A tale of two tails

Boo.

Beau coming . . .

. . . and going.

I've been thinking both of Brava's boys had inherited her wooly tail and were destined to be fiber pets. But yesterday morning I realized that both had hair tips, good length and proper shape. That warranted a closer look and better photos."You want to look at what?"

Here is Beau's tail.

"Uh-oh."

Boo's tail.

Now I'm thinking they don't have bad tails at all! What do you think?

Since the market out here for half-polled rams is practically non-existent, I imagine both will still end up as fiber pets. But I feel better knowing that their dam can throw proper breed characteristics and structure, especially since she is a sweet ewe with nice fleece. If anyone IS interested in a half-poll double-patterned (musket gulmoget) ram with the softest fleece of all the lambs this year, Boo would love to surprise some ladies this fall. (As would his handsome musket brother Beau with much smaller scurs.)

That's it on budding ram lambs for now from . . .

Purple pleasure

When you look at our iris bed, you see a lot of "brown." And yellow. Not my favorite hues. But beggars can't be choosers; a neighbor thinned his bed and gave us the vast majority of these (I've purchased a couple more) - and helped me plant them all to boot! But upon closer look, there are plenty of treasures:
This last one is actually in the center island, not the iris bed.

Some rhodies in coordinating hues join the show:
What color gives you pleasure?

That's it for now from . . .

Blackberry lost a "thorn"!

Last night after I rode Russell, I went in the sheepfold for a good-night snuggle (okay, and a bit of preliminary halter-training of whichever lamb came up first, which was Bramble). I was ignoring Blackberry to discourage this future flock sire from being too friendly, so I was about ready to leave before I noticed something was missing on his head! I hope the other scur follows suite before Black Sheep Gathering, so he looks as symmetrical as possible for showing. It would also be nice for him to look as polled as possible, since that is what I'm breeding for, even though he is Pp.

That's it for now from . . .

Toectomy scheduled

You might have noticed in my last post that one sock looks a bit longer than the other. That is not an optical illusion created by the bigger area of grey on its toe; it truly is longer. (And I was so excited about my "beginner's luck" in having my first socks match perfectly without any effort or planning on my part!) I can't figure out how this happened, except that I may have mistakenly decreased every row in the first sock's toe, but not in the second. So I'm going to rip back that second sock's toe (once again) and decrease every row and see if I can get them to match in length - matching the pattern exactly would be a bonus. Brian is anxious for me to hand them over; it's nice to knit for an enthusiastic recipient!

Despite the need for scheduled surgery, I was delighted with the process of knitting my very first pair of socks. The yarn was fun and easy to work with, Magic Loop was fun and easy to do, and Melanie's pattern gave me no trouble at all. I finished the second sock on Sunday while camping, leaving me with no knitting for the drive home. Ah well, I survived. :-)

The temporary (I hope) disparity in length only strengthens my desire to try knitting two socks at a time, and I want to try toe-ups as well. If I can get my ducks in a row, incorporating those two methods into my next pair of socks may begin next week, as we have another trip coming up. There are other projects that need to be cast on, but socks are what I want to cast on! I will probably compromise and take at least two projects - it's a long trip.

In other knitterly news, I have registered for one class (Hip Hems for Him and Her) and the Luminary Panel at Sock Summit. I wanted to take Four Ways to Start a Toe-Up Sock, but that class filled before I could successfully complete my registration process (their server crashed multiple times; grrr). I am both looking forward to and dreading the huge marketplace at Sock Summit, where colorful tentacles of soft yarn may ensnare and drown me in a sea of dollar signs. I could leave all forms of purchasing power at home, but what fun would that be?

That's it for now at . . .

Wordless weekend wrap-up