I Almost Forgot

I feel so remiss. I have been so busy lately that I almost forgot to post this.

A while ago - I implored upon a friend of mine to weave me a shawl. Not just any shawl mind you, but a special shawl - special to me.

Nina took the challenge (even though she was moving). I sent her a quantity of rovings - and she went to work - spinning and weaving.

Much sooner than I expected - she called to say that the shawl was done.

Here are the results.

A beautiful shawl - made from the wool of all my
sheep.

I call it my "baby blanket". I wear it every night when I am watching television. It is so soft and warm - and surprisingly - it isn't scratchy next to the skin.

And the most important part - it has wool from almost all my sheep - past and present in it.
This means a lot to me - and it is so cherished.




I can't remember the weave that she used -
here it is up close.

Unfortunately - I find that the flash kind of washes out the colour.

I am so pleased - and grateful.

Thank you Nina!

Spring Lambs

Well - after raising shetland sheep for almost 15 years.


This past week, we had our first set of triplets.

These little darlings were born to Windwater Rosie (mioget, krunet, sokket markings) and were sired by Thistlecroft Thomas (solid white - no markings).

The two little white ones are ewes, and the black one is a ram. Unfortunately, another ewe took the liberty of cleaning up the ram lamb while Rosie was busy with the other two lambs - so she won't accept him. I am supplementing him
twice a day with a bottle - and it seems to be doing the trick. He is smart enough to know to sneak in when the other lambs are feeding - and he is able to get a bit of nourishment.

This by the way was an unplanned breeding. I hadn't planned on breeding any of the ewes last year, but Thomas had other plans. I came home from a meeting late one evening last fall - and found Thomas in with the ewes.

Needless to say - he wasn't finished with just Rosie. Later the same evening last week - this little cutie was born to Kalwa Taure Trinity.


He's a pure white ram lamb. He is a little darling.

Both Trinity and Rosie are excellent mothers.
They are both trusting enough that they will allow you to handle their lambs without freaking out on you - yet protective enough to keep a close eye on them. (Well - except for Rosie rejecting the little guy - but that really wasn't her fault).

So - thankfully - these were the only lambs to come from this pairing. We do have more lambs coming in about 6 weeks from a "Planned" late
breeding to Dailley Pachino, the white ram that Cate DeSantis and I jointly own.

Now - while we're waiting - there's shearing to be done, and deworming, and hoof trimming,
pastures to be fertilized, and stalls to clean.
(sigh) - It never ends.