The Home of Beautiful Bluefaced Leicesters and Shetland Sheep

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Friday, January 21, 2011

Getting Ready For Lambs!

It's sunny but oh so cold and windy today. Working outside the barn is rough on the skin so Tim helped me get lambing pens ready in the barn for expected Bluefaced Leicester babies next weekend. Hopefully they will wait until the arctic blast has past but lambs seem to like to arrive when it's super cold. I'm usually more miserable than they are. My former farm helper, Sam, got me a new hypothermic lamb blanket that has a microwaveable lining that heats to 110 then tucks into the blanket wrapping around the cold lamb. Hopefully I won't have to use it, but it sure will be good to have it since every lambing season brings at least one or two cold lambcicles.

The Shetlands love this weather. This morning they were all lounging in the newly fallen snow very content to just be. There are only 20 Shetlands in the pen now so feeding is so much easier than it was last winter with a larger number to battle through with grain and hay. Shetland babies are expected later in February and March.

Thanks Tim for helping me get the barn ready. Having help sure makes the job go faster.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

New Yarn


Here's the BFL natural colored yarn I finally got from the mill. Lustrous and sooo soft.It's not gray but more of a brown tone, which is very interesting. I want to put it in my private stash instead of putting it out for sale but my stash is getting beyond the time I have to get into it so it will be for sale at Maryland.

Rooting through my last few 2010 fleeces I found a Shetland moorit lamb's fleece that I had set aside and forgot about. My goal for 2011 was to spend more time preparing fleeces before spinning so this fleece has been washed, picked annnnd I even cut all the tips off each lock.That was a labor of love but I think it will make a big difference in the finished product. It is unbelievably soft. Maybe I can get to carding it tomorrow!