Chocolate, sheep

I'd say those two things were the focus of Franna's visit yesterday, although she may not have known it at the time! Franna made a trip from her home in Enumclaw, WA clear down to Grants Pass, OR to deliver sheep and pick up a sheep and a couple guardian dogs for their new place. She has wanted to get a hands-on look at Blackberry to see if leasing him this season would fit into her flock goals, so she made time to stop by. I love it when fellow shepherds stop by! It gives me the impetus to remove coats and examine fleeces more closely, not to mention having someone else's input. We looked at everyone. Blackberry's fleece is looking very nice, with a very fine crimp. Braveheart always amazes with his bold crimp from front to back and top to bottom; even his tail is crimpy!
Having this particular shepherd stop by also gave me the chance to give her her homemade Pay It Forward gifts. What do you make for a spinner and knitter par excellence? She had asked for the pattern for the little sheepie bead pins I made, so of course I had to make her some of those instead of giving her the pattern.What else? Chocolate! Franna loves chocolate but is allergic to soy; unfortunately soy is in a lot of chocolate. But I found a fudge recipe from Alton Brown's Good Eats that didn't contain soy in any form, and made that the night before.I don't know what went wrong because I thought I followed the recipe exactly, but it ended up being chocolate hard candy instead of smooth and creamy fudge. Phooey. So on Friday before she arrived, I made some soy-free Fudgy Mocha Brownies, which turned out MUCH better. These were definitely worth the calories!
So, it was a lovely day with a nice visit with a fellow shepherd, sheep schmoozing, and the second to last Pay It Forward obligation crossed off the list. (The last one is in progress.) Oh, and I finished plying the second eight ounces of white alpaca, too! Tonight I'll skein it off the bobbin, and maybe even get it washed. Woot!

That's it for now from . . .