Fibershed project

Last year I met Rebecca Burgess when she taught a natural dye class at my place. She told me of her Fibershed project and she describes it much better than I can: "The Fibershed Project is a challenge:  To live for one year, in clothes made from fibers that are solely sourced within a geographical region no larger than 150 miles from my front door; this includes the natural dye colors as well!

Why? The textile industry is the number one polluter of fresh water resources on the planet, as well as having an immense carbon footprint. The average CO2 emitted for the production of one T-shirt is up to 40 times the weight of that shirt. The goal of this project is to both show and model that beauty and fashion can function hand-in-hand with sustainability, local economies, and regional agriculture."

Rebecca visited today along with designer, Kacy, and photographer, Paige. I donated some yarn to the project last year and Kacy designed a sweater as part of the wardrobe.

This is Rebecca wearing her Jacob sweater and showing off her new book (with photos by Paige) which will be out in April. I will have some here.

The three creative women who were here this morning.  You'll be hearing much more from these three.

In the meantime while we were busy Dora lambed with twins:

Lambs....again.

Are you tired of new lambs photos?

This is the wet butterfly look. The ears remind me of recently-emerged butterfly wings.

This is the "Jacobs come in all colors" look.

Weigh-in of new lambs. I don't usually weigh lambs, but to be able to answer the question, "How much do they weigh?", I'm weighing them all this year.  My guess is an average of 7.5-8 pounds but I'll report back when it's all over.

Green scarves from blue and red jeans

I get tired of over-worked words to describe concepts which aren't all that new. Maybe it's good when more people start to understand the principles being described. Green is one of those words...and concepts. But I couldn't pass up using it in the title of this post. I honestly don't know how this yarn is processed but it is 100% recycled jeans and I wove the scarves with no energy except my own.

The yarn is called Riveting and is sold by Cotton Clouds . The scarves are woven on a Huck Lace threading.

Knitting better

Today Meridian Jacobs hosted a knitting class taught by superb knitter, Nancy Jane Campbell. The purpose of this class was to evaluate our current knitting habits and work to "Knit Better'. There was pre-class homework.

These are two garter stitch swatches. The difference is that one is the result of knitting every row and the other is knit by purling every row. There is a difference. Nancy pointed out that my purl sample is much more even than the knit sample. The stockinette sample (no photo) also showed that I knit and purl with different tensions, resulting in subtle ridges and uneven stitches.

Lunchtime. We went to the barn so I could feed Nellie. Yes, I named the bottle baby.

We found more lambs.

Soliloquy had twins--smallest lambs so far this year at 5-6 pounds and Victoria had triplets.  I dealt with all of them and went back to the shop for the afternoon session of the class.

Before lunch we had measured and evaluated our samples. After lunch we started working on changing our habits and learning new techniques. The sample above may not be too impressive, but notice the very cool knitted cable cast-on edge.  It looks much neater than my long-tail cast-on. And notice the inch or so closest to the needles. There is a a big difference in the knitting for that inch than the couple of inches below. At the risk of knitting too tightly I have been knitting way too loose. It's a lot easier to be consistent when there is a little more tension on the yarn and the added benefit is that the stitches aren't always falling off the needle. This was a great class and Nancy is going to come back and teach a color knitting class later in the year.

It's not always pretty!

Babe lambed this morning.

Not the prettiest sight at this stage.

It gets better. This is one of Fran's twins, born last night.

Ebony and her lambs born a week ago.

Today's lambing adventure

I really didn't plan on a bottle baby, but I may have one. Here she is meeting the family.

When I went out this morning Paula had one live lamb and one dead one. As I was doing chores I noticed her pushing some more. I checked and there was a third lamb with the legs and head pointed down inside instead of out. I fished around inside and got everything straightened out and delivered the lamb. It was just about dead when I got it out--completely limp and not taking a breath. I got the lamb breathing but it remained completely flaccid and was losing body temperature quickly. Paula was still licking it so I left it with her covered in a towel while I warmed towels in the dryer. I wrapped up the lamb in the warm towels, tube fed it about an ounce of colostrum, and then brought it to the house and woke up my son so that the lamb could stay snuggled in bed with him while I finished chores. The lamb was still shivering and not trying to get up so I finally brought a crate and a heat lamp in the house.

All that was this morning. The lamb showed enough spunk to try and nurse earlier in the day and I took it back to the barn, but due to the the combination of inexperience on the lamb's part and Paula's increasing skepticism that she really had 2 lambs I finally gave up. The lamb is in the house tonight and I'm feeding it.  So far it's not doing real well with the bottle and I've tube fed it a couple of times. I hope that at  the next feeding it will have figured it out.

Lambing-Day 4

Zelda lambed last night with twins sired by Savor.

Look at the horns on this ram lamb!

Moon had twin ewe lambs this afternoon. This lamb was very striking after she was clean and dry--sparkling white and none of the coarser  birth coat that Jacob lambs are often born with.

While waiting for Moon to deliver, Jackie and I first castrated the two lambs that were born in January and then we dealt with one of last night's twins that died. (If you don't want to read the details then skip to the pretty yellow flower photo below.) When the lamb was born last night I thought that the umbilical cord was unusually large in diameter. My iodine dip didn't dry this cord up like it did the other lamb's.  This morning the lamb looked cold, but finally nursed and seemed to warm up. It was in the afternoon that I saw that she was very sick (near death). She was bloated and there was smelly brown fluid draining from the over-sized umbilical cord. I necropsied her and found what I suspected--her intestine had a dead-end. There was no connection between the colon and the rectum so there was no where for digested food to go. I'm not sure what was leaking out the umbilical cord, but I wonder if it was putrid  intestinal contents that filled the abdominal cavity.  Hopefully this is the only birth defect this lambing season.

It's a month before spring officially starts so it must be time for my annual blooming acacia photo. How can I resist that intense color?

More lambs

These are Terraza's lambs-twin ewes. Sire is Tioga.

This is Savor and Tioga discussing fatherhood.

Lambs!

Here are the first lambs (except for the unexpected twins last month from a ewe that was bred when I got her).

Posting these photos makes me think of the contrast in my lambing set-up and that of other sheep farmers. My ewes have it pretty easy. When the weather is wet and cold and windy they are able to be in the barn.  My heart goes out to those farmers and their flocks who have to battle the elements. Yesterday I spent time in the driving rain cleaning out the ditches and diverting water away from the barn, but nothing was really that serious. When we had a dairy I always hated winter weather because it was just not possible to get all of the cows out of the mud and rain.  I'm hoping for  milder spring weather soon!

Lift kit for a computer

If you're a teen-age boy or anyone I guess who likes big trucks and car stuff then you'll know what it means to lift a truck (as opposed to the way Superman does it). After a couple of weeks of tax preparation at my computer my back was bothering me. Having had two back surgeries because of sciatica I am very nervous when I have any issues with my back or hip. It's the sitting that causes problems. A lot of times I'd rather be standing.  I said something about needing one of those fancy desks that rise when you push a button. Here's my husband's solution.

Hey, it works! I'm standing right now and I have a bar stool chair if I do want to sit.

Yesterday I went to a class sponsored by the Small Business Development Center. I am going to another tonight on Web Marketing. They offer a variety of classes and also have counseling services for business issues. I found out that there is even someone who will help me get Quickbooks cleaned up! I am so glad to have found this resource. I only hope that they aren't wiped out by the state's financial mess.

Learn to Weave class

I had back-to-back classes last weekend. The day after my v-shawl class I taught a Learn to Weave class. Here are the projects on the looms:

Mary chose 4 bright colors of Jaggerspun Lambspun wool and wove a sampler that looks good enough to wear as a scarf.

Susan wove a twill scarf using natural colored wool.

Dona wanted to weave a wall hanging of green fields, spring flowers, and sheep. She was very creative in her choice and placement of weft yarns and weave structure to depict parts of the landscape. She will embellish the piece with a few flower buttons and wooden sheep.

A very successful class and a fun weekend!

V-Shawl Class

I taught a v-shawl class last week. It's always fun to see the variety in these shawls. The v-shawl is warped for double weave. The fronts of the shawl are woven with two shuttles and the back is woven by cutting one pair of warp threads at a time and weaving them in as weft.

Tina chose natural colored Rambouillet and Jacob yarns.

Jackie used brown Rambouillet and a space-dyed yarn for accent.

Marilyn used softball cotton in natural and tan with accents of ribbon and a novelty yarn.

Yolanda has space-dyed wool yarn with a blue stripe.

These are the shawls right off the loom so there has been no finishing of fringes.

The back view shows the designs that you get from the warp stripes.

Sunset

It rained all day today, but here is what the sky was like a few evenings ago.

A Fiber Weekend

I spent the weekend at the Sacramento Weavers and Spinners Open House. When I wasn't helping in the Sales Area I demonstrated carding with my Ashford drum carder.  I chose a fleece from the November shearing and washed it in two batches. I also wanted to experiment with my new Power Scour to find out how much I needed to get the wool clean.  The first 2 pounds of greasy wool weighed about 1 1/2 pounds when cleaned. I don't think I got all of the lanolin out so I'll probably increase the amount of Scour for the next batch. Even if there was still a bit of lanolin in the fiber it carded beautifully. I took this batch to the Open House on Saturday and here is what it looks like after carding.

That will provide a lot of spinning time. I was sure impressed with the drum carder. It breezed through that fiber.

These are a couple of skeins spun by a friend of mine using fleeces she bought from me. Aren't they lovely? The wool in the lower skein is blended with carded sari silk which adds beautiful flecks of color.

This is a close-up of one of the pieces I had at the show. It is a tencel scarf woven in undulating twill.

There are some very talented weavers in SWSG. Here are a couple of stunning pieces woven by members.

The warp for this screen is silk covered wire and it is woven with rice paper "yarn" if I remember correctly. (I thought that I'd remember from yesterday to today without taking a close up photo of the tag.)

Green Grass

Now that it's warm the grass is growing and the pasture has finally dried out enough to put the sheep out. However, there was a break in the electric fence and I couldn't turn the sheep out until I fixed it. I finally got to that today.

"Can't you hurry up and let us out?"

The rams are left behind in their bachelor quarters.

Farm Club Goes to the City

The Meridian Jacobs Farm Club usually spends their days at the farm playing with sheep and fiber, but last fall we started thinking about a field trip when FC member, Kathy, told us about the Home of the Native Daughters of the Golden West. (Apologies to recent FC members because the reservations were made long ago. We'll definitely do this again.)  

This was the weekend and what a weekend it was! The weather was gorgeous (apologies to everyone who does not live in CA.) I picked up Shelby and Jackie in Suisun and then we all drove to Napa to pick up Kathy. What a bummer that Tina had to stay home with the flu.

How much stuff do 4 people need for a 24 hour trip? (We wouldn't want to run out of projects or books.)

We drove from Napa to 101 and then turned south. We took the last exit before the Golden Gate Bridge and drove through the Marin Headlands, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. First stop was to get out and look over the cliffs to see sea lions below. Can you believe that view?

The next stop was the Marine Mammal Center. There were only a few sea lions there right now but we were told that the place would be full in the next month or so because it's almost birthing season for sea lions. (Is that calving?) The goal here is to heal the animals brought here and then send them back out to sea. Do you think Kathy wants to trade her goats for one of these?

Shelby wants to take home this full size elephant seal.

After a brief side trip to a yarn shop in Sausolito so that Kathy wouldn't be the only one without a knitting project we drove into San Francisco and arrived at the Home on Baker Street. This home was designed by Julia Morgan, who also designed Hearst Castle, and built in 1928.

These are other nearby homes, referred to as "painted ladies".

This is the entrance hall to the NDGW Home. I can't remember the name of the lady on the wall, but she is the resident ghost of the home. It's hard to describe this home. It was built and is now maintained "for aid and comfort of NDGW members". There are 27 (?) bedrooms, a huge kitchen, dining room, meeting room, atrium, magnificent parlor, pioneer archives, museum and it's all available for members to use for a nominal fee. Wow! A place of sanctuary in the big city. The NDGW  raises money for a variety of worthy causes besides maintaining the home--scholarships, children's medical care, preservation of the CA missions, maintaining a pioneer roster, etc. Members  must be born in California. I'm a 4th generation Californian and I'm going to sign up!

The rooms are all decorated differently with beautiful old furniture. It didn't take Jackie long to get out the knitting.

We walked a block to a great Mexican restaurant and spent the rest of the evening knitting in the parlor wearing our pajamas.

There is a huge fully outfitted kitchen at the Home, but we didn't think ahead enough to bring groceries. However, there was a great pie and ice cream shop just up the street. We brought this lemon buttermilk pie home for our breakfast.

Before leaving on Sunday morning we nabbed a passerby who took this photo.

And in case the pie wasn't enough for breakfast we made one more stop before getting back to Napa.

Back to the farm. This is Kathy's place and her goats, Willow and Lily.

Great friends, great weather, great weekend. But's its always nice to get home.

Sunset at Asilomar

I spent Wednesday and Thursday at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, CA attending the Eco-Farm Conference. Good topics, great food, and look at the view from the room!

Farm Club helps out again!

Lambs are due in about a month. That means that the ewes ready for their annual vaccinations. They get Covexin which protects against a variety of diseases caused by Clostridium bacteria including tetenus. They also get MUSE, which supplies selenium and Vitamin E.  By vaccinating at this time in gestation the ewe's milk will provide a high level of antibody protection to their lambs. What's a farmer to do? Call in the Farm Club! We have 3 regular Farm Days a year, but Farm Club members enjoy coming out more often and I am sure grateful for the help and the comraderie.

Shelby and Tina teamed up to vaccinate sheep. Shelby, person, is holding Shelby, sheep.

Dona held sheep while I vaccinated.

Mary and Kathy kept syringes loaded and ready to go.

Tina spent some time at the manure pile. It's too wet to get the tractor out to the pile so re-stacking the pile needs to be done by hand (or pitchfork). It's a good workout!

We spent the afternoon enjoying the sunny day. Notice the milk mustaches on these two. The lambs, that is!

The meaning of WWW

To my friends  it means Weekly Weaving Workshop. It is usually the Wednesday Weaving Workshop, but is sometimes on Friday. I have had a request for an evening group. Is that  EWWW? Maybe not.

Modeling three circle shawls. The one in the middle is the prototype that Diane brought a year ago. We analyzed the fabric construction and the design of the piece, after which Chris and I both wove shawls. Check out the back of these shawls:

Yesterday's WWW was truly Wonderful--soaking up the January sun and talking about our favorite pastime!

Maybe I'll change the name to WX4= Wonderful Wacky Weaving Women.

American Sheep Industry Convention

I spent the last two days at the ASI Convention in Reno. I caught a ride with a couple of friends who also raise sheep. (See Flying Mule Blog in my links). I didn't take too many photos and I can't believe that I didn't take a photo of the best part of the trip. That was the Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning sessions presented by Ranch Management Consultants. Dave Pratt is a gifted speaker (who happens to be my brother) and teaches a business school for ranchers. His classes and 6-day school are very intense, but so valuable. Every time I hear him speak I "get it" a little better.

I had my new video camera with me and found my self wandering in the nearly empty casino filming, but I didn't take anything worth showing to anyone else. I did take a few still photos.

These are some magnificent Merino and Merino x Rambouillet rams, the only sheep in sight at the convention. The ranch also displayed some fine Merino fleeces. I wish that I could harvest a 20 lb fleece!