Shearing Day is upon us...

We have been waiting for this day with excitement.  Our shearer's will be here tomorrow morning bright and early to shear my flock and my friend Dave's.  We have shared the shearing day for a couple of years now and it has worked out well.  Combined we have 59 sheep to shear and 2 Llamas.

Although looking at this picture, I wish I had a coat on my new black ram, this is going to be fun picking all that hay out of his fleece.

Meet this new group of guys we have added this past year.

On the Left is Barg's he comes from Karen Valley, my friend Dave is the proud owner of this guy.

In the middle is a new ram brought in from Oregon, from the flock of Jim Chastain, I am quite happy with this guy.  I didn't give him a name yet.  Jim only registers his animals with numbers, this is number #1107.

On the right is the white ram that I've been wanting, this is Duroy and he comes to us from Theresa Gygi in Indiana.  I am quite pleased with him too.    

We have a nice selection of rams at this time, which will serve us well for quite well for some time.

This lovely moorit is Clyde, he will be 2yrs this spring.  He has a longer fleece but still very nice

I am quite pleased with his micron avg at 24.6 and he has such beautiful horns.

To the left in this picture is Mr.Mr., he is a Rideau Arcott Ram, a canadian developed breed of a dairy ram.

This past year I have been researching the dairy breed and have decided to cross 13 of my ewes with this ram.  He is a big guy, but I suppose not any bigger than some of the Leisters that other breeders cross with their shetlands.  I have been very careful not to overfeed the ewes, I am still concerned with how the lambing will go, hopefully no problems.  I hope to develop the start of a dairy flock from these original cross breed ewe lambs that I get with this ram.  So an East Friesian ram will be needed for a end of year breeding.

This guy really has a nice fleece too, very consistant from front to back.  Can't wait to see what this fleece weighs.

Will try to get pics. while shearing.........can't wait!

Weaving project

I acquired this table top loom late last summer and have finally begun to use it.  A friend of my through my day job asked me if I would be interest in a loom that was at her daughter's high school, she had told me that the current art teacher had never used it and she had been their for 17 years.  I told my friend that I would take it if they wanted to get rid of it, knowing from past experience that most times parts are missing. 
Well to my surprise it is complete.  Just needing one wing nut and some tlc.
It has a label on it that says "Dryad Leicester" and the wood has been stamped "made in England".
....anyway I have spun up some beautiful shetland wool, added a little glitz to some of it and decided to weave it and make a scarf to offer for sale at one of the festivals I demo at.

Did I mention that I don't have a lot of weaving experience?  I have made one scarf several years ago in a class that my guild "Algonquin Spinners and Weavers" held. 
I had purchased a book, "Weaving made easy" by, Liz Gipson.  Some basic instruction, projects and pictures. 
So off I go ....

My plan is to do a loose weave and then to felt the scarf.  After felting, cut about 2" into each end to make the fringe.  As I was passing the shuttle to weaving I had to use my extra shuttle to separate the shed and lift up so I could pass the shuttle through.
Well it only took me until I was almost finished with the scarf to realize that I should have dressed the loom over the wooden beam in the front and back of the loom....duh.  next time...

I was surprised how fast the weaving went.  When I finished the scarf I wanted to weave in the loose ends before I took it off the loom, while it was still under the tension.  I almost forgot to make the hemstitch, but I referred back to my new book and completed that also before I took the scarf off the loom.

Walla.....my completed scarf and attached to the left side is a swatch I will keep.  I still need to felt the scarf and cut off the fringe, although I probably wont' cut the fringe until I know that I have gotten it felted well.
I will definitely do some weaving again.  I think I may try some basic kitchen towels with cotton.  I would really like some good cotton towels.......next project?

Welcome 2012......just a little late...

...yes everyone I am still alive....I haven't posted since October, 2011.  I've thought about it, I just haven't done it.  Why?  I don't know, procrastinator maybe...I think about it then get drug off into a different direction.  My intensions for 2012 was to post at least twice a month.  Well I blew that already, missed January.  I will really try to do better.......promise.
We have had the mildest winter I can ever remember and I am just loving it.  We didn't get the water line run to the barn this past year, I've been using the garden hose to water.  So far this year I have only had to carry water three times.  It has actually been warm enough that I have been able to use the garden hose all winter.....just lov'in it.

This is the most snow we have had all winter, about 2" and it is already melting, the temps. have been in the mid 30's and into the 40's.  This picture shows all the adult ewes that I have at the farm numbering 19.  All but four have been cross bred this year.  My four yearlings were bred with some nice Reg. Shetland fine fleeced rams that we have acquired this past year.  Cannot wait to see what we get.

These are my ewe lambs from 2011, nine.  I haven't sent in Reg. papers yet on these girls, I am not certain of the colors on a couple of them.  The ewe looking at the camera is one of the latest additions to the shetland flock.  She has come all the way from Jim Chastain in Oregon, along with a ram.  Can't wait to get the micron results on the sheep this year, I think we have some long needed diversity coming into the Shetland Sheep that you find in our area of Ohio, through these new rams we are using.

That's all for now, I will post tomorrow to show my latest project that I've been working on today.

Algonquin Mill Fall Festival

We couldn't have asked for better weather for our festival this year.  This was a shot of our spinning cabin that we sell are ware's in and about, some morning conversation before the day began.  The fire felt good in the early morning, but it wasn't there for us, notice the pots around the fire.  We have dye pots going during the festival, making for some wonderfully dyed skeins, wool or what ever your heart desires.

another shot of the spinners cabin with various items to sell.
Notice the beautiful fall leaves in the background.

Hand made shawls and scarfs for sale.

Many, many wonderful skeins of handspun yarn for sale.

This is the Two Story Log Home that our Guild staffs, along with the spinners cabin.  This is a beautiful cabin that was moved to the Algonquin Mill Complex.  My pic. is not the best due to the morning sun .

This is one of the downstairs rooms in the two story log home.  This would have been the kitchen area, we usually have two demonstrators in each room of the home.  Notice on the right, the barn beam loom.  What a massive loom!

This years festival have been wonderful, I've met many new friends this year that I've invited to come and visit us at our monthly meeting in the School House.  We meet the 3rd Saturday of every month, from approx. 10am to 3pm., anyone / everyone is welcome to visit.  We have one more day to enjoy our festival and hope to meet more new friends then.
...til I can post again, may your fiber stash always be full and your spinning wheel always whirring.........

Great Trail Festival

Great Trail Festival has come and gone.  I spent two days demonstrating at the festival this year and met many wonderful people.  I hope that those that I spoke with find time to come to one of the Algonquin Spinning and Weaving Guilds meetings and get to see, meet other fiber friends.
I didn't remember to take my camera to get pictures, darn it.

The next festival the Guild participates in will be Yankee Peddler Festival in Canal Fulton, Ohio
http://www.yankeepeddlerfestival.com/ this event is 6 days spread out over three weekends. Sept. 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th, 24th & 25th.
I will be demonstrating the 11th and 25th. 
This event is a demonstration of the time period 1776 through 1825, we will be wearing and working with items that would have been available in that time period.
This festival is also a great time to see other demonstrators with time period wares.

Where has the summer gone???

As sit here writing this post I wonder just where has the summer gone?  As fall is in the air and I am just not ready for what is to come.....snow and such.
Did I make too many project lists for this year?  Well, yes I probably did, but I didn't get them all done either!
From shearing to lambing then getting in the garden to maintaining the yard, making hay, attending group meetings, trying to work on projects, add in family functions, working a "day" job, monday through friday.

Now at this time of the year we (Guild) have Festivals that we participate in for the next two months, beginning with Great Trail this weekend in Carrollton, Ohio. 

So, what is the answer?  I don't really know.....but I will try to slow down, do the things I enjoy, don't set myself up for failure with too many projects on my list....just don't make the list......but enjoy the ones you do finish. 

Sweater

This is my first clothing project, although it is not finished I thought I needed to post something.  I just purchased the buttons.  I only have to add the front bands and tuck in my loose ends and I will be finished.
This was a great pattern for a first time project by: "knitting pure & simple", v neck neckdown cardigan for women #994.
The Spinning/Weaving Guild that I am a member of, http://algonquinmillspinnersandweavers.blogspot.com/
decided to try this pattern as a group project, for any of the membership that wanted to try  the pattern.  This way we would be able to help each other through the pattern if there were question or you just got stuck.

The fleece I used came from one of my Shetlands, a fawn ewe named Gwendolyn, although she is no longer with us I will always have this sweater to remind me of her.  I had her fleece blended with a similar color of alpaca fiber for this project.

I spun a medium worsted yarn for this sweater, a future note to myself when spinning for a clothing item; I must spin a much finer yarn.  I love this sweater that I've made, but I don't think that I would be able to wear it all day long, the sweater is a little bulky.  It would work as a light coat if you were outside all day.

I have a future pull over mock turtle neck sweater planned, but I will take into consideration what I've learned from this project to make the next one even better.