Lilac Yarn

Or a sheep of many colors.



This is Mia. Everything in the basket is Mia. That's one of the fun things about Jacob sheep. With their spots, you can combine any amount of each color and get all sorts of variety.

While most Jacobs are black and white, Mia and her brother Blizzard are a rare color called Lilac. They are brown and white...or brownish/grayish and white. I guess kind of purple-ish. I thought it might be fun to set up a lilac photo shoot.



I wish there was such a thing as smell-evision. We have lilac bushes outside two doors and you can smell them all the way on the porch. The viburnums along the side sheep paddock (the white flowers) waft through the entire yard and even into the barn in the afternoon. Seriously.



Mia comes out to eat with the oldies in the a.m. And while they would never dream of leaving the barn to explore the yard, given half a chance, Mia would probably head on into town. As I came around the corner of the house, there she was on the back porch.

I quickly sat the basket of her wool down and knew she'd sniff it. It would have been nice to try to pose her in front of one of the lilac bushes, but she'd just end up grabbing some leaves or flowers and Have To Go Back To The Barn Right Now! Which she did anyway because she ran over and topped a few strawberry plants.

Remember, there are good yard sheep and bad yard sheep. Or maybe there is just Miss Ewenice and bad yard sheep. Regardless, Mia is a bad yard sheep ;-).




Meanwhile back at the Wool House...

I used Mia's lamb fleece from last year and did a 50/50 blend, a 5/95 (almost all dark), an all white and two "core" combination (see the basket above). For one I took some dark and sandwiched it between two light strips and the other I did the same thing, but then ran the "sandwich" one pass through the drum carder.





Photography note - bright light is frequently not your friend. I like the composition of this, but yikes - notice how harsh it seems compared to the shaded pictures above it? And while filtered light sometimes creates its own set of problems...



...isn't it nice here? I love how this picture draws you in to where you feel like you are in the middle of the lilac bush, watching the butterflies, listening to the bees. Take a deep breath :-).

____________________________________________________________________

We'll have a few Jacob fleeces for sale this spring. I'll have the website updated hopefully this week. Must. Put. Down. Camera. ;-)

17 comments:

Jody said...

That is beautiful wool...reminds me of the Rose Grey Alpaca colour which is my favourite.
Mmmm...lilacs. It must smell fabulous where you live right now :-)

Alice said...

Stunning photos! All card/calendar worthy.

I love separating the Jacob wool into the different colors, too. So much variation from just one sheep is wonderful!

Brigitte said...

Oh! Mia is a beautiful sheep! Her wool looks great. And I like the yarn :)
Have a great week
Brigitte

Kim said...

Mia is a lovely lilac and so is her yarn!

Dreaming said...

I am in love with Jacob sheep. I love their spots. I didn't realize they could be brown and white... and all of those shades in between!
I can almost smell your lilacs!

Nancy K. said...

JEALOUS!!!

Lilacs are my favorite flowers in the whole-wide-world! I've been planting lilac bushes for years and this is the first year that two (little, bitty ones) have finally survived to come back in the spring. Oh! How I love lilacs...

Miss Mia looks so lovely and graceful with her tidy new haircut.

Stunning photos, as we've all come to expect.

Anonymous said...

Lovely, I can just smell the lilacs. Brings back many childhood memories of time playing under my grandma's lilac bushes. :)

Jenny Glen said...

So funny that your lilac bush is in bloom. Ours is still sleeping. I almost never see it bloom because I am usually traveling in the spring. One year I had to stay home and I couldn't believe how pretty and nice smelling this scraggly bush was in the spring. And then it went right back to sleep.

Oak Creek Ranch said...

That wool and yarn is beautiful and I have serious lilac envy. It just doesn't do well here. I have one plant, it's been here ten years, it's short and stumpy and I'm lucky to get two blooms on it.

Lori Skoog said...

Mama Mia!

Ann W. said...

The house I bought two years ago came with old, tall lilac bushes which bloom every spring. I should cut them back but they are a neighborhood bird hangout. I love seeing and hearing the birds flutter and chirp in the bushes.
I like the bright light photo because I can see the lilac tinge in the yarn.

Sue said...

Beautiful yarn and LOVE the lilacs. I have a very healthy bush by my compost heap (came from my sweetie's family farm, original plant was his grandmother's). Unfortunately, it has some sort of disease that causes the blossoms not to open most years, and the only cure is a copper spray, which I cannot use because of the sheep. May have to get another bush for the front yard so I can get some flowers off it.

Ed said...

Lilacs smell great, the use of them with the wool is fantastic.:-)

Terry said...

How pretty that yarn is!

small farm girl said...

That yarn is just beautiful! Oh, and you take the BEST pictures!!!!

Far Side of Fifty said...

That last photo is something else..I really like it! The others are pretty good too..love the Lilacs..great photo shoot! :)

Anonymous said...

What a fun photo shoot :) Miss Mia is a lovely lilac and she has retained her color very well. I love all of the colors in the yarn - beautiful!

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin