Mud...Boots

My dear Isaiah boy is finally healthy. He is happy, mischievous and laugh provoking. Nate has been staying home with him the last three weeks, and now the weather is finally nice enough to take him exploring out of doors. On Tuesday afternoon I got home at a reasonable time and decided to take him outside to enjoy the spring temps. Kohen was napping, so that helped with competition. Isaiah was so excited when he saw mud boots in his size. He started clapping and pointing out the window, and then patting his head and saying 'hat'. Well, after we got his hat we headed out. Our journey only went as far as the chicken coop, but took over 20 minutes. Isaiah was enchanted by the mud and running water, so enchanted that he bent over to check it out and promptly landed on his backside in the water. No cries or tears, just looks of awe.

We are gearing up for true spring here. Day old chicks are scheduled to arrive next week, and lambs may be born the week after. I've been reading and rereading all my sheep and lambing info, packing a lambing kit and making sure we have any supplies we may need on hand.

We are struggling with shearing. Our shearer from last year has not returned calls, and we have made phone calls/contact with over 15 other people. All in our area use the same shearer. The only person whom has been able to get him to confirm a shearing appointment isn't shearing until May. Much too late for us. The girls are all starting to roo, loose their fleece, and look pretty shaggy. Nate attempted the hand shears today, and did a fine job, but it is way too time consuming to try and do all 13 of them that way. We contacted a farmer friend who is going to bring over his electric shears for us to borrow. I'm glad I have a husband who is willing to tackle any project.

Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of the hand shearing today since I was assisting. Kizzy was our victim, though you would never know it. She is so calm and friendly, she just had to smell the animal crackers in my pockets. He also tried to tidy up Fiona. Being an icelandic she has a lot more fleece than the shetlands, and needs some trimming in expectation of lambs looking for milk.

I met up with four wonderful ladies on Sunday and spent an enjoyable day spinning. I haven't lost the love, and it made me itch to get some nice fleece. I still have bags of last years shearing, which were poor quality from some of the sheep having not been shorn for multiple seasons. I'm hoping that I can work out a daily schedule to have time to work with wool this summer.

Snow, Stacking, Spinning & Sock Monkeys

How's that for a title? This is a very random ramble tonight. Of course it is 11pm, and I should be snuggled up with my hubby, but my goal is to have 100 posts this year, I'm so close. Yeah, you're going to hear a lot from me the next couple of days.

First up, SNOW. We've got a lot of it out there right now, and finally the temperatures have been decent enough we can enjoy it. (If you are in Texas reading this, that means it is above zero degrees farenheit.) My challenge is spending time outside doing chores or playing when I have a 13 month old babe that probably shouldn't be exposed to the icy temps for too long. Enter a really warm snowsuit, boots, and an infant sled. Yes, poor Isaiah gets dragged around and watches me haul water and hay, collect eggs, stack firewood and attempt to snowshoe with Kohen. I only get concerned when I recall the amount of information he is taking in right now and learning from everything he sees. I can only imagine how it is all being catalogued in that little brain.

We spent a good bit of time outside on Friday. Kohen and I strapped on the snowshoes for the first time this year, but didn't make it too far. At least he now remembers how to walk in them. It took a few falls.

This picture was taken today as Isaiah was watching Nate, Kohen and I stack firewood. I turned around and witnessed how cute he and Shep looked and snapped a picture. Have I mentioned I always try to have my camera with when we are outside? You can imagine how thrilled Nate is when I drop the logs I'm carrying three feet away from the woodshed so that I can pull out the camera. But hey, how often do Isaiah and Shep stay still for a photo?

Second, STACKING. We've been doing a lot of stacking of wood lately. Of course Nate is doing 95% and Kohen and I are contributing about 5%. We were late getting firewood this year and our outside wood boiler eats it up quickly. I figure it's a good exercise program for me right now. For the next week that I'm home at least. Since I spent part of my birthday afternoon stacking wood, I had to share a photo of what was accomplished. Never mind that the row is complete to the roof, along with a second row today. I at least had a small, very small, part in it.

Next up, SPINNING. I've been avoiding the spinning wheel since I learned how to spin earlier this fall. I had such a great time that day learning, that I was scared to ruin the memory. Add in an old wheel that hadn't been spun on for at least forty years and was missing pieces, and you can feel some of my apprehension. My awesome hubby took the time to tighten and adjust things on the wheel, and make a couple of parts that were missing. I've really been getting the itch to spin, and with all the knitting that Grandma did for Christmas I would love to make some yarn for her to use. Yesterday I took the time to wash up a small batch of the shetland fleece that we had sheared this past spring. It is in pretty awful shape, as the sheep were when they lost it. Lots of vegetation and dirty, but I was determined. I soaked it good last night and dried it in the shower. After church and leftovers for lunch I put Isaiah down for his nap and pulled out my carders. I decided to card up a bit at a time to see how it would go. Needless to say I was frustrated to begin with. The wheel would not spin right, at least not what uneducated me felt was right. I was ready to quit before I started, but a break and phone call to Aunt Linda, and I finally started to make some headway, and yarn. The tensioner on this old wheel is very touchy, and I discovered that even 1/4 of a turn made the difference in spinning or not spinning. So as we watched the football game, I sat and carded, and spun. Oh yes, this is why I loved it! The soothing rhythm, the sense of accomplishment. Of course Isaiah awoke much too early from his nap and I had to return the spinning wheel to its place of honor on the air hockey table out of the reach of little fingers. I actually had 1/2 bobbin full of soft shetland wool, along with some bits of grass, but it's my first attempt, so I'm satisfied. I spent some time tonight finishing up the bobbin, which is the only reason my eyes are still open at 11:20 pm as I type this. Now comes the second rough patch, I do not have a second bobbin for this old wheel. Right now my plan is to either make it into a loose ball or put it on a lazy kate (which I don't have either!) in order to do the second ply. Anyone have a good idea for me? Nate is planning on making me more bobbins, but he doesn't have the time or lathe set up right now. For those of you who are nonspinners, I'm sorry, you don't know what you are missing! Sorry, that was not necessary. I was going to explain what I was talking about. When you spin you spin one ply. Most yarn is two ply or more, so I need to spin another one ply and then ply the two together. Usually you have a few bobbins so you can spin each of your singles on one and then spin them together on another. Confused yet? Anyway, here's my bobbin of moorit colored shetland. It looks like Good Mama's fleece. I am so excited about the idea of a pair of Good Mama mittens.

Lastly, SOCK MONKEYS. I wanted to post a picture of the adorable sock monkeys that grandma made the boys. Of course they didn't want to sit still for a picture, it's too much fun to play and roll around on the bed. So this is as good as it gets for now.

Good night. I'll blog at you more tomorrow.

New Love?

I did it... I really did...and I have witnesses to prove it. Sure, it isn't the prettiest, but it's mine. Here's what I created today, and I love it. That's right, a ball of yarn. I learned how to spin today! I'm so excited. I'm excited about the prospect of raising my sheep, shearing my sheep, and turning their fleece into this. I had some great teachers today. Paulette F. and my Aunt Linda. I used Linda's wheel, and roving from Paulette and Linda. Once I figured out how to get my feet to keep moving, I was able to do much better. And it was so much fun! I was told that I was a natural and did a good job for my first time, I can't wait for the second.
Paulette teaching Hailey to knit.
I even have a wheel, in close to working order. I'll feature it in a future blog. But for now here are a few pictures of my awesome day at Wolf Bay learning to spin, and making new friends!

My work in progress.