Shearing Day

We sheared on Sunday. What a gorgeous day for shearing (but hoping that the weather doesn't continue this way--winter shouldn't be over yet).The day before we were cleaning up the area around the barn and pushed the brush pile into the corral area where it's safer to burn. The sheep thought that there might be something worth eating......or scratching on. I didn't want them ruining a whole year of wool growth the night before being shorn so it was time to move them to the barn.I called the dogs in and Ginny got to help with the big group. Sunday: Farm Club members are ready for action.First sheep.Mary is ready to grab and bag the fleece.Wait a minute. These sheep don't look right.Cute, but not the right sheep.We started the day with 10 sheep from another farm.  We told John (shearer) that was his warm-up.We got underway with the Jacobs. Farm Club members did all the work. Visitors watched. and I changed gates and moved sheep while playing with my camera.Here John is shearing Dazzle......while Amy holds her lamb.I think this is my favorite photo of the day. Peggy and Caroline babysit twins while their mom is being shorn.

Itchy

In the last post I shared photos of sheep that were overdue for shearing. I'm pleased to say that most of the fleeces looked great when they came off today. There will be other blog posts, but this is a quick one with photos of shorn sheep with something in common.

Overdue for Shearing

The flock is looking rather ragged. It's a good thing we're shearing in two days.Mable.Ginseng.Shelby.Jazz.Noel.Petra.Petra again.I'm not sure who this is but she's certainly round.Speaking of big and round, this is Spring. Last year she was so big that we had a couple of wagers on lambing--when and how many?Isabelle sporting her tech head-gear. The video will be coming soon.

Cute, Cute, Cute

It will still be a few weeks before I have any more lambs so the first three have more than their share of photos.This is Delight with her twins. This is Dazzle with her single lamb. One of the problems I have photographing Jacob sheep is the fact that they have black markings around their eyes. I find that it is hard to expose the photo properly and also be able to see the faces. I edited this lower photo to where I could see the lamb's eyes, although they aren't showing up here very well and the photo looks washed out compared to the top one. Here is another example.

The original is on the left. The black is too black, but I'm not very good at lightening it up just enough to see the eyes better. I lightened the shadows on the one on the right and it looks OK when it stands alone and is not next to the first version. I also tried dodging around that right eye, but it didn't help much. I think I need a lesson.Here is another pair of photos. Which is better? Top or bottom?At least I have CUTE going for me. 

Speaking of cute, can you tell the difference in these two photos? It's not in editing. Try the focus...Ginny's focus, that is.

Meow & Woof Yarn

Who could resist yarns with this theme? I couldn't and I hope that my customers can't. This is one of the most recent additions to the shop. The yarn is dyed to match cats and dogs and some of the proceeds are given back to animal rescue projects.This is a selection of the BFL yarn in fingering weight. That's a light weight yarn often used for knitting socks. You might wonder how purple and pink fit into cat and dog colors. The purple is called "cheshire cat". I still didn't understand how that fit until I googled "cheshire cat" and found that Disney's version of the cheshire cat is indeed purple.What about this one? It's called Kitten Nose Pink.It's easy to see the calico here.These yarns are Merino fingering weight. They come in the same colorways. I bought a variety of each because I couldn't get them all.Here is my first project using one of the yarns. One skein will easily make a scarf.I also tried the Zoom Loom to see how they looked. The yarn is too thin to use singly, but doubled it's great! I have ordered more and wait until you see what those look like. There will be a special surprise yarn as well!

Random Thoughts in Photos

Seen while driving in town the other day...I liked the patterns of the wood. I especially noticed the part that doesn't show up very well here but the bottom right where the heartwood (I think) makes the half circles. Weaving ideas.Also while driving. I was on Pedrick Road east of Dixon. I really wanted a photo of the snow-covered Sierras. It's been awhile since we've had that view. The lens on the phone makes the mountains too far away for that shot, but I like seeing the train.In this shot too.I may have shown this photo before, but I like this sunset view. It makes the mud and swampy "lake" worthwhile.And speaking of lots of water, this was a result of the last storm that came through. This is a very old fig tree that the kids used to play in a long time ago. Note the steps and the treehouse platform. The roots of this tree have been rotten for some time and the dogs often found something to bark at in the hole in the trunk. I'll bet you didn't know that we had giraffes in Solano County. These two are about a mile from here where I take Ginny to herding lessons.And while we're talking about herding, this is Ginny working "her flock" at home.