Come See the Babies!

Lots of changes on the farm in the past week. We've added Krissie to the list of lambs - she was in the little pen with her mom for just a day or so - she really wanted to get out and play with the "big" boys.











Speaking of "big boys" - here is Bode's "Whatcha doin?" face













And Wicket gets cuter every day.









Kind of reminds me of that scene from "West Side Story" -

"When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way..."







Common Krissie - you stay away from those bad boys...














Speaking of "bad boys" - look at what The Shepherd found in the hen house yesterday morning!






Just after he found these two in the barn. This is Dusty. Actually he was born second - The Shepherd helped clean him up and get him going after Luna dropped him out on his noggin.










Now this is where the cat blogger term "Sheep Furs" really comes from - doesn't he have the prettiest wool?

OK all you Shetland Shepherds out there - what do you call these markings?







And here is Robin - She is a pretty brown with krunet markings on her head and ears.











We had an "Open Barn" this morning for some friends who wanted to see babies - Luna had about had enough and really wanted out of the jug. (ie, lambing pen)








Out to meet the new neighbors....














Then a few dashes up and back in the pasture - but as you can see here (click on the picture to biggafy it) poor little Dusty got his new found legs tangled up in the long grass and, as my dad used to say, went "ass over teakettle"










Oh, Dusty, you'll be OK. Just look where you are going the next time.







We think that Violet will be next - what do YOU think? ? ?

My Review of WPI Tool Kit

I very rarely review products - sometimes on Amazon if I really like the book or what ever I've purchased, but I'm really excited about this little doo-dad. I found it originally on my friend Vicki's blog The Virginia Purl and immediately knew it was something I'd been looking for. So I ordered it right up, and it came (as promised) within 3-5 days, and then I got an email back from the folks at Village Spinning & Weaving asking me if I'd like to review it.

"No prob", I thought to myself - It's something I'm excited to have and I know I'll be using it a lot. When I got done with the review, their web site asked me if I'd like them to post my review to my blog. Well, that was a cool idea, since I was going to tell you about it anyhow - so here is my review and their dandy picture. One thing I see that this has that the other WPI things don't have is the cool little chart that comes with it. I mean, what good is knowing your Wraps Per Inch, if you don't know what kind of "commercial" yarn measurement it equals. So, I'm a happy camper - I'm going to play with it tomorrow during our "Open Barn" - Oh, that's right, I didn't tell you yet, Luna had her babies yesterday - Just wait til you see them!

Originally submitted at VillageSpinning & Weaving

WPI Tool Kit from Nancy's Knit Knacks This Wraps Per Inch Tool and Knit-Kard is useful for the following: Measures the thickness or ''weight'' of the yarn Identifies yarn with poor or no labeling Makes

WPI Tool Kit

WPI Tool Kit will Deliver

By Tina T-P from Bellingham, WA on 3/26/2010

5out of 5

Pros: Easy To Use

Best Uses: Home, Professional

Describe Yourself: Experienced

As a spinner who crochets with my own yarn, I am often perplexed as to what "weight" my yarn really is - I end up having to make sample after sample to get things the right gauge. This WPI tool kit will help me from the very get-go as I can actually do a WPI on my singles to make sure that I am spinning for the size yarn I want as a finished product. I like that it has more than one inch so you can measure bulky and novelty type yarns too. Very happy with this product!

(legalese)

The Colors of March -

Sue at Life Looms Large has a great monthly "blogging exercise" that she does called "The Colors of (this month)"


I enjoy looking for pretty things and places in our beautiful corner of the world to share with everyone and I think this exercise is also helping me learn more about my camera (that I've had for almost a year and still haven't gotten much past the "AUTO" setting on the dial...)






The cherry trees have been out in town for weeks now - pink haze as you drive through the streets - but ours in the back yard has only bloomed this week.









The white Japanese birches are showing their new skin.

















And how could I leave the new lambs out of the colors of March -




The quince is probably my favorite spring flowering plant. The Shepherd says they spread too much and won't "allow" me to have one - well, he's the one who does all the yard work, so I just have to enjoy the fleeting glimpses that I get of them as I drive around.







Along with the pink haze of the cherries goes the yellow blaze of the forsythias. They have been very bright and colorful this year.







This beautiful roving that was at our Spin-In last weekend. I bought 16 ounces of two different colorways to make baby sweaters for my boss's "upcoming" twin girls - they are due next summer - I figure I should be able to get the spinning done and the crocheting done by then, don't you?

This colorful roving is from Sunset Fibers in Olympia, WA. It is hand painted Corriedale, and should make some nice soft, warm sweaters.




My sister Wisten has given me several Lenten Roses (Helleborus Orientalis) over the past few years. This one lives by our back porch - a true sign that spring can't be far behind.













I hope you've enjoyed the colors of March from the Pacific NW. Now, go visit Sue and check out the links to March in other places! Maybe even add your own colors to the list.

Pretty in Pink

The Star Magnolias are in full bloom right now -













It was a smart person who decided to make a pink one - they are so pretty.












Speaking of pretty - Here is the newest addition to the farm - Marietta's Krissie - She was born yesterday afternoon to Jewell - Unfortunately her sister didn't make it. The only thing we can figure out is that the (first timer) mom was too long in labor. The Shepherd thinks we're going to have all black & white lambs this year - so far we're batting 1000...





And speaking of black & white - here is "not so little any more" Wicket - Growing like a weed - he has more than tripled his weight since birth (about 2 & 1/2 weeks ago)

"Mommy, wow, I'm a big boy now! " Doesn't he look like he's wearing a jacket? I haven't been able to figure out if that black spot on his butt is heart shaped -





He never stands still long enough to figure it out.

They are out in the front pasture now. Sure to be stopping traffic on the corner.

"Race ya to the barn, Bode........"

Zoom, zoom, zoom..........

Looking back Sunday

These pictures were taken in March- 2, 3 & 4 years ago - I could easily have taken the same pictures this past week but it RAINED and was wicked cold, all week long.

Until Saturday, that is, and the weather cooperated for our Spin-In - (of which I have loads of pictures) - not a single wheel got wet - but between working til 3:00 in the a.m. on Friday night getting ready for yesterday and the change to daylight saving time, I crashed when we got home from church today. So, no new pictures yet and dinner wasn't on the table until about 8:30 tonight (well, someone COULD have come in and woken me up... - but I think he was napping too.)




Anyhow - these are three of my favorite pictures of The Shepherds gardening handy work.

Little Wicket update: - He is growing like a weed - if it's not raining when I get home from work tomorrow night, I'll take some pictures - since, it will be light for a whole extra hour.





The forsythias and the quinces are all in full bloom right now. Between that and the cherry trees, they make such great blazes of color along the streets and the byways.

Hope you have a great week with blazes of color on your highways and byways too!

My new favorite thing -

I'll get back to the "Places To Go" later this week, but I had to share my new favorite thing with you.

I'll be the first to admit that I have a LOT of gadgets in my kitchen. I sold Pampered Chef products for about 4 years, so I have one (or two) of everything that they sold during those years. I still love to pour over their catalog tho - and I've been wanting to get this particular tool for a year or two, but just kept forgetting to order it.




It's called the "Mix & Chop" - and I don't know what took me so long. I love this thing!

To quote the product insert: "...allows you to chop food directly in your nonstick cookware while cooking. Five curved blades easily create consistent-sized crumbles, helping to shorten the cook time and evenly distribute seasonings. ...is a must for ground beef or turkey, scrambled eggs...also a handy tool for chopping and mixing frozen fruit or fruit juice concentrate. Nylon head is heat safe to 428 degrees F and won't scratch nonstick surfaces."

I used it the night I brought it home and have used it three or four times since. It worked especially well with ground turkey, which tends to come apart in big clumps. So if you dont' have a Pampered Chef consultant, let me know and I'll put you in touch with mine.

Pure Bliss

The Shepherd had been cleaning house, making room for the tools and toys that he will need for his new gardening business and so he has taken a bunch of old fleeces to Gretchen's Wool Works - one of them being this beautiful moorit fleece. The exciting news is that Gretchen recently upgraded her mill so she can do TA-DA! ROVING!!! - And it is VERY nice too!

In fact, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it - I pulled about 10 yards off the bump and went to work.

This is how it spun up - wow, like a dream - and here is the rub - (big frowny face...) he had already planned that this fiber was for sale. We will have it at my spinner guild's SPIN-IN on the 13 of March. Oh well. There are two more Shetland fleeces he wants me to work on, and I had Gretchen process two fleeces that I had picked up - one Icelandic that I had her blend with some Alpaca of almost the exact same moorit color and another Alpaca fleece - I have to spin these up to sell the yarn (hopefully) - on our Washington Wool dot Net web site.

Here is some other Alpaca/Icelandic blend that I've been practicing on - what do you think? (it hasn't been washed yet so it has kind of an edge to it - hopefully it will soften up a little.)

Lamb (and mama) update

He had the vet come out this afternoon - Moni is still retaining the placenta - ugh - so she got shots of banamine, (she was really grinding her teeth) an antibiotic and a hormone to help with the placenta thing. But she's being a more attentive mom. The lambs seem to be going strong - The Shepherd has been feeding them a little, but when we went out tonight to give Moni one of her shots the little black one (Bode) was enthusiastically having a little dinner. The little white one, who is now called Wicket was slumbering in the corner and was not really interested in any milk from a bottle, but his tummy seemed full and he seemed happy. Good sign.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming...

For BABIES -

There are two of them here - a black ram lam with a little bit of white (kroonit marking) on the head - we're calling him Bode - He weights about 5.5 lbs.

The little black & white one only weighs 2.5 lbs. We're calling him Ewok (little, fuzzy & cute)





The Shepherd is nervous about this mom - Moni is the one who lost her lambs last year and then we almost lost her in the process - right now, she is not doing a very good "mom" job - he can't tell if she has let them nurse yet - I made a flying trip to the feed store to get some colostrum replacer - which they did take - so there will be trips out to the barn every couple of hours tonight for The Shepherd. When we sheared yesterday, they were only able to crutch her (removing the wool only from the crotch and around the udder) - she wasn't having any part of shearing!

Come on Moni - get to work!

Places to go....

While many from our area have been going up to Vancouver BC to take in the 2010 Olympics, there are many fun places to go right here at home.

While you are on your way, you can stop at one of the 7 local Cruisin Coffee locations - they make the BEST Cool Coffee Creams - kind of like a mocha milkshake, but icy - and not as sweet as the ones from Micky D's Golden Arches - They also make a yummy breakfast croissant w/bacon, cheese & egg and a pretty fair deli style lunch sandwich or soups - yum - can you tell I kind of "frequent" these conveniently located spots?

What's even more fun, is they have a couple of stores in Yakima (east of the mountains) where my sister lives - so every once in a while we give each other "Coffee cards" - nothing better than picking up a cup of tea or a Cool Coffee Cream for "free" -


After the downtown Safeway went out of business this building sat empty for many years. Then half of it was a "game time" place for kids - that didn't last either - but some enterprising fellows turned it into a Public Market - there's a wonderful organic foods store called Terra Organica, a coffee shop, a deli, a couple of gift shops and -------






Chocolate Necessities (undoubtedly one of the best chocolate stores in the world...) and they have a big case of Gelato - all different flavors - this was citrus - a mix of orange, lemon and grapefruit - WOW is it good.








Does the old phrase "Like a kid in a candy store" come to mind. I picked out 9 little two truffle boxes for my friends and sisters for Valentine's day - Ok, so I picked out 10 boxes and ate the extra two truffles - and they were reallllllyyyy good!!! (weren't they ladies?)






When you get done downtown, there is no place prettier on a sunny day than down at the harbor. The Port of Bellingham does a pretty darn good job of taking care of their properties










And if you click on this last picture to biggify it you can see Mt. Baker right in the center of the photograph.

Next time, I'll tell you about "Things To Do"







Tonight's Olympic Update is a big WAY TO GO to both the Canadian (gold) and USA (silver) Women's Hockey teams.

I think all of the athletes are getting a little tired though - some of them are getting just a little bit "whiney" don't ya think?

It's really in there...

I got my "author's copy" of the new Six Word Memoir book "It All Changed In An Instant" and mine is really in there!













So mine isn't in huge big print and got it's own page, but there it is on page 108 - center stage!

And some people wait years to get published!

The Colors of February -

Normally February in our neck of the woods will have at least a week of this -

But not so this year -










We've had a LOT of this -

















And the primroses were only a dollar a pot at the grocery store - I didn't have to beg too hard for The Shepherd to put together this pretty pot for the back porch.







Snowdrops remind me of growing up in Eastern Washington - they were the first little flowers to bravely poke their little heads out - up on the scab patches (the rocky non-farmable areas) there were yellow bells that looked just like snow drops - but they were... yellow...





The peonies are starting to grow













As is the columbine - and everywhere in town the cherry trees are beginning to blossom -
Suddenly it is looking like spring around here -










And of course there is nothing like a big red amaryllis to shout out the colors of February - This one was a gift from my spinning buddy Ellin - it had 8 big beautiful blooms.

So that's about it - mostly brown with little tufts of green showing through - everything is so "on it's way" to spring - I hope we don't get any unexpected freezing weather - that would not be good...


For Colors of February from all over the world, visit Life Looms Large -


Olympics Update - Been watching the snowboarders? Wow, those kids must have rubber bones - the women were taking some hard falls last night - all this nice weather that we've been having has played havoc with the snow venues - Didn't stop our American women Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso who took gold and silver in the Women's Downhill - they were flying down the slopes like they had wings.

Indoors tonight at the Pacific Coliseum was the Ice Dancing - what fun it is to watch!