The Blessings of 2010

Some of my many blessings of 2010.

Hope you all had a blessed year and many many wishes for a happy 2011!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAD ENOUGH SNOW YET?

My goodness this winter is a year like when I was a child growing up and we were constantly shoveling snow and building snow forts and having snow ball fights.... staying outside till our cheeks were dark red and having the crisp cold snow stuffed up into the sleeves of our jackets and down into our boots and we finally went in when we were practically frostbit!  I remember it with very fond memories and playing with all the neighbor kids. 
This weather has given us a challenge down in the dip where we live as the road is almost higher than our fence in some places and since we are close to the road, the snow plow and the drifting has pretty well drifted across the ditch and the fence and progressed into the barn yard so the sheep have been stuck in the barn for a few days until we can get some of that snow moved and another panel fence put up inside the existing one!
I had to shovel snow off the boys' hut last night as it was collapsing under the weight of the snow.  Ugh!

You know that adage "if the shoe fits"?  Well one of the girls is having trouble with her hat!
So from all of us at Diamond D Shetland & Icelandics we wish you a very
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

As the world spins, we spin and spin....

I have been so busy knitting things for the sales that I have not taken much time to spin lately and it is starting to show as my homespun stash is dramatically depleted!  A job for this winter.  My wonderful friend Karen  came over last Saturday, even though she has been a little under the weather and we spent some time spinning and critiquing each other's plying methods as we watched the dvd "the gentle art of plying" by Judith M.  We concentrated on spinning colors although Karen had spun some wonderful green roving into a beautiful two ply heavy yarn.

The above is some of my colorful border leceister locks that I was just picking open and spinning from the locks after I dyed it all of cource.  Below is some of Karen's lovely spinning and her beautiful wool socks.

 We had been going to do some eco-dyeing on Saturday but just weren't up for the task but she did bring along some of her beautiful scarves that she did eco-dye and she sells at the Minnetonka Art Center I believe is the place.  I think they are quite lovely with the natural dye colors and then the maple, oak, and rose leaves.

Karen is a great lover of shibori also and has done some of it on the edges as you can see.

It was so great to get together and feel the loose fibers run through my fingers again...such good therapy.
One last sale on Saturday in Delano and then I am ready for lots and lots of "therapy"...hope you all had a good holiday!

MAKE HAY...I MEAN DYE WOOL WHEN THE SUN SHINES

We have had the most wonderful fall making it seem like summer is taking forever to come to a close...which is great as winter will then seem shorter but then rather than get into the hibernation mode we just keep doing more things outside.  I am getting tired but will just keep pushing on as I know that winter will appear one of these days.
I have a wonderful friend Karen R. that is an expert in natural dyeing and if you can ever take one of her classes, I am sure you will enjoy it.  She teaches at several venues in the state so you may get that opportunity.  I even had a natural dyeing day at the farm a couple of years ago and as anxious as I get over "entertaining" she helps keep it real and natural.  Thank God.
I also do fiber dyeing with koolaid when the grandkids around especially as it is safer.  As my little honeys are becoming older we have switched to doing some acid dyeing when we have some time together at the farm and we are not petting sheep and cats at the same time...love that multitasking!

My grandson has become a tall young man and is able to capture the sheep with my encouragement and hold him while I snap a photo or two.

I love getting the kids to the farm so they get a chance to keep in touch with animals and nature.
The littlest granddaughter has become old enough to climb on the fence as you can see her tennies and legs in the photo.
The last time I did a lot of dyeing however my sister was here from Wisconsin and we dyed lots of colors to use in yarn and fiber art.  Such pleasant surprises to see all the beautiful colors.

 Lots of color for fall and winter projects.  I do vending at several craft events and was at one in Hutchinson this last weekend and have one in Howard Lake and one in Delano coming up in the next few weeks.  Stop in and say hi if you know of these and are in the area.

Be careful what you wish for!

Remember that old adage "be careful what you wish for"?  A Shetland shepherdess close by me had an adorable little ewe that was such a pet!  Sheperdess Sue named her Jewel and after a little while she came to live at our farm.  Pet sheep can be wonderful and then again... they seem to know how to push your buttons easily!...or tear them off your sweater, whichever opportunity presents itself first! 
Jewel had twin ewe lambs for us last year and again this year.  She is the best mommy!
Her she is with this year's girls...the "little holstein" and Chocolate Chip who takes after her mommy for fleece color...badgerface? katmoget for sure. 

The Sheep Speak!

There are no wordless Wednesdays at our farm as the sheep ALWAYS have something to say, God Bless Them!

That little black and white Icelandic ewe lamb always has something to say even if it is just "Hi mom!"

SHETLAND LAMBS

Since I have been slow at getting my blog started I will look back at pictures I have taken of the lambs that we had born on the farm in late May and early June.  I was soooo sloowww at getting any breeding pens together last year and it finally happened in late December!  Oh my.  I have a habit of pushing fall as much as I can until all the cold and snow says "STOP" and then I am running behind on something else!  Oh life! Gotta love it!

This is a morrit wether that went out to be a fiber pet at a farm near Litchfield,Mn.  Righ behind him is our "little holstein cow" at least that is what she has been called since I don't have the naming convention down on these shetland colors and patterns.  Can someone help me with what her description would be?


My friend Deann who took the wether, took the picture of me with the ewes and lambs in the barnyard a few months ago.  Seems to me when I look at the picture that the ram lambs are the friendliest or is it nosiest?  Very sweet sheep and one of my favorite pictures.  We still have most of our lambs for sale.  They are all hanging out in the shed today on this miserable rainy day.

 I had a nice phone call from Kelly yesterday asking to purchase the Ashford Traditional spinning wheel that I listed in the previous post, so it is considered sold. 

I also have the jumbo flyer unit available for sale with (3) bobbins for the traditional wheel for $125.

Ashford finally came out with a larger bobbin and winder unit for the Joy wheel which travels with me almost everywhere and I have lamented the fact that the bobbins are so small and when you ply the two together you get a small skein so since I have the traditional wheel I purchased the jumbo flyer unit for it and then I plyed my singles off the lazy kate of the joy onto the flyer of the traditional.  A process but it worked.  Now however I no longer need to do that.  You can email me at thesheepcote@ll.net if you would like pictures of the flyer unit or of course of our wonderful sheep.

See ya chickies!

Nice Rams and Shearing Time

We are lucky enough to have a very qualified shearer come over and give our sheep their "haircuts".  Icelandics get sheared twice a year with the premium fleece usually being in the fall as they have probably been on pasture all summer, and hopefully burr-less pasture so their fleeces are long and beautiful and very clean of vegetable matter.  I debated shearing some of the lambs as we lambed late this spring but decided that I will just make sure they have shelter if they want it and feed them a little extra. 

We have several spring ram lambs that are available for fall breeding and also the mature "older boys" that need to find new homes as we no longer want to use them for breeding... not a thing wrong with these wonderful boys, just becoming all related.  We are reasonably pricing these boys to find them good new homes.  You can email me at thesheepcote@ll.net for more info and prices on these nice rams. 

A couple of the young rams are quite flashy with their spots.  Sorry about the strange eyes...I have a very cheap camera and have not taken the time to get good at taking pictures.  We have two boys like this with similar markings and another b&w with spots.  I am not sure, but they may be identified as black with huge white spots!
We also have young ram lambs that are reaching market weight and are excellent grass/hay/grain feed sheep.  Please email if you are interested in purchasing a lamb for butcher as not all rams are the best choices for using for flock reproduction.

And one more thing...typical, can't get started and then I can't stop!....I have this wonderful Ashford Traditional Wheel for sale.  Single drive, Single tread, very nice condition, 3 bobbins and lazy kate sell with it for $350.
Supposed to be a beautiful day tomorrow before the rainy cold weather moves in.  Everyone get out and ENJOY!

Gettin' to be THAT time!

Now that fall has arrived it is getting to be sheep breeding season for those of us hoping to have cute little lambs doing races next spring.  We bred most of our ewes this year, both Icelandics and Shetlands and ended up with some very nice ram lambs that are looking for a job to do rather than head to someone's freezer...however that is a possibility also.  Please contact me is you are interested in any of these beautiful boys.  They are ready to go.