Harder than it looks!

I had some time the other day to sit and take some pictures of the sheep in goats. I see all these wonderful pictures others post on their blogs and websites and WOW!! Getting really good pictures is much harder than I ever thought it would be. So your stuck with my mediocre pictures of some of the sheep and goats.

This is Biscotti, a grey morrit icelandic ewe lamb out of Evra and by Herriot. She has little bity scurs which was a real surprise since both mom and dad have nice big horns.

 This is Brizben, a black badgerface icelandic ram lamb. He is a twin to Biscotti so he is also out of Evra and by Herriot. He looks like he will have nice wide set horns and his fleece is really nice with lots of crimp.

This is my little Batman. He still has a rough go of it sometimes when he gets stressed, but he interacts with the rest of the herd and they all seem to know he is kind of a 'special needs' child. His fleece is incredible!

This is Hettie a yearling black icelandic ewe. She is a very alert ewe and is really tough to catch, even it a small pen, to check her eye lids and get her feet trimmed. Her fleece is coming in good and so far is staying fairly dark.

This is a ram lamb that is out of Kate, a shetland, and by Herriot, an icelandic. The cross was not planned, but the out come produced two very nice lambs! His horns are nice and he is a coal black.

This is Heidi, a yearling black badgarface icelandic ewe. She looks just like her mother Evra. I sometimes have to look twice to make sure which one I am looking at!! Very nice ewe, can't wait to see what she produces next year.

This is Hosta, a yearling white icelandic ewe. She has some incredible fleece and is very friendly.

This is Budster, a black badgerface icelandic ram lamb. He is still living up to his name! He has an impressive set of horns and a huge amount of fleece that is very soft. He is out of Garnet and by Hank. Nice, nice ram.

This is Hazel, a yearling moorit icelandic ewe. She has really grown into a nice ewe. I think she will be the largest of the ewes when she is full grown. She has a nice heavy fleece that has a lot of character to it.

This is Bahli, a black shetland ewe lamb out of Ester, by Cocoa. She is a very curious little ewe. When I am feeding Batman his bottle she always comes up and visits. I can't touch her but she stands there looking at me like she understands every word I am saying.

Here is Baxter, a black angora buckling.  He is turning out to be a nice buckling and should make someone a nice herd sire or and incredible fiber wether!!

Christmas in May?!

Well, not really, atleast no snow! LOL!! But I did get a small little package in the mail the other day from a fellow Icelandic sheep shepardess, Tonya Fedders.
She is a very gifted artist. These are her latest designs. Click on the image to make it bigger and really take a look at them! They are great!!

She is also very gifted at making pottery. Last Christmas I ordered me a mug that I just love!! It is the only mug I use for my tea now.

To check out all of her pottery click here.

I am thinking that next Christmas I will have to buy myself a yarn bowl, or maybe another mug, or a pichter, or maybe a vase. Oh my!! Too many choices!!

2011 Spring Shetland fleeces

 Here are the Shetland 2011 spring fleeces I will have for sale. I do not coat my Shetlands, but all of these fleeces have never little VM (vegetable matter) in them. I you are interested in any of the fleeces, please contact me at the email address  on the left hand side of this blog. To look closer at any of these fleeces you can click on the picture to make it bigger.

 This is Ellen's fleece, a 3 year old Shetland ewe. With a staple length 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 inches long. Nice crimp. 25.1 ounces

This is Merry's fleece, a 2 year old Shetland wether. Staple length 3 to 4 inch long. Nice crimp. 37.3 ounces

This is Sam's fleece, a 2 year old Shetland wether. Staple length of 3 1/2 to 4 inch staple length. Lots of crimp. 33 ounces 

This is Pippin's fleece, a 2 year old shetland wether. The staple lenght is 3 to 3 1/2 inches long. It has some incredible crimp to it. A very nice fleece. 28.6 ounces

These fleece are from my three Shetlands that where born last spring. I had them sheared last fall  and got beautiful fleeces off all three. This is there spring shearing so it is only 1/2 to 1 inch in length so it will only be suitable for felting. It has hardly any VM. If it doesn't sell I already have plans for it. 29.9 ounces.

This is Kate's fleece, a 4 year old Shetland ewe. I also had her sheared last fall because I really wanted to work with her beautiful black fleece with the silver highlights. So her spring fleece is very short and only suitable for felting. The staple length is 1 to 1/2 inches in length. 13.7 ounces.

I will not have any Icelandic or Mohair available this spring, I am doing some different projects with both so want to make sure I have enough of both to finish the projects.

Thanks for looking at my fleeces. If you have any questions please let me know.

Have a wonderful week!

Lambs and kids! (picture heavy)

Babs



Baxter and Bailey





Brixie




Breeze





Biscotti





Budster





Brizben and Budster





Batman and his twin brother





Batman and his twin brother



Bahli

KAL (knit along) projects

I have learned SO much in the last couple of months about knitting! And it has become my evening 'wind down' The KAL started in January with a pair of toe-up socks. Click here to see the first sock.

This was the February project, a pair of fingerless gloves (fingerless mittens really). They are incredibly warm! And I just love the pattern on them. They were so easy! I think I will send off some of my shetland and mohair and have it made into yarn that I can make some more of theses for next winter. And maybe go ahead and make it a fill mitten. 

March's project was call 'Stripes Alive'. Well, I did not really get stripes but some interesting 'pooling' instead. I also did not make an effort to try and make them match, but I think they are very colorful! I also tried, for the first time, to use a circular needle to knit them using the 'Magic Loom Method'. I was amazed at how simple it was to use this method! And since the pattern has a 'wave' in it it was very easy to make the two socks the same lenght! (unlike the first pair).

April's project is also a striped sock, but the strips are a little bigger and I took the time to make them close to matching. I also tried 'Two at a Time' using the 'Magic Loom Method' and I just can't believe I am really doing it!! I will finish the two socks at the same time and they will be the same size!! It really was not as hard as I thought it would be. Still have a long way to go on these.