Happy Anniversary

So it has been one full year of spinning. Was thinking of baking a cake for my wheel. However then I would have to eat it.
Matthew and I picked up Rabbits in Conneticut in September. 6 beautiful fuzzy Angora's. They were in serious need of care. Each needing a clipping as well as treatment for Wool Mites. They all seem to be doing well now.
Each were given Baltic names such as Coquan, Tarquan, ect..... I have decided that I would keep the names how ever I have my little nicknames for each. Destan is Starvin Marvin as the moment I place food in his dish he eats like it's his last meal. Then we have Delphine, the diva. She has a very standoffish personality. However when she is placed on my lap she seems to really enjoy the attention.
It has been raining here for what seems like weeks. This makes all of my chores seem tedious and cold. We are looking at 6 to 8 inches of snow today.
A few friends and I are considering starting our own guild in the area. I am truely looking forward to having a meeting a bit closer to home.

Happy Anniversary

So it has been one full year of spinning. Was thinking of baking a cake for my wheel. However then I would have to eat it.
Matthew and I picked up Rabbits in Conneticut in September. 6 beautiful fuzzy Angora's. They were in serious need of care. Each needing a clipping as well as treatment for Wool Mites. They all seem to be doing well now.
Each were given Baltic names such as Coquan, Tarquan, ect..... I have decided that I would keep the names how ever I have my little nicknames for each. Destan is Starvin Marvin as the moment I place food in his dish he eats like it's his last meal. Then we have Delphine, the diva. She has a very standoffish personality. However when she is placed on my lap she seems to really enjoy the attention.
It has been raining here for what seems like weeks. This makes all of my chores seem tedious and cold. We are looking at 6 to 8 inches of snow today.
A few friends and I are considering starting our own guild in the area. I am truely looking forward to having a meeting a bit closer to home.

Fun at the Fair

I had the experiance of working at the Scatickoke Fair with Maureen Yulk two weeks ago. What a wonderful time I had. There were many fiber enthusiast there as well. I taught a few people how to spin with a drop spindle. I was suprised to see the amount of interest given to this wonderful art. I even was approched by a few people who would like to buy my wool. Hmmm. That was so exciting.
Some of the women that I connected with will be meeting in September. The nice thing about this is that I was able to find quite a few people who spin close to home. I am looking forward to getting better aquainted.

Learning Curve

Well, I lost a sheep on Saturday. She had been suffering from hoof rot. She was finally coming around when Matthew found her in the sheep shed on Saturday morning. I am very sad at this loss. We treated her with everything advised and followed the instructions given to us for treatment however, the flys got to her. It was so sudden.
Well now we will be making sure to continue our efforts to remove any insects from our shed.

New Day Dawning.

So it has been a while since I have had time to write. Who would have thought that this whole farming thing could be so much work? Actually, truth be told the brunt of the work is done by Matt. I am still amazed a the amount of time he takes working out with the animals and garden.

We sheared the sheep in May. The shearer also went to our neighbors and sheared their sheep. Our neighbors do not use the wool so I was lucky enough to aquire 6 fleeces from sheep and 2 from their llamah's.
What an experiance scouring wool is. Just when I thought that this was the last time I would have to wash this last part, into the water it would go again. Either I am a very fussy spinner or, these fleeses are exceptionally dirty. I have tried every thing to shorten the cleaning time. Putting salt in the water did seem to help as we have very hard water, but, geeepers. After washing the fleese around 4 times I decided it was as clean as it would get and put it out to dry. Fluffing it up decreased drying time quite a bit. I have dorset sheep and the staple is about 3 to 4 inches. This was just one of the suprises. Just when I thought that this fleese could not get any cleaner, I put it on the drum carder and was amazed at the amount of stuff that was still in it.
Also, I have read almost every suggested book out there on spinning. The one picture that NONE of these books show is "What is a fleese suppose to look like after it has been scoured and dried." I do not have beautiful staples as shown, I have fluffy mounds of soft fuzzy stuff.
The one thing that I am very happy about this at this point is the drum carder that I have purchased. I really works well.

Something New

Well, time has just gotten away from me. I know that the weather is starting to warm as the chickens are laying more eggs and the cow has calved. Now I am waiting patiently to have sheep sheared and for them to lamb.
I don't think we will be getting much more snow. Our themostat said 67 in the sun today. Oh how I wish that were more acurate.
I purchased some romney wool on the internet. Finding that it is very coarse and neppy. I will have to be more careful next time I purchace wool on line. Besides, I think that part of the thrill of spinning is choosing the wool. Touching it as well as checking it for second cuts.
I hope to get more soon. I have to. I am now almost out and I don't know when I will have the wool from my own sheep processed to use. Actually, this is not such a bad thing. I love looking for wool.
I have been waiting to put new pictures on the blog. This is still pretty new to me. I have some really nice baby clothes that I knitted that I would really like to see up on the site.

The Sheep

Matthew, my very significant other, purchased three Dorset ewes for us giving the yearling to me. This meant that I got to name it. Her name is Penelope. ( that's not to say that I didn't name the others too. I just didn't tell him until later.) I thought this would be most appropriate. She is a very pretty and fistey young lamb. For the winter they are penned with the cow. Let me tell you this lamb has no problem with letting the cow know that she will not move for her or anyone else. I really like her. The other two sheep were essentially saved. They have never been sheared and, I am not sure when the last time that they had their hoofs trimmed. Matthew has taken the time to trim them and the sheep are all the better for it.
I continue to monitor them and do not think that they have foot rot thankfully. However, they do seem to be carrying some extras. They are due to lamb in April. I am getting very excited and pushing to prepare. It would be much easier if the weather would warm up. We woke up this morning to 5 degrees out side. For this I am glad that the sheep have nice warm fleeces.
Lucky them. I am pretty sure that the fleece from the older two will not be useful for spinning however. Penelopies' fleece seems to be in very good condition so far. I am hoping to have her shorn in the beginning of April. Matthew would like to shear them. ( he can start on the other two. ) Hopefully all will go well with that.
Tomorrow is my Birthday. 35 years old.

What To Do Next

Know one ever told me how much I would enjoy spinning. It is so addictive.
The one thing that I needed to make sure of was that I learned how to do it correctly. My first step was to contact my local spinning guild. What a wonderful and divers bunch of woman. ( there are no men in the guild at this time to my knowledge. ) There must be around 40 of us. When I went the first time so many of these kind ladies offered their assistance and advise on how to spin and what to spin. At the fair I purchased some coopworth and 8oz of merino silk mix. I decided to hold of on the merino until I was experienced enough to work with such a luxurious fiber. ( that didn't take long. Just like any addict I wanted the good stuff.) I have so far spun over 7 pounds of wool or more. I am making an approximation.
One of the nicest feelings I have had is knitting with the fiber I have spun.

The next step to spinning would be ........... Getting my own Sheep... Hmm
did that.

Fiber fair 

My son at the Fiber Fair and then helping mommy spin. You know how your leg gets tierd. ( He's such a good boy.) 

Spinning For The First Time

So your wondering about my experiance at the Fiber fair.
It took about two hours to drive there. In the beginning of October, Dutches County is in full color. This and the company made the drive wonderful.
Upon arrival the first question was "Where to begin?" If you have just begun spinning and are looking to get information, this is the place to go. There were so many people there it made getting through the exibits a bit difficult but, not enough to deture me. It was however a bit overwhelming. Beautiful fiber, fiber every where, just which one shall I spin. After about 1 hour there I knew that I would need to buy a wheel and some wool to spin. I found a wonderful lady selling spinning wheels and fiber and low and behold I found my wheel. It is a Ashford traditional, unfinished, double drive, single treadle. At this point all I wanted now was some fiber to spin on it and to go home and put it together.
Just like a child on Christmas morning, not minutes after I got home I was in the box unloading parts to assemble my wheel. Cardboard and paper flying around my living room. By the next day I was spinning.
Now I needed Help. How am I suppose to do this?