New Smol Rabbit Fren

Last Saturday 20, Pip and I were on our way to Maryland when we spotted a rabbit in a heap on the side of the side of the interstate :-o.  We'd left Kentucky at 5:00 that morning facing a long drive and I made the quick decision to feel sad, but keep driving........ . . .  .  .  .  .    .     .      .       .

We passed the first exit... . . .  .  .  .    .    .     .       .

.   .   .   and turned around at the next one.

I probably would have turned around anyway, but I really couldn't not stop with Pip sitting right there.  Remember that story?

I pulled way over and quickly jumped out of the car, grabbed the rabbit and jumped back in.  He or she did not appear to be injured, just wet and scared, and I gave them a big hug and told them they were safe.  They tucked in behind 20, looking very sad.  Pip promised them everything would be okay.

At the next rest stop they were starting to dry out and everyone repositioned and decided they were all feeling much better.  I'd added 20 or so minutes to my drive, but I was feeling better, too.  A good hug and snuggling in with some friends will do that for you :-).

Now home and washed and with a good brush out, we are all settled in.  Sadly, when I did an internet search, I found that this is probably a rabbit who originally had a baby rabbit sewn to their chest.  Maybe.  I hope they didn't lose their baby on top of losing their family :-(.

The name Sebastian had originally popped into my head, so maybe that's a sign I'm wrong, but the string on their chest seems important.  Maybe someone will see this and recognize their friend and they can all be reunited.

Until then, with the weather still so chilly, I'm thinking they might need a nice warm wool sweater :-).

April

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

April was busy (unless you were Archie), but fun.  Lots of spring flowers, new bees, new raised beds (that I'm having to replant after the really hard freeze over the weekend :-/) all the spinning, a little painting, beautiful moons, interesting fog, good sheep, good friends...

So I Did A Thing

I decided I wanted to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year.  It only took me over 20 years to get over the extreme heat from the first time I went when I swore I'd never go back ;-).  Anyway, I thought if I was going all that way, I should challenge myself to enter something in the Skein and Garment competition.

My favorite class is the Spinners Yarn Basket and from there it was an easy jump to figure out some way to include Jared.  If you are going to put that much effort into making something, it needs to be with a good friend.

In 25 words or less, you spin at least one pound of yarn, tell how you processed and spun the yarn, include the pattern you are going to use the yarn for and a swatch to show how it will work.  My favorite description for everything after that is "flower arranging for yarn".  

I am extremely honored that Big J and I brought home the blue ribbon.

I always wished I had a picture of the two of us so I decided to paint one.

And I wrote him a letter and put together a little booklet with some more information and "flower arranging".

And some of my favorite pictures that helped illustrate how much he meant to me and everyone who met him.

I made a big "basket" to hold his big yarn from the apple crate I used to sit on in the barn with him.  I lined it with a drawstring project bag that I made from one of Bill's old shearing bags and a sheet that we use to wrap the freshly shorn fleeces.  The tags are my required entry information.

This is the front and back (outside) of the booklet.  The inside spread was an excerpt from his obituary from the blog.

And this was what I would have said to him if we were standing in the driveway.  The Xs were to make sure there was no identifying information anywhere.

Meteorological note - this year was one of the coldest on record.  Of course it was.  

Maisie note - I included the picture of Maisie sashaying away from my wrecked bike with Jared looking on in horror because if you are going to do something bold, you might want to do it with Maisie...or not ;-).

And After

I always love Murphy's marbled colors.

And how black Muffin still is.

The two Kristas, grandmother and granddaughter.  I wonder if the little gray ewe on the left is related to them as well.  She looks more like the OG Krista than the new Krista does, although her "Baa" sounds just like her grandmother :-).

Everyone in the main flock together in one picture.

And a new puzzle!

Before...

Is Maggie taller than she is wide?

Big Moose

Pinto...only taller because he has long legs ;-).

White Krista.  What a sweet little ewe.

This is a fun puzzle :-).

 

Meanwhile, Back Before Spring Shearing...

April has been just a blur.  These pictures are fun of Archie and Possum, so better late than never.  I also have pre-shearing sheep pictures and post shearing pictures.  Any interest in seeing those or has that ship sailed until next year?  Maybe as a puzzle or two?

Archie and Possum both loved hanging out on the roll bale. 

But as with most things "Possum", frequently dissolved into a fight.  

"Possum!"

"What?"

The top roof is the one Archie fell off of a few years ago?  Well, he fell off the lower roof, too, on the way down.  

I'm guessing he only has about three lives left...that I know about.

I Gave Up

I'd hoped for the last two years that I'd be able to pick up a neighborhood swarm and feel pretty sure that I had at least some descendants from Stella's bees.  That didn't work out and I finally decided to just start over.  Of course, now that I've gone to all this trouble and expense, I'll probably find a swarm next week.  

I've never installed a package of bees before.  I've had lots of experience handling bees in general and am comfortable working with nucs (a small box of established bees with a queen), but dealing with a queen in a cage in a package of bees she doesn't know was a little daunting.  

I wanted a particular strain (Buckfast) bees though and a package was my only option.  That's okay.  Stella and I loved learning new things about beekeeping.  She'd have enjoyed the whole day, from going to pick them up to getting them settled.  She'd especially have liked the new inside feeder I'm using.

While a friend and I were waiting for the stragglers to move from the package into the hive box, we were able to watch some of the bees start to fan and talk to each other and then saw some take  orientation flights circling over the hive box.  A few even started exploring whatever these flowers are.

By nightfall, all but a few were tucked into the box and I was able to pick up the last 10 or so and deposit them at the entrance.  Hopefully they'll be happy here.  They've had a long couple of days I'd guess being packaged up and moved.  I promised them that tomorrow will be a better day.

March

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

March was jam packed...but pretty darn good :-).

Under The Burled Arch

The 2026 Iknitarod is in the books.  The trail was pretty clear the whole way and about halfway to Nome I picked up a couple of Iknitariders who saw all the purple yarns and couldn't resist joining the fun.

"I wonder what this is for?"

"This purple matches my sweater!"

"And this one matches my whole outfit!"

There was a bit of clean up, but nothing the team couldn't handle and from there it was smooth sailing.

The front or "right" side.

The back, which is actually the side you are looking at while you are working.  This is technically the "wrong" side, but I always kind of like the back sides better.

As always, I learned a lot as I punched along.  I also learned a lot after I finished.  There are some colors here that are too close to each other, but I didn't notice how too close until I took these pictures.  I'm not sure if I'll take anything out and change things around or just leave it as is as a reminder to watch for that and a couple other nitpicky things that I wouldn't do again.

All in all it was very fun and I'm looking forward to my next project.  And it was nice to hang out with one of my all time favorite sheep for a bit :-).

Speaking Of Cats

I just added a cute picture of Bullseye to yesterday's post.  I'd saved it...and then promptly forgot about it.

On a crazy note, a video of Possum and Archie with a little bit of Bea went viral on Instagram last week.  Not millions of views viral (thank goodness), but as of this morning, 230,000 views.  

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady)

Leave it to Possum, the Murphy of the cat world here.

I think part of why this happened was a short poem by Carl Sandburg that begins "The fog comes on little cat feet."  I wasn't aware of that, so am happy I got something of value from the 318 (!) comments that the post received...most of which I don't believe were bots.  

A Deep Dive

Does anyone remember Henrietta?  She came here with Heidi back in 2006, before the blog even started.  She was a grand old sheep.  A friendly Jacob who enjoyed a good back scratch and didn't need to be bribed with cookies.  She was a farm favorite.

I'd saved a bag of her roving from 2013 and in that bag was a big ball of yarn.  I'm not sure why I stopped spinning it, but I'd saved it for years thinking I really should finish it and a couple of weeks ago, when I was looking for my next Thursday spinning project, I pulled it down out of the loft.

I reviewed the thickness and twist from back in the day and did my best to try to match it.  I was shocked at how much VM (vegetable matter) was in it, but decided maybe I didn't know any better back then?  I thought I did, but there it was.  I didn't care.  It was Henri and I could pick it out.

I weighed the spun ball (a little over 6 ounces) and weighed out the same amount of roving.  I didn't get it spot on, matching yardage between old and new, but the yarn is nice and I now have almost 700 yards of one of my favorite sheep of all time.  

Now what to do with it... :-)

Here's something fun and interesting about wool and handspun yarn.  The ball of old yarn had been sitting for years.  The twist in that yarn was "dead".  The twist in the newly spun yarn was fresh.  When you ply the two together you get ramen noodles as the dead twist is taken for a ride by the fresh twist.

Not to worry.  When you wash (or steam) the yarn to "set the twist", the hot water wakes the dead twist up so it matches the fresh twist and you end up with a balanced skein of yarn.  That's the same skein, before and after. 

As I started working on this post I looked back to see if there were any good Henrietta posts to include and found this one.  Turns out she was just a mess in general and all that VM...was just Henrietta.  Apparently I'd tossed the previous fleece because it was just. too. messy.  I remembered that about Boudreaux, but had forgotten about Henri.  

That's okay.  Now that I remember the story, those bits make me kind of happy.  It's easily identified as her and that beats a "Walmart" fleece any day :-).

* * * * *

Updated to add this cute picture of Bullseye while I was spinning this yarn last week.  I'd saved the picture...and then forgot about it.  Sigh...

It Never Gets Old

I wouldn't want a whole flock of 'em, but it cracks me up every time he jumps the fence...every day.  

 

Revisiting A Snowy Trail

This picture was definitely not taken this week, but I wanted to save/share an interesting picture of Coonie and her grazing snow trail.  It made a fun puzzle, too :-).

Renny's Hennys

I ended up making a third baby chick and that used up all but a very small amount of dark green yarn and an even smaller amount of light green.  This was a fun project and I'd probably keep making chicks if I hadn't run out of Renny's yarn, but it's time to move on to a new fun project.