Monday, August 16, 2010

Let's just make it a Monday, shall we?

Last night I decided to separate Katie and her lambs. They are good-sized boys at 11 weeks of age, and have big (for around here) pointy things on their heads that I certainly wouldn't want hitting me in the udder! Plus, Katie needs to regain condition before breeding season, which is only two months away. (!!!) Last night wasn't too bad, since I put Katie in the fold's corner pen and they could see and smell each other. But this morning I put Katie in a pocket pasture near the ram pen and her boys went out with the ewe flock as usual. Now she's calling, her lambs are calling, and "big boy" lambs Barry and Blake are calling occasionally, too. Ah, the joys of weaning! I hope all the neighbors are at work....


Yesterday I finished spinning the fiber I had in the car on the way to the beach Saturday. It's a half-ounce of black Shetland roving from Kara; nice and soft. She also sent me half-ounce samples of a medium brown moorit/fawn/flecket mix, a reddish brown and a dark brown. (As well as the light grey Shetland/mohair that became this:)
As I was finishing the black, I thought of what to do with these small amounts. I could ply them all together; I've never done a four-ply, so that would be a learning experience, and the resulting two ounces should be enough to do something small and fun, like a hat or a pair of fingerless mitts. But as I looked at the three balls of various browns to decide which to spin next, I also thought how pretty they would each be as whole colors, and then worked, along with the "mystery white" waiting on Paisley, into a Fair Isle hat, or maybe one of Laura's design. Decisions, decisions! Input; input?

The big news from Sunday is a little boy's dream coming true. Brian has lots of dreams and they can be like the weather - "Wait a minute and it'll change." But a fort/tree house has been on his heart for awhile, and yesterday he and Rick started building it in this big ol' maple in the wooded corner lot where the Ram-ada Inn sits.Brian protests when I call him "little," but notice who had to be on the construction site:That's Bear, Brian's all-time favorite stuffed animal.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a boy and a book in a tree house (Rick said Brian can't go up by himself yet because they don't have all the sides up, but it's okay if Mom is there.)

That's it for now from . . .

11 comments:

Susan said...

Isn't it amazing - those sweet, ewe faces, with their mild eyes. Then that, that, noise! Mine cover all the ranges - alto to basso. And they're all girls! A treehouse - how exciting!

Janna said...

On my someday list is a fair isle sweater made of the natural colors of wool from my sheep so I think that a hat showing off your bits of wool is a wonderful idea.
We did some weaning over the weekend too-as Susan says, "Sweet ewe faces", small Shetland bodies, incredible noise!! Thank goodness it only lasted two days.

Michelle said...

That's on my "someday list," too, Janna, so maybe I should take a step in that direction by doing the hat! I could always spin up another couple colors from my flock if I need more than five. It would be subtle, but that suits my tastes better than some of the bright, primary-color Fair Isle work anyway.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds my little sheep nightmarishly noisy at times. May it only last two days! (It IS better already. :-)

Franna said...

Ah, yes, weaning here, too. The older/bigger lambs were weaned a month or so ago. Now it's the "littles" turn. One of the Shetland moms is louder than her boy!

I made my kids a treehouse many years and another house ago. I think I had as much fun in it as they did.

Michelle said...

Oh, Katie is DEFINITELY louder than her boys - combined!

Kara said...

Love the tree house story! Brian must be thrilled. The scarf is so beautiful. I have to try to spin that thin and try a lace scarf myself one of these days, and yes a fair isle is a must do at some point as well. How do you get the yarn on your turkish spindles in such a great pattern?

Ebonwald Cardigans said...

i can't believe how brown your grass is! We usually look like that at this time but its so saturated here that I'm having sheep starting to limp. can't have it perfect can we!

Theresa said...

Oh lucky Brian and Bear! Looks like a great tree house. What was the story? I vote for using the lovely colors as themselves in maybe some fair isle gloves?

thecrazysheeplady said...

This is for Brian. Dude! I totally want a tree house!!! Yours is going to be awesome! And I would bring my bear too.

thecrazysheeplady said...

I vote fair isle project, btw.

Nancy K. said...

I think it's great that Brian brought Bear into the tree house! My favorite teddy bear has traveled from New York to California, Florida to Canada and the Virgin Islands, Mexico and Italy with me! I don't go anywhere (overnight) without "Chuck". He looks really cute with his head and chest and arms peaking out of my carry on luggage when I get on a plane...