Snuggle-time

There hasn't been nearly enough of this lately, and my shepherd-soul has missed it. This is, after all, why I got Shetlands in the first place - although I've since been blessed by their wool and all the people I've gotten to know through them. My gully girls are always up for scritches, but Inky isn't usually much of a hands-on girl. This morning, though, she was obviously enjoying the attention, even wagging her old tail a few times. Katie was busy eating hay; Annabelle hung back and watched. She's been letting me stroke and scratch her head and neck when she wants grain, but hasn't yet decided that human touch is a treat in and of itself. (Notice my legs clad in my new black insulated bib overalls? I finally did the needed strap-ectomy last night so I could wear them, and it is infinitely more comfortable to sit with the sheep when you're warmly clothed!)

While sitting with my girls I got to capture the young hens at their "grass is greener on the other side of the fence" routine. They reach through the chain link to drink from the sheep bucket and peck at the sheep bedding.

Yesterday I finished plying and skeining the yarn from the first bobbinful spun on my miniSpinner. I had a total of 11 ounces of white long-wool singles, out of which I produced 4 3/4 ounces of six-ply (approx. 151 yards) and 6 1/4 ounces of two-ply (approx. 486 yards). I decided not to wash it, since Brian is going to weave with the six-ply and full the results, and I'm going to make a fulled bag out of the two-ply (the yarn is not soft enough for clothing). Brian is anxious to wind "his" yarn into a ball and start weaving with it today; guess I'd better browse some bag patterns!

That's it for now from . . .