Happy Easter - Looking Back Sunday

This is a combined post to wish you all a very Happy Easter and to look back a few years ago when it was a much warmer and nicer spring!

Our choir is singing for church this morning - some special cheery spring songs. We've been singing a lot this month, and had our annual "Choir Service" on the 3rd. We've been doing some new and challenging songs this year.






Won't you come hunting for Easter eggs with me?









I think Mother Nature gives us daffodils so we'll know that she hasn't forgotten about us.

Even though we've had the coldest and wettest April on record, there are still bright yellow dafs and big clouds of pink flowering cherries and plums everywhere.










The Shepherd & I are having a nice spiral cut Easter Ham for our Easter dinner. It's my favorite!

I think I'll surprise him and make a pumpkin pie for dessert since it's been too cold for the rhubarb to get much size yet.






I hope you and your family have a great day and find all kinds of fun things in your Easter Baskets.

New Socks

Some gifts really come from the heart. My friend Yvonne (and the host of the Farm Sale that we were involved in last weekend) made me a pair of wool socks!

Wow - they are really cool. (or, as the case may be, really warm)

OK, I know my leg looks kind of like a tree trunk, but things are what they are.

Anyhow, I've never had a pair of handmade socks. I do know she's been working on them since my birthday (in January) What a neat present!

Thank you Yvonne!

Wonderful Woolies Fleece & Fiber Sale

Last weekend our friends Yvonne & Doug of Spinner's Eden Farm had a fleece & fiber sale at their farm here in the county.

We had about ten farms participating providing everything from CVM, mohair, Shetland (ours and our friend Nancy's), Alpaca, Llama, Corriedale, and a huge luscious colorful mountain of combed top and potluck roving from Kathy Green's Ferndale Fiber (that's Kathy on the left).





We had many discerning customers who were willing to brave the windy COLD (in the low 40's) day to come out, feed their fleece habit and get bargains right off the farm.


















A happy customer with two bumps of Ferndale Fiber and a beautiful big bump of Yvonne's CVM.







And YES, did I mention it was cold?

Here I am in my "little nest" - I had two shirts, a fleece vest, a winter coat (fleece lined and a wind breaker outer skin) - I was sitting on a fleece blanket that had been doubled up AND I had a down coverlet over my lap. Oh, and my new cowl/hood that I made from a blend of merino, alpaca and mohair.

I forgot to bring my fingerless mittens home from work, so I tried to wear my gloves, but I was cashiering and it was difficult to write with gloves on - I was also working on a crochet project in the down time (which there wasn't much of, it was really pretty busy!) and that really didn't work with gloves on.



OK, I know that I don't need any more fiber, but I just couldn't help getting these three bumps of Kathy's combed top. The colors will work really well for a crochet project I'm working on for a arts & crafts sale I've been invited to be in this fall.







Tables and tables of fiber - I'm sorry that I only took pictures of what I could see from the cashier table - It was a really fun day.









We got to know some very nice new "fiber farmers" and my ulterior motive for being cashier was that I got to meet and greet every single person who came to the sale. Many were folks on my spinner guild email newsletter list who don't come to meetings so I got to meet all those people too.


Yup, it was a really fun day!

Can you guess?

What is it?

Wordless Wednesday

Oh, it's - Lunchtime

The lambs grow so fast - this was a week ago and now the "Olambpics" have started












Ptooey - this straw stuff is just blechy -


Blanco, straw is for bedding, not for eating - why don't you go check out what your mom has to offer...






Hmmm - don't mind if I do...

I hate to complain, but

This was the scene in our front yard last Thursday, and this was after it had almost all melted -

The 14th of April and it snowed.


OK, the earth is not shaking,

The wind is not switching,

The house is not pitching,




and the hinges are not unhitching -

But it is the middle of April, and it's snowing!

Cutting it just a little too close...

Those of you who are seasoned knitters or crocheters have probably been following my baby sweater project with a fair amount of amusement (to say the least) - I don't think swatching would have made any difference (but getting a measurement on the babies sure would have) -

Well, they are done - still have to wash and block them, but all the little ends are tied in etc.

And this is what I had left of the two ply Corriedale that I was using - one itty bitty ball of each colorway. Well, I still have a small ball of each of the Corriedale/Shetland mix, but I really didn't want to use any more of that yarn as it wasn't as vibrant as the plain Corriedale.

This is the sweater for Violet.

I actually picked out the wool way before they had chosen names, but it couldn't have ended up a more perfect yarn for her sweater.

The darker band around the middle and the yoke is plied with some gray Shetland wool from one of our sheep.

If you click on the pictures to biggafy them, you can really see the colors better.


And this is the sweater for Annie. They are actually pretty much the same size, I'm not sure why this one looks smaller... The lighter band around the middle of this sweater is Corriedale plied with a cream colored Shetland single.

I was pretty pleased with how the remakes came out actually. I was able to monitor the colorways a little more than I realized I'd be able to - the only thing missing on this sweater is a little more red on the left sleeve.

I'll get some pearl buttons tomorrow when I go to town (I have today and tomorrow off to get ready for a wool sale that The Shepherd and I are participating in this weekend) I hope I can find some red ones for Annie's.

Washing and blocking is my LEAST favorite thing to do - but I will get them done so they will have them before Easter (and before they get any bigger!)

Out into the big wide world

HI! My name is Eva!

I am The Shepherd's favorite. I know this because he whispered it in my ear this afternoon.
















He says I'm going to have pretty wool - what ever that is...














This is not a very lady like pose you guys...










HI! My name is Blanco - I'm hard to get a picture of - the lady says I'm something called a "whirling dervish", what ever that is....










HI! My name is Rita, put me down NOW!









Eva & Blanco here - we heard the lady say that our mom was being kind of a b**ch because she won't let that other sheep family into the little barn with us. We hope she chills out, because it is going to be kind of rainy and windy tomorrow, and we wouldn't like our new friends to get wet and cold.






HI, My name is Wendy.

The Shepherd man says I'm going to turn grey because I have white around my mouth and little white hairs on my butt. I'm going to have a pretty coat though.

Come back and see us soon - all the neighbors have been stopping by. They keep asking where somebody named Wicket is...

We light a candle for our friend Al

It is a bitter sweet weekend here at the farm - we welcome new life and say good bye to our good friend and neighbor, Al..











This picture was taken in June 2007 at his 60th birthday party

A life cut way too short by the big C.

Rest in peace Al.

Four on the floor - so to speak...

These two little ladies arrived yesterday afternoon - Wendy, in the little black suit, and Lovely Rita on the right.

They came out into a COLD night - it got down to 31 degrees here last night!!!

Their momma is Violet.












This evening, Luna's taking a breather after popping out (actually The Shepherd had to do a little bit of pulling on that one) Blanco - Ram lamb, white head and black body - and Little Eva - the grey & white & mousey brown mottled one - already The Shepherd's favorite.









Blanco gets a ride on the floating scale - one of the best presents I've ever given The Shepherd -














And the rest of the disgruntled flock - "Let us in! We want our hay! Who cares about those little pipsqueaks!" (Actually we're going to have to keep an eye on Pearl - always a very good mom, but she didn't get bred this year - guess she kept her legs crossed??? - but she's been eyeballing those babies with fond looks...)

That's the news from the farm tonight - I'm still crocheting like crazy on those sweaters - gotta get them finished before those baby girls get any bigger!

Maybe I should have measured FIRST....

In last Tuesday's post I showed you some pictures of the baby sweaters that I am making for my bosses twin daughters.

I got the first one finished on Sunday.

I thought to myself "Self, maybe you should try this sweater ON one of the girls before you finish it off, weave in all the ends and stuff..."

I guess I just had that feeling.

On Wednesday, his wife was "out and about" with the girls (who are about 8 months old now) - so she stopped by the office. I had the sweater in my car so I ran out to get it.

OH NO ~

In the words of Goldilocks - "Oh my, this sweater is just TOO SMALL"

I might note here that most of my previous projects have been square/rectangle/round, etc. - no defining "size' - other than length and width - who cares how big or small an afghan or scarf is?

And I did check the gauge - I just made them a size too small.

So, no tears, no screaming, just a lot of mumbling under my breath and a little gnashing of teeth as I ripped out and wound all the yarn into new balls - see - I've even started the new one - and this time, it is in the 12-18 month size - let them grow out of that before I get it finished.

Next time, I'll measure FIRST.

Dang it Vern!

What happens when a ram gets bored. This is heavy duty hog panel wire - as you can see - it has a major boo-boo. . . What - Who, Me? Yeah, you, you big knucklehead. You see, Vern's "Play station" was broken (and who, might we ask, broke it??? - bashing through a 4" round post - busting it to smithereens) Well, he's all happy now - The Shepherd fixed it. This time using a 6 inch round post, set in cement - that ought to hold him for a while - Try as I might, I couldn't get a picture of him when he hit the ball, just the aftermath of it swinging... He kept running over to see what I was doing and if I was paying attention to him. Anyhow, this is how the game goes - His brother/buddy/wether Galloway runs up behind him, and smacks him in the backside - then takes off running with Vern in hot pursuit. Just before they get to the play station, Galloway veers off and BAM!, Vern bashes the ball into the middle pole. They will play this game for hours. Ok, so I'm exaggerating, maybe not for hours, but for 15 or 20 minutes at a time. Then they get all tuckered out and go sit under their ramada and chew some cud. Then they'll get up and do it all over again. Doesn't take much to entertain those boys...

Progress report on the twin's baby sweaters

Last fall I showed you the yarn that I had made so I could crochet baby sweaters for the identical twin girls that my boss's wife had last summer.

This sweater will be for Annie.

I figured that I'd better get on the stick or they would have outgrown 'em before I could make 'em, so I've been working on these sweaters in my spare time. As the yarn is pretty random, (it was spun and plied "as is" so there are some pretty wacky color combinations - (and there is the yarn that the "left" sleeve was crocheted from that turned into a rainbow!)

I finished the first sleeve for Violet's sweater (honestly, I got the wool long BEFORE I knew they were going to call one of the girls Violet, but isn't this just too perfect?) this afternoon while I was waiting for my laundry to wash. Next the yoke goes on and with that, attaching the sleeves, then the hoods.

All I can say is, I sure hope they fit... I'm definitely going to take them out and try them on the girls before I tuck in any ends, that is for sure!

I'll keep you posted.

Wicket & Krissie's big adventure -

Do YOU know why we're locked up in this barn?

(well, notice the "baby bump" on her side there)












Lat year at the fair, The Shepherd talked to a couple who were interested in getting a couple of sheep. At that time, he didn't have anyone for sale, but it's somewhat like the story of "Goldylocks and the Three Bears" around here - sometimes sheep are "just right", sometimes they are "too small" (well, that's not really been an issue...) and sometimes, they are TOO BIG - ie, Ms Stilts - or Krissie (or "Bigfoot" as The Shepherd calls her)



And then there is Wicket - our little 2 1/2 lb. bottle baby, for whom the bowl is always TOO EMPTY - ie - "Feed Me, Seymore" (oh, just google it...)
He also has been known to run right over anyone who gets between him and his food bowl and The Shepherd was worried that he might unintentionally hurt one of the new "itty bittys"

Anyhow, The Shepherd decided that with babies on the way - imminent, as the case may be (look back at the first picture) , that perhaps Wicket and Krissie might be good candidates for a new home and when the couple he met at the fair called last month, he decided it was a match made in heaven.


So today was the day that Wicket and Krissie went to their new home.

I helped by closing doors behind and keeping the "natives" from getting too restless during the transfer from barn to truck & trailer.

I used to go with when he took sheep to their new homes, but several years ago, when we took one of our first lambs, April, over to our friend Nancy's farm, as we left, she ran behind us - crying and calling out "Hey, hey! Don't leave without me! I don't know any of these sheep!!!"

It broke my heart.

So now, I just say good bye at the gate and the rest of the girls? They were just glad there was more room at the feeder...

















And Wicket & Krissie's new home? Five acres of lush green pasture, tasty third cutting hay and a canvas covered quonset hut all of their own - pretty deluxe digs - good luck kids - have a good life.

Three Beautiful Things

Wow, it's been a couple of years since I did a Three Beautiful Things Tuesday blog - shame on me!

When you switch computers - my switch was a couple of years ago but I lost all of my "favorites" among them being Three Beautiful Things - her blog is kind of made of up things that made her day - I used it to show you pictures of things that I wanted to share, but didn't necessarily have a whole "blog" about -

So my first of these "Three Beautiful Things" is the pretty singles that came from my January "Roving of the Month" Club that my sisters & I got me for Christmas.





My second TBT was a concert that we went to a couple of weeks ago by our friends Lydia McCauley and Nancy Rumbel - It was called "Live in Rome" - because it was performed at the "Rome Grange" - a sweet old building that has seen many, many events in the community. Their concert was a wonderful mix of old Italian melodies and folk songs and some of each of Lydia & Nancy's newer contemporary pieces.
It was a wonderful evening!



And what could be more beautiful than the promise of spring?