My Hokus Pokus Roving

When the last batch of roving came back from the mill I couldn't believe I had put such awful colors together. It looked like 2 batches of very uncoordinating colors were carded together.What was I thinking? Surely I mislabled the bags it in my haste to get it mailed to my processor. Christine and I sat for days pulling the roving apart into balls of 2 colors hoping to salvage some of the beautiful BFL fiber. We spun it and thought all was well til Christine washed hers!!! Seems the dark blue dye was not rinsed well and the blue ran through all the skeins creating entirely new colors. I had goofed again with that blue. (Thought I learned my lesson when I completely changed the colorway on Tim's Shetland vest that was a Christmas gift 3 years ago. Only I know what it was" suppose" to look like and how beautiful it "was".)

Well.....I've decided to call the roving Hokus Pokus and sell it as magic roving at Rhinebeck. All I need is PT Barnum to sell it. All the skeins in the picture came from the same roving. Some of them are funky and some kind of cool. Should make a novel display in my booth. What you see is not what you'll get! There might be an adventurous spinner or 2 that want to give magic a try.

Christine's Shawl

My friend Christine, who has been spinning for a whopping 4 years, was the Shetland customer who made me discover and love my Shetland fleeces. My original Shetland flock was dropped off on my lawn in 2001 by a disgruntled breeder. (Another breed I just happened into.) I enjoyed them but didn't get into the breed til Christine starting buying my fleeces at Maryland 4 years ago. She made this shawl and won a blue ribbon at the Maryland state Fair. It's made from one of my fleeces and is an original design. The best part is SHE GAVE IT TO ME!!!!! It is a treasure for which I am so grateful.

Apple Ball

The few trees left in our orchard that the Shetlands haven't killed have apples so Fall entertainment here on the farm is rolling the apples down the hill for the Shetlands to fight over and devour. (Who says farm life isn't exciting??) We have a new player this year though....Ruben. What used to be a simple ball game has now become a butt and tackle sport. It's more like football than baseball with the addition of Ruben. Great fun to watch giving me the opportunity to discover and use the SPORTS setting on my camera. Guess that technically makes it a sport!

Calamity Jane

I should write a book about this little ewe who just keeps going. Tiny at birth she hasn't grown much but what she doesn't lack is the spirit to survive. She has achieved the name Calamity Jane.


At two weeks, I found her stuck in a cinder block. Her whole body was jammed in so tightly that extracting her took time and manuvering. Her legs were lacerated and bent but she could walk a bit. Keeping up with mom for milk was difficult. she was treated for infection and pneumonia before finally becoming a real lamb again.
In August she got pneumonia again so I put her in the barnyard with the ram lambs while I went to Utah. Calamity managed to escape, injuring the first joint on her left leg. When I got home she was struggling to walk again. The "cast" in the picture is pipe insulation wrapped with vet wrap. She's running away from me now so she's healing. Calamity is proof that sheep don't just give up and die as some people believe.