Happy New Year's Eve!!

What a glorious day!! The snow has been falling since about 8 this morning.
Beautiful big flakes falling softly to the ground. With no wind at all it is just amazing to watch. I am having trouble trying to get some projects in the house finished. I just want to stare out the window.
Here are a couple of shots.
Enjoy!

Plying class

Last Saturday I attended a plying class at the Yarn Barn in Lawrence Kansas.
I learned so much!! I went with three friends and we had a wonderful time!

This yarn has several different techniques in it. Core spinning and two different types of tail spinning. I just love the effect this they all had! And this yarn is so fun!! And so ACTIVE!

The red was a single that was a thick and thin and then the darker color was added to it. I liked making the thick and thin, but adding the darker color was suppose to have a much different effect. I just could not get that technique down.

And one of my favorite was cable. Even though I had taken a class in making cable yarn before, this just reinforced my love of making this type of yarn. It just takes so much time to do.

Something else we worked on was Navajo plying. This was something I really wanted to learn and had watched many videos on you-tube, but just never grasped the concept before. But I think I got it this time!! 

Then a trip to a fiber store is never complete with out coming home with something to play with!! 

Merino roving!! Isn't it beautiful! I am going to ply it (just a simple 3 ply yarn) with some gray alpaca I am spinning.

It just never ends

There is always something that needs to be done.

Lately I have been trying to get some permanent fencing up to make it easier to use my electro netting for the sheep and goats.
So here is the general idea. I am building permanent 7 strand high tensile wire fencing that is 164 feet apart. This way I can put up my elecro netting between the high tensile fencing instead of using all electro netting to build the paddocks. Since I tried to move them at least every three days (preferably every day) moving all that electro netting was getting very time consuming.
My husband helped me set all the end posts and put the braces in, but I have pretty much done the rest. He has been working incredibly long hours at work and just has not had time to help. But, I don't mind, well, not too much. Would have gone SOOO much faster with someone else.
So ten acres is almost completed. I was able to get two of the high tensile fencing done so that I could get the breeding groups together about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Much later than I wanted to get them together. I usually try and get them in the last weekend in October. But I was able to 9 electro netting fencing to make a total of nine separate paddocks. I left an empty paddock between breeding groups and all has worked out great! I was able to move each group into a fresh paddock last weekend and it took about 10 minutes total!

Still have a few line posts to get into the ground this weekend and the third high tensile fence will be complete. I still have a few odd short places that need to be finished and one more longer section and that ten acres will be completely done!!
We also set some posts along a heavily wooded area and ran high tensile on two sides and then used the skid loader to 'clear a path' for me to put up some more electo netting. Not sure that we will put the high tensile on the other two sides though. We have the goats in there now to try and clean up the brush so we can actually use it. But I think the plan (at least right now) is once the goats get it all cleared up is to only put them in there to maintain it and have some trails and maybe some benches in there. Guess we will see.

Here is a picture of some of the high tensile fence that I moved. Yes, there was already high tensile fencing there, but, of course, it was in the wrong spots. This tree actually grew around the wire! THAT won't happen  with this 'new' fence because it has about 8000 volts on it! To keep predators out and sheep in!

October KAL

KnitPurlHunter had another mystery knit a-long this October. It was a lot of fun! Here are the four clues we received.

First clue, this was a super simple and quick knit. I think just by itself it would make a wonderful scarf!

The second clue, an I-cord using 7 stitches. I have never done an I-cord before this one and while it was not hard, I had trouble getting it to be consistent all the way around. 

Clue three, this was an easy pattern to remember, well, almost too easy! I have several mistakes because I was flying through it! Love the texture of this one!

So the first three clues where all the same length. All had provisional cast-ons and all waiting patiently on stitch holders. The fourth clue was putting them all together!!

I think it turned out really good! It really isn't anything I would ever wear, so will probably end up as a gift. Now to figure out who to give it to.

If you would like to knit this easy crowl up, here is the link to the KAL. Michelle has excellent videos of all the techniques she uses.

About that time again

Usually I try to put breeding groups together the last weekend of October, but I have been trying desperately to get some fencing redone so I can have all the breeding groups out on pasture since the grass recovered wonderfully with the few inches we had in late September and early October.

So with some major luck, the fences necessary to get everyone separated will be finished Saturday and Sunday will be the sorting day. So keep your fingers and toes crossed!!

Here some pictures of the "boys" I will be using this year.

Budster a black badgarface Icelandic, I think this ram is my favorite. Just love his horn set and mellow disposition. And his fleece is incredibly soft. And he is my favorite color.

Herriot, a black grey Icelandic ram. I really like the lambs that this ram gave me this spring. They all grew wonderfully and have beautiful fleeces.

Athos, a black Icelandic ram. I bought him last fall as a lamb. He grows an incredible heavy fleece
that is thick with soft thel. He is a little smaller than what I like in my Icelandic's, but he was a triplet
so I am thinking he may not have gotten his fair share.  This breeding season will be
the decider, if his lambs don't grow well he will be become a fiber wether. 

 Skor, a moorit gray Icelandic ram that I bought as a lamb last fall. He has nice fleece, good horn set, and a nice meaty build. He should produce some nice lambs.

Di Nozzo, my only Shetland ram. He is such a little guy compared to the Icelandics, but he is boss of the ram pasture. He will have 4 Icelandic ewes this year. I was so impressed with the Shetland/Icelandic cross, I am making it a priority this year. The offspring have the absolute best fleeces and so far have not needed to be dewormed. And the rams grow well so they can go to market sooner than the purebred Shetlands.

The "boy's" in their pasture. Some of these have been sold. And the merino ram in the back will be going to another farm this fall. Plus there are 3 angora bucks in the group behind the Icelandic rams in front.