I spent the day in Sacramento at the annual Open House. I took my new extra wide Ashford drum carder. Wow, is it a workhorse!
I washed two fleeces last night so that I'd have something to work on and I carded half of each.
I love this new carder and I can't wait until I have time to spin this wool.
Summer is waiting, but that's not the season. It's Summer, the sheep.
This is Summer on January 5.
January 17.
This is today, February 5. I don't have a breeding date for Summer but I don't think she lost any time after I put Clint in with her group. About a week ago I started giving her a little grain at feeding time, along with Paulette, who I know is pregnant with triplets after an ultrasound.
They both have to share their grain with the chicken who now comes running when she sees me get the grain bowls out.
I took these photos a couple of weeks ago after our one and only January storm.
Dina
Lola
Hot Lips
Stephanie
Faulkner
Amaryllis
TNNA is The National Needle Arts Association. I have just been at the winter trade show in Phoenix. This is where wholesalers show their newest lines of yarns, accessories, and gadgets and retailers make selections while trying not to max out their credit cards.
Sunrise over Phoenix from the 6th floor of the Hilton. I stayed with my good friend, Irene, owner of Cotton Clouds.
This is the inside of the Hilton looking down from the 6th floor. I reminded me of the space-age Jetson's. (I know this dates me.) The Hilton was a nice hotel, but the internet was down for the last night we were there. That was frustrating as I wanted to work on my new newsletter (stay tuned) and the blog. But there were other things to keep us entertained.
Inside the Phoenix Convention Center.
I took a class on Thursday afternoon and in the evening went to Sample It where retailers can purchase selected items from the vendors so that they have something to take home. Look at what I got!
The show opened on Friday with an Apache blessing.
This is the first show since the Spinning & Weaving Group became a part of TNNA. Their debut was marked by some fun garments in the fashion show...
...and a beautiful blanket.
Irene and I spent time discussing new weaving projects and choosing items for both of our stores.
Someone who will remain nameless pretending that she is not in a booth full of wool.
Irene and I have been friends for 31 years. We had a great time together and I am grateful to her for helping me with things relating to my business. (I'm also grateful that she had a car in Phoenix and is willing to ship all my clothes home to me because I couldn't take them and my new books and fun samples home on the plane.)
There is a photoshoot next week for the Fibershed Marketplace and I have wanted to get some new items ready for it. I have boxes of yarn that I have intended to use and have just never got to. Now is the time. In fact, my goal is to use up all of these boxes by the end of the year.
First box--Single ply Jacob yarn spun years ago at Yolo Wool Mill.
Three scarves in a plaited twill. They feel nice, but have a few issues. They curl at the edges because this is an unbalanced twill--warp emphasis on one side and weft emphasis on the other. Besides that the center stripe turned out to be something else. It probably has some llama fiber in it--it has less elasticity than the rest so it puckers. Are these design features? It serves me right for keeping yarn for so long that I don't remember what it is.
Second box. Full of funky, slubby, heavy handspun yarn, mostly spun by my mom--that means it was many years ago. It will make wonderful throws.
Here it is going on to the loom.
I wove two blankets using the handspun as warp and the finer singles yarn from the first box for weft. Handspun yarn has such a nice feel to it--I don't think you can duplicate that with millspun yarn.
Third box--heavy 2-ply mill-spun Jacob yarn.
On the loom.
I was going to make ponchos, but I took this off the loom and decided that it was a great shawl (and if it was a shawl it was finished--no cutting and sewing). It is very soft with wonderful drape.
Three boxes started. I haven't counted how many more to go.
Lambing won't start for 4 weeks but there are some ewes that look as though they shouldn't wait that long, especially when you realize that 70% of total fetal growth occurs during the last third of pregnancy.
Sparkle was bred as soon as I put her with the ram. She is due February 18, a month away.
I don't have a breeding date for Summer, but she is obviously pregnant.
I'll be surprised if she doesn't have triplets.
Jimmy is out there with the ewes and he is a very luck sheep. Most males that do not make the cut as breeding rams end up in the freezer. When he was a young lamb, I thought Jimmy had breeding potential. In fact I had a buyer for him. She was very disappointed when, after taking a closer look at him at about 3 1/2 months of age, I would not sell him for breeding. I was knew that his lower horn on the left would be a problem, but what was not obvious until I looked more closely was the freckling.
In this photo you can't see the freckling, but when I parted the fleece I could see it. Freckling in a young lamb is a disqualifying trait for Jacob sheep registration. It increases with age and it is almost as if a spotted sheep turns into an overall gray sheep. Jimmy has a beautiful fleece (although not appropriate for a breeding ram) so I decided to keep him as a wether. The horn issue was dealt with when he was castrated because, without testosterone, the horn growth slows drastically.
Why keep a wether? When you have to separate a ram for whatever reason, he needs a buddy to keep him company. Sheep do not do well by themselves. The other wether I have right now is Jerry (nice fleece, but too much black for a breeding ram)...
...and he is Faulkner's permanent buddy.
Wow! Look at that grass!
This photo was taken a few years ago in early February.
Here is another that shows the edge of the pasture.
This is the same field as in the first photo and the larger pasture is in the background. Why the difference? No rain.
The Central Valley of California has a Mediterranean climate--hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. We count on the winter rains (and snow in the mountains), starting some time in October or November and continuing through April or May (and last year, into June) to fill reservoirs, replenish aquifers, and to grow grass. Normally the annual grasses start growing when it rains in the fall and when it gets warmer in the spring the grass growth takes off and we get the kind of growth as seen in that first photo. The annual grasses dry out in the spring, but can still provide feed through the summer when properly managed. The cycle starts over with the next fall rains.
I have irrigated pasture. I usually have the best of two worlds. I take advantage of that lush spring growth of annual plants...
...but I start irrigated in May or June. Through the summer, when livestock on dry land eat dry feed, my sheep eat perennial forages that include clovers and birdsfoot trefoil.
The perennial plants drastically slow their growth in the winter but rely on winter rain to grow strong root systems and be ready to support new growth in the summer. Look at the next photo taken two weeks ago.
Annual grasses that germinated after the good rain in November have since died. Some plants are still trying valiantly to hang on but there is virtually no growth. The dry grass in this photo is the remnants of the late summer growth of less desirable yellow foxtail and bermudagrass.
This photo is behind the barn. That clump of grass in the foreground is under the place where any moisture (fog, dew) drips off the roof. Had there been normal rainfall the whole place would look like that.
Let's hope we see the rain that has been promised for this week so we can look forward to this scene soon.
I made new buttons this week. This is a multi-step process and after each step I know that I have not priced my buttons too high. If I were to show all the steps the first photo would be the head of a sheep (butchered for meat). Then there would be the photo of cutting the horns off the dead head. (Lately this step has been done by the person who butchers sheep, but I used to have to do that myself.) The next step is letting the horns sit in a bucket of water for a week or so. The hotter the weather the better, because the slimy parts that are between the bony core and the outside horn get rotten and smelly and then I can pull the outer horn off. Then I'm left with this:
I use a band saw to cut the horns into button shapes. That was a huge improvement over the table saw. I could easily cut a finger off with the band saw but it is probably not as likely as with the table saw. These are pieces that are ready for the next step:
I still need to drill holes and sand these buttons. Then I finish each button with polyurethane.
Rounded buttons.
Squarish buttons.
Shawl pins (without the pin part).
These are for sale on my website
What did I do to deserve such good friends? Look at my Christmas present from Jackie.
These are four placemats. Jackie bought fiber from me, then spun it, knit it, felted it, and then needlefelted the designs. (Is that little red hen in the corner Jackie's self-portrait?)
Here are close-ups:
Amaryllis
Hudson is the lilac ram so he is on a mat of lilac wool.
This is the bantum chicken that hangs out in the barn.
Stephanie
Thanks so much, Jackie. This is an amazing gift.
One of the things on my Christmas list was a light reflector for helping with photography. This is a big round disc with changeable covers to give reflect light in different ways. After figuring out how to get better product photos by using manual settings on my camera, I was still limited by being able to direct light in the best way. I still have a lot to learn, but this is a start. These photos are of a beautiful Targhee yarn that I just got back from the mill.
The photo above was taken using my camera on automatic. Yuck.
The yarn is in the same place but I have the gold cover on the disc. I also changed the camera to using manual settings for aperture and shutter speed, but I kept those the same for all the following photos.
This is the photo using the gold. It's a pretty photo, but probably doesn't show the true color of the yarn.
This is the cover that is not reflective, but diffuses light as it shines through.
Here is the yarn using that diffuse light. Not bad.
Here is a white reflective cover...
and the yarn. The yarn looks ok but there is more of a blue background.
How about the silver reflective cover?
This is the photo using the silver cover.
There are other variables of course--especially how my computer monitor displays the color and how your monitor displays the color. Those may be two different things.
And while I'm at it, here is a photo of felt that I got back from the mill last month. This is incredibly soft.
Look at the back side of that felt. Isn't that cool? I think this will inspire something interesting.
I got a new loom! It wasn't from Santa. I realized that if I was going to try to sell Schacht looms I'd better have some examples here. I have the smaller looms, but not a large floor loom. So the week before Christmas my loom came. It's an 8-shaft, 46" loom and I ordered a double back beam and sectional beam. Wow! What should the first project be? Fortunately I didn't have time to worry about the appropriate first project. I had an order to weave a chenille throw and I'd been putting it off. The deadline was Christmas.
Here is the first warp on my new loom. I think that a 46" wide chenille throw is a worthy project for the occasion.
Back view of the loom (before adding the extra beam or even the rest of the treadle tie-ups.
The piece on the left is the original throw that I was to duplicate. The loom was a joy to weave on, even with a 46" wide warp. I am thrilled and can't wait to wind the next warp.
In the meantime I had a deadline for a piece to (hopefully) be used in the next issue of Handwoven.
This was finished yesterday and mailed today. Its a v-shawl out of yarn called Bambu Lace.
About a month ago I got an e-mail asking for favorite sheep photos so that they could be used for the 2012 Jacob Sheep Breeders calendar. This year's calendar is very different from previous calendars. JSBA member, Julie, who happens to live nearby, offered to create artwork from the photos to use for the calendar. Julie is a wonderful artist and the calendar is a special treat, complete with Jacob yarn binding. As a special surprise, each of us whose photos were used were given the original artwork.
This is Fanny, my oldest ewe. I absolutely love it. Thank you so much, Julie!
Chris and Meryl wanted to make Christmas cookies. They discovered that it didn't work with chocolate chip cookie dough (although that didn't stop us from eating the cookies). Next batch was using a more traditional recipe.
The original idea was to frost the cookies later, but then I got out the food coloring and sprinkles.
Each successive batch was more interesting (creative).
I had to leave before this batch was finished. What fun to have grown up kids in the house!
It's been foggy in the Sacramento Valley, but this last few days we have been just west of the fog. It was here this morning but is burning off.
The sheep greeted me as I went out this morning.
See the 3 sheep in the middle of this photo? Paulette is the farthest right of those three. We did preg checks on her and the other 2 sheep who are the ewes I breed in February to lamb at State Fair in July. When we brought her in I thought that she had quite a belly for an open ewe. She's pregnant with triplets. No State Fair for her this year. Faulkner had got through the fence a couple of months ago and although I gave her an injectable form of the "morning-after" pill I guess it didn't work. So those are three little BFL/Jacob lambs she's carrying.
Why is Amaryllis standing here when everyone else is in the pasture? Those of you that know the flock will probably guess.
Because that's where Stephanie is.
Here are the rams. In the foreground left to right: Ruby Peak Linden, Meridian Clapton (lambs)
Center: Meridian Fogerty (lamb)
Background front to back: Mud Ranch's Hudson, Sweetgrass Clint, Puddleduck Sullivan (lamb).
This is Faulkner and his Jacob buddy, Jerry.
And, of course, Rusty is out here with me--staring at shadows.
My shadow weave piece is on the cover of the January/February 2012 Handwoven magazine.
This is a close-up of the shawl.
This is a close-up of another one using variegated yarn.
This is the third time I've had something on the cover of this magazine.
These are not all spinning projects but they are pieces made by the talented ladies who took this class.
Paula needle felted this cat...
...and this sheep.
She and her mom felted these bunnies. These kits and many more are available here.
This is some Jacob yarn. I think this is Yolanda's.
Jean spun this blue yarn.
Debbie stayed a little after class to choose Jacob buttons for her in-progress cape. Isn't this a beautiful project?
Today was the third and last class in a Learn to Spin series. I got distracted before I got photos of everyone's yarn, but here are a few to share.
This is Debbie's first yarn (Jacob, of course) and she is knitting a scarf. Isn't that gorgeous?
This photo uploaded OK, but now nothing else will upload. This post Will Be Continued....
I know where I will be. I just transferred the breeding notes from my clipboard to my 2012 calendar (while learning to use the calendar in my Mac) and look what I discovered. I knew that a lot of sheep were bred all at once, but it's more striking when I see it in this format.
That's 23 ewes due in a 5 day span. I usually aim for March 1 lambs, but I got antsy and thought I'd start breeding a week earlier. After all, my friends will all be lambing and I'll want to have a few of my own before the rush starts in March. I thought wrong. There are about 30 more in addition to those first 23. I guess I'll be warmed up by the time they lamb.
I've been finishing up registration applications for this year's lambs. It's interesting to look at baby photos of sheep.
This is 11038, now known as Rosie. Notice how her pink nose develops pigment as she gets older.
Rosie was developing very nice horns and I had my eye on her from the start as one I wanted to keep. She got in the ram pen when she was a few months old and, in trying to get back with the ewes, she broke off both horns. They are still stubby, but stout.
Here is another. This is ram lamb 11094, the last ram of 2011, and sired by Sweetgrass Clint.
He is named Clapton and will be the sire of several lambs in 2012.
Clapton doesn't look quite so nice after shearing...
...but his fleece is sure pretty.
Last weekend we held our second annual Holiday Market. As we were getting things set up we thought that something was missing.
This is the fabulous metal artwork that Shaunie Briggs made for me. What more could it need?
Jackie was the hands behind the creation of all those scarves. Thanks, Jackie! Very festive.
We're wondering now we'll need to provide hats in the summer and rain slickers when it's stormy.
I spent the morning at The Artery. I December we spread into the gallery so that all the artists have more space for their displays.
This is my space.
This is one of three handspun wool scarves that I just finished.
The latest v-shawl.
A v-shawl I wove with handspun yarn. I wore this one at Black Sheep Gathering in the Spinners Lead.
As I was walking to my car I picked up these leaves. The colors reminded me of the last batch of scarves that I wove. However, they don't look very brilliant in this photo. (I am happy with my new i-phone, but the photos are lacking something in the color--I feel like I'm looking through fog. Anyone else have that issue? I think I need to go back to the store and talk to someone.)
I got home just in time for WWW. We talked about weaving, but we also spent some time working on a felting project. I want to put together some kits for needlefelting Christmas ornaments and the WWW's did my product testing.
Here are some results. We'll be making these at our Holiday Market this weekend.
As soon as we were finished in the shop I helped my brother shoot a video for his business, Ranch Management Consultants. I thought I was going to be holding the camera, but I had to be the performer while he filmed. There are probably no Emmies in my future.
At Meridian Jacobs farm we raise Jacob sheep and sell locally grown wool fiber, yarn, and handwoven goods. We teach fiber classes and sell Ashford, Clemes & Clemes, and Schacht spinning and weaving equipment. We encourage farm visits with field trips and our unique Farm Club.
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