Oh... the life!

We all need to take some pointers from Monster (the cat)

Anytime you find  yourself in a tight spot. Relax and make the most of it.

My first try at plying yarn

I started using the drop spindle in December or January. I used mohair from my angora goats. One was Abby, she is a light brown color, and the other was Ziva, she is black but her fiber is more dark grey. Once I was finished spinning the fiber on my drop spindle I had to figure out how to store what I made. Being the 'thrifty' (I like that better than 'cheap') person that I am I used empty toilet paper rolls to put my finished single onto. So I had these two 'spools' of mohair singles I had no idea what I was going to do with. So they sat in a box for months. And then I decided I wanted to make a plied yarn with them. So still being the 'thrifty' person I had to figure out a way for the singles to come off of their 'spools' smoothly and without getting tangled. I came up with this:

It is amazing what you can do with butter knives and a small card board box!!

So I started plying, I have a little book that I learned to use the drop spindle with and it had a small section on plying.

The biggest problem I had was I had made my yarn pretty chunky (or thick) so when I plied them together the resulting yarn was pretty thick and I had a hard time keeping the yarn secure on the spindle. But in the end I got it done.

I don't know if I did it the correct way or even if the resulting yarn is usable for anything, but boy was it incredibly satisfying to see it done!

So the next step was to get the plied yarn off of my spindle so I can spin something else. And we are back to 'thirtiness'. Using the same cardboard box, I put the drop spindle in it so it would turn freely while I removed the yarn.

And then the final product! Well there is still a matter of washing it to set the twist, but I have not done that yet. It is going to be hard to take it off the chair. Not because it is on there tight  or anything like that, it will be hard to take it off because I just LOVE walking by it and rubbing my hands all over it! It is so soft!!!

It ended up making only 23 yards of yarn, so I really don't know what I am going to do with it. I have a couple of ideas in my head but you'll have to wait and see if decide to anything but 'pet' it. :)

Have a wonderful evening! And if you have any ideas of what I can with 23 yards let me know.

New to me loom

I was very lucking a couple of weeks ago. I was checking Craig's list for a loom and came across one that was being offered for FREE! They had pictures of it and it was in pieces and looked pretty rough. But I sent him an e-mail asking if he still had it. He replied that someone was coming to look at it. Darn it. I told him if they decided not to take it I would definitely take it sight unseen. I figured even if it was not all there we would be well on our way to making one that works. So after several days, and me thinking the other people took it, I recieved another e-mail from him saying the people where a no show and if I was still interested in it. Silly question! Of course I was interested in it!

So last Sunday we went and picked it up. It came out of the Kansas City Museum. It had no documentation with it and nowhere on it does it have any name or symbol. But it was all mine!! I had no idea how to put it together or even if it was all there. But once we got it home and started looking at it, it was really fairly simple to put together.

So now I have a nice heavy duty 4 harness loom that I can make my rugs with! This is wonderful!!

You can see the other loom I have been using on the side of this one, this one just dwarfs that one!

This one has some things on it I will need to learn a little bit more about and it is missing one treadle which should be no big deal to replace.

Now I need to clean up the big box of heddles that came with it and put them in the harnesses, replace the treadle, replace a couple of bolts, buy a reed and I am ready to thread the loom! Any guesses how long it will take me to thread it the first time? I am already planning my first project on it. I am thinking log cabin rugs. That is what I was making on the other one until I decided that loom just was not heavy enough to take the abuse of making rugs.

I can see lots of long winter nights working away on my 'new to me' loom!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

This heat has got to go!!

Living in Kansas you learn to live with the extremes that summer and winter can bring. And this year is worst than normal I think. Well, maybe it is because we had several rather mild summers the last 2-3 years. But With temperatures in the mid-90's and dew points in the upper 70's that makes for a very high heat index. 105-115 degrees is what it feels like in the shade the past couple of weeks.

Here is what the dogs have decided is the best choice on these hot days!

And then sometimes it is just too hot to even do that. So white dogs have to dream of 25 degrees and snow.

So what have I been doing in this heat? Sweating by the bucket fulls. (lovely image) I think I am drinking about a gallon and a half of water a day and a half gallon of Gatorade.

But this is perfect weather for barberpole worms in sheep and goats. And they can be deadly. So it is VERY important to keep a close I on them. So last Sunday I did a FAMACHA check on all the sheep and goats. The FAMACHA basicly is checking the eye lids of the sheep and goats. Since the barberpole worms can cause anemic conditions, if the eye lids are nice and red then the sheep or goat is dealing with any worms it has on its own. If the eye lid is pale pink or white than you must deworm the animal to kill the worms. It is not a fail proof solution because there are other things that can cause anemic conditions.
So Sunday I checked eye lids. Only a couple of the angora goats needed to be dewormed. None of  the shetland sheep needed to be dewormed ( they are such tough little sheep). But almost all of the icelandic sheep needed to be dewormed. But I kinda expected that. They had a lot of stress in a week and a half. Being moved in a trailer for over 500 miles and being introduced to the rest of the herd. So I am hopeful that they will have much better results toward the end of the summer. But I will continue to monitor their eye lids weekly.

Ok, so what else have I done in this hot weather?
Well, I started using my drop spindle again. It is so relaxing I am not sure why I quit using it! I tried doing it a little different this time though. Since my borrowed drum carder got returned to its owner, I had no way of making a batt to spin from. So I thought I would try 'spinning in the grease' Which is basicly taking the wool from the fleece that I sheared this spring and spinnig directly from it without washing it first.

I was pleasantly surprised at the results. I even started to make a nice thin yarn but then decided I really wanted something a little bulkier so I could weave with it. So here is the result.

Now I just need to learn to ply with the spindle and then have the time to weave!

Have a wonderful evening and stay cool!!

They're here! They're here!!!

My Icelandic sheep are finally here! They are settling in pretty good. So here they are!!

Evra a three year old black badger face ewe.

Evra's ewe lamb, also a black badger face.

Evra's ram lamb, also a black badgerface.

Garnet a year old morrit ewe.

Garnet's black ewe lamb.

This is Herriot a grey ram lamb. He will hopefully be our herd sire for a couple of years. (notice he is NOT eating the ragweed!)

Hazel is a morrit ewe lamb.

And last, but definetily not least! Hosta a white ewe lamb.

I am SOOO excited to have them all home. They are going to be a great addition to my flock!!

Have a great evening!!