Lamb Camp Legacy Yarn

After we got Baaxter back under control, I was able to get a couple really sweet pictures of the sheep with the new yarn.  

(new puzzle :-)

I always wonder how much they understand about...life.  I know they understand that getting sheared makes them feel a lot better, but do they know that what's in the basket is the wool from their backs?

Or their kids backs?  Rocky was very, very interested in the yarn.

Remember when I threw Rocky under the bus for being a spoiled sport about getting his picture taken?  Jared...  This is as close to the yarn as he'd get and it was just for a split (and blurry) second.

"Dudes, I don't know nothin'  about that yarn.  I'm just here for the ladies...and the cookies."

So this is the Lamb Camp....Legacy yarn.  It's a limited edition, small batch run, spun from some of the nicest lambs sired by Nistock Farm's Rocky and Jared when they were working over at Tring Farm, before they retired over here.

The yarn is a really versatile DK weight and I think it would be suitable for almost anything, except possibly socks...but I'm not a sock expert, so I could be wrong.  It's comfy and soft, but still has some texture and feels like actual wool.  I'll stop here before I say something disparaging about over processed merino... ;-).

Rocky and Jared are Cotswold crosses and the mommas are crosses of North Country Cheviots and Polypays and maybe a little Dorset, so the blend is a lovely mix of crimpy down type wool with a lovely longwool drape and luster.  I love the natural colors and the soft sheepy feel.  It really is beautiful.

Each washed skein measures 250 yards and the two grays weigh around 3.5 ounces and the white weighs almost 4 ounces, so it's on the heavier end of DK weight.  I can also wind off skeins without washing, for weavers.  Unwashed skeins are measured at 262 yards to account for shrinkage.

I've knit the three color sample and dyed and knit the Forest for the Trees hat.  I've also woven a dollhouse rug  with it for a friend.  I enjoyed each project and am very happy with this fun and useful yarn.  I'm also getting ready to start a small cable project, too, you know...for marketing purposes ;-).

Speaking of marketing, each skein is $18.  And it often goes without saying, but buying this yarn supports not just our farm and sheep, but also Tring Farm, who raised these legacy lambs, and Stonehedge Fiber Mill, who spun the yarn, and our sheep shearers, our veterinarians, our local feed mill,  our hay and straw producers...

By the way (more marketing ;-D) there are still about a dozen Equinox Farm calendars and 4 Lamb Camp calendars left in case anyone is still needing a 2020 calendar!  We are no longer able to recycle paper here (do not get me started!) so I'd love to find them good homes.  Sale prices $10 (farm) and $8 (Lamb Camp).

Baaxter's Stripe

View this post on Instagram

Baxter’s stripe 😀. #skirtingwool #kentuckysheepandfiberfestival

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on May 16, 2019 at 12:38pm PDT

Found it!

I've been skirting fleeces, getting ready for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival this weekend.  I've posted some pictures on Instagram/Facebook as I've gone along and almost forgot to look for Baby B's stripe this afternoon.

You can't see it on the top side of his fleece, but if you turn it over to the cut side, there it is :-D.  I don't think it will significantly show when whoever buys his fleece spins it, but I think it's kind of fun to know that it was actually there, just like the picture from the other day.

(screen shot from Instagram)

I'm bringing several pretty fleeces from Tring Farm and sixteen fleeces from our farm.  Most of the fleeces are in good order, but a few have a bit more VM in them than I'd like this year.  It was a super wet muddy year and we had to feed a lot of hay...  They are marked accordingly.

There will be plenty of pretty roving and the usual Punkin's Patch "swag" and unless we don't think we can safely manage them in the hot weather, three special sheep coming.  You'll probably never guess who!*  And of course 20 and he's bringing a friend as well!

Once again the festival coincides with the Bluegrass Classic Stockdog Trial, just down the hill from the festival (with free shuttles all day :-) and that's always a good time.  The dog trial is going on every day.  The fiber festival is Saturday and Sunday.

Come out and do some site seeing and shopping :-D

*Don't get too excited.  It's not Maisie ;-)

Snow Graze

I won't get to work this until tonight, but it looks like it should be a fun one. 

Enjoy :-).

This Is Starting To Look Like A Theme...

The only picture I took of the booth today was just this picture of Baaxter staring longingly at the West Sixth Brewing Company truck.  I'm not sure if he was more interested in the cold beer or the fact that it looked like a hijack-able truck that would hold everyone to get them out of there haha...sort of...

It was supposed to start raining at 10:00 a.m., but it never did.  The sun blazed and the mercury rose and wearing wool was the last thing on anyone's mind.  Sales were pretty good though and several nice fleeces found new homes.  My favorite fleece is still there surprisingly and a few others I really like, too.  Maybe I didn't have them displayed well?

The forecast for tomorrow is not great.  The forecast for tonight is awful - storms.  We decided to bring everyone home for the night and I think that was a good call considering the first round that just blew through.  Whether we are able to talk anyone into getting back into the trailer in the morning remains to be seen ;-).  We are going to watch the weather and decide in the morning.  

In anticipation of a slower day tomorrow, Miss B and I are bringing our spinning wheels.  Two other spinners are going to join us and I'm looking forward to that.  SO, either I'll get some fun spinning done or, by anticipating a light day, I'll end up with lots of customers.  Either is a win :-).  

Bring your wheel, spindle, knitting, stitching...and join us!  There is a ton of good shopping throughout the festival and it's mostly all under cover.  Bill and Gavin are shearing under a big tent and could use some heckling ;-).  There is also a waffle truck!  How did I miss that this morning??? 

Howling At The...

The back story - I saw several sheep grazing out by the ponds.  Not many sheep out these days between the several days of snow and many days of rain.  Sheep out in the "wilds" was a treat!  I grabbed the camera.

As I was snapping some grazing pictures, a heron flew in, just to my right, and landed at the small pond.  I'm actually further away than it looks due to zooming in.  The sheep all startled as it landed, but went back to eating.  Hank lost his mind though and called them all in.

"What?"

"We're coming!"

Just call Hershey Fabio ;-D

They were gettin' it!  Wish I'd thought to video it.

Liddy's not that fast.  She was closer to the front ;-).

But Bullwinkle is!

And so is Levi the Squirrel aka Captain America (someone please remind me to tell that story!)

Look at those luscious locks, flowing in the wind :-D

"As long as we can still beat a Jacob sheep, we're doing okay."

Turns out it might not be so hard to outrun a Jacob sheep around here anymore.  More about that later as well.

Murphy crossing the bridge.  Baaxter and Hershey holding up.  I'll share a couple more of them later this week.  Those boys...

It was a fun series of pictures and I just laugh out loud every time I see them running like that.  Too bad Maisie wasn't out there, but Bullwinkle and Woody are almost as funny.  And Hershey and his big 'do.  But really, was a heron that big of a threat?

Nope.

Long before I could hear anything...

Notice that he's run down the hill to put himself in between his sheep and the "coyotes".  Guard dogs are just amazing.  I might wonder what he's thinking, but I never second guess him.

Shearing Day

Liddy's a big girl now :'-(.  Each year it gets harder and harder to let them grow up.  As long as they're still fuzzy, they're still babies.  Remember the story of Kate not thinking Liddy was a sheep? Interestingly, now that she's shorn, Kate doesn't think she's a baby anymore either.

She was the best behaved lambie ever.  This was no surprise.  Honestly, she's been the best little lambie all her life.  Each lamb is different, just like kids, and Liddy's super power is being sweet and no trouble.

I didn't get very many good pictures this year, but here are a few.

Daniel "getting his ears lowered".

Blossom/Baba looking on and Petunia gearing up for battle.  She was actually on her best behavior this year.  Not exactly Liddy Good, but definitely not Petunia Bad.  She takes real offense to being sheared.  Bill might finally have her trained ;-).

Speaking of trained...  Doesn't it look like she's smiling?

"See, I'm a good girl.  Don't believe all those stories you hear about me."

"Lean over here a bit more so I can bite your face off!"

"Oops, did I say that out loud?"

Stella kept us all straight and thankfully remembered Renny's sheet.  I'd forgotten, and while Renny could probably not care less, I'd have been sad to have forgotten.  Thanks, Stella!

Being up to your elbows in Murphy's fleece is not a bad place to be :-).

Bill shearing PPPP and Dustin shearing Baaxter.  Dustin is Bill's nephew.  Their family has been shearing for generations.

Update from the Iknitarod Trail - we made it under the Burled Arch before the Red Lantern was extinguished.  Pictures coming.

Lamb Camp is in full swing :-D.

Frightful Only Begins To Describe It ;-)

"Hey, let's go somewhere in the space ship!"

"Wait a minute, where's Baaxter?"

"I don't know."

"Oh, he's down there being a momma's boy.  We can fly without him."

"Uh oh, she's spotted us."

"Just act natural."

"Nothin' to see here..."

"Okay, the coast is clear.  Go ahead and load up."

"Hey, stupid Border Collie!  We're going to fly away on the space ship!"

"Yeah, you won't be able to boss us around in outer space! Hahaha!"

"This is the dumbest bunch of sheep I've ever seen."

Give A Dog Her Due

When Iris was a young dog she was a great babysitter for our bottle lambs. I'd picked her up off the side of the highway on my way home from work one night, so we don't know her background, but I do know as soon as she saw our sheep she knew she was supposed to do something with them. She didn't know what, but she knew there was a connection.

Maybe she took such good care of PPPP and Ewen because she was just happy to be with sheep. By the time Lila and Blossom came around, she was pretty much over that ;-).  Maisie?  Forget it!  Instead of putting Iris IN the pen with the lambs so they weren't stressed if I had to run to the grocery, I started locking her OUT so I wasn't stressed about coming back to find a pinched nose or a black eye.

I'm not sure what is different about Baaxter.  She's always been very tolerant of him and his lambie shenanigans.  Might be because he's a boy?  Maybe easier to train?  Less cheeky (Cheeky?  Who Maisie? ;-).  Possibly because he's marked like a Border Collie?  I'm not sure, but I frequently look down or around and there they are.  

"Can you even see me behind all this wool?"

Baaxter has a big pen in front of the Wool House porch, so when he's not up there sleeping he can watch me from below.

And I can watch the sheep come and go and wonder what on earth is Maisie up to now?  That old tree has been a staple in the front field.  The cats used to be able to climb it, Aria liked to scratch on it, it's been the home to various bugs that have fed various birds and, I don't know, I've always liked it.  It's gotten so frail I think it's probably time to push it down.  With our bare hands.  It's been a good tree though.  Thank you.

I am SOO happy to report all the 2014 fleeces have been skirted and sorted, ready to move onto their next jobs - spindle roving, quilt batting, wreaths, felted sheep, wool balls...and the porch has returned to it's normal, non-messy, ain't gonna break your leg trying to get to the rocking chairs state.  

The two boards at the end are to try to keep slow up Baaxter from jumping off the end because it's obviously much more fun to jump off than to use the steps.  And the pen out front?  When he wants out of it he jumps up onto the porch...

*   *   *  State of the Raw Wool Stash Report  *   *   *

• I found one more Jacob fleece that I think someone would be interested in spinning (Annabelly).

• Blossom's huge fleece was the only non-Cotswold fleece that didn't sell at the festival.  I'm wondering if it was because is was such a daunting mound of wool and if I'd divided it into two smaller offerings...  It does have a little VM in it, but nothing that won't shake out and it's a fabulously sproingy white fleece.

• Cotswold!  Get your Cotswold!  I was hoping after Buddy, Woolliam and Rebecca Boone's cousins got such a nice shout out on the Yarn Harlot's blog a few weeks ago that maybe between that and how pretty Rebecca Boone's yarn turned out that some of the Cotswold stash might find new homes.  I'm afraid I'm going to have to dye it bright, bizarre (albeit beautiful ;-) colors (Hyperventilating! Breathe, breathe, breathe... ;-).