Getting ready for VT Sheep & Wool Festival

Today I'm getting ready for the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival that is this weekend, September 6 & 7 at the Champlain Valley Expo in Essex Junction.

I'm dyeing up a storm. I told Tim that I was going to be dyeing and his remark was how, by drowning, electrocution, etc. and I told him via chemicals (I know we have a weird sense of humor).

This is some of the roving I've dyed already. Have one left that's working, so will see how that one does.
Here are some shots of them close up so you can really see the colors. This first one is almost a celadon green. Not what I think of when I think of kelly green. This next one is a combo of bright red (that looks more pinkish), burgundy (that looks kind of purplish) and yellow. Makes me think of Easter.
This next one is blue and some hint of a bluish green. Want to hit the beach anyone? Or maybe think of an iceberg?

This next one was a feeble attempt to get something orangy that would make people think of fall. It's sort of that, but I'm not too sure!

I've also been dyeing and stitching up some cedar "stash"ets. Here are a few that I need to piece together. Now how did I get that middle one so orangy?? And no, I don't take notes when dyeing, just like to shoot from the hip and hope I don't get anything that looks like puke!

I was kind of bummed that the S&W festival is the same time as the AGM in Wisconsin, so I'll be missing all the Shetland people going to that. If you're in my neck of the woods, stop by the festival and say howdy. I'll be in a booth with Sunrise Hill Angoras and Studio One Photography (Ruth's DH).

What happened in Michigan

Okay, I'm trying to be better. Two weekends ago, DH and I went to Michigan. On the way out we dropped off a ewe lamb to Kara. Our main mission for going out to Michigan was genetics! We have a number of rams on the farm that all link back to Wilkins, our lovable head ram. We were looking at two ram lambs from Gail Former and at the time a ram lamb and adult ewe from Stephen Rouse.

We looked at all of Stephen's sheep and it was like being a kid in a candy store. I want that one, and that one, and that one. Restraint prevailed and a bit of common sense (do we really need another unrelated ewe, even though she's awfully cute?) and so we left at the end of the weekend with a black gul ram lamb from Stephen and a nicely crimped moorit/fawn ram lamb. So far, they're not named and we're calling the one gul boy and the other uber crimpy. Any suggestions out there??

From Gail, we were looking at a mioget ram lamb (which we purchased) named Bach. We also leased a moorit ram lamb who carries the modifier gene named Coltrane. This second guy, if I'm remembering correctly, doesn't have iset in his background. That's a nice bonus.

While there we also enjoyed the MFF (Michigan Fiber Fest - for those of you not in the know). It was a nice event. Got to see more Shetlands and Shetland people. Enjoyed putting faces to the names that are out in cyberspace. Also did a bit of shopping, not too much, since the big shopping was the ram lambs! More about that little shopping later.

At the end of the trip we went home with 9 sheep and 1 French Angora bunny in the truck and trailer. Two Shetlands were dropped off to Rich Johnson in New York, Nadine Chounet picked up one Shetland, and Becky Colpitts picked up two ENORMOUS sheep (one BFL yearling and a UK Suffolk yearling). Ruth Ticknor was the proud owner of the FA rabbit, that she came to pick up, too.

That was some trip and I'm still exhausted thinking of it. We left Michigan on Sunday around noon and got home Monday morning at 5 to 5:30am. Lots of gas stops and bathroom breaks (checking on the sheep the whole time) and the one stop to give Rich his sheep.

Getting back into the groove

Okay, so I'm bad about blogging. There are only so many hours in the day to do stuff and my life is kind of busy. I had intended on blogging on a regular basis, but got out of the habit. Then I thought that it'd be fun to blog when there are only lambs on the ground. We all know that lambs are the cutest thing in the world, but I didn't get to that this year because we were in Hawaii during lambing. Okay, not during the whole time, but pretty much. We missed two out of four births because we were away.

We also got chicks this year and they arrived in the mail (from Texas) the day after we got back home. The picture below shows the Partridge Chanteclers. We have 6 pullets and 2 roos of that breed and also got the Barred Hollands with the same pullet and roo numbers.

Now for the why I'm getting back in the groove. One reason - guilt. Tim and I went to Michigan during the MFF (Michigan Fiber Festival) and met a bunch of Shetland people. We went to get different ram genetics and managed to pick up 4 new boys (3 purchased and one rental). While there, we spent time with some Shetland folks we hadn't seen in at least two years, if not longer and got to meet others that we only knew through the web. One of those people was Garrett Ramsay, a fellow Sagittarian, who's blog resides here. He made my first and only comment on the blog and told me to update this thing. So here goes, Garrett, this blog post is for you. :-)

Look what I did!

Hi, my name is Maybelle Sabrina and I'm a white Shetland Sheep. Today was my day to shine. It's now official, I'm a MOM! I gave birth to a healthy ewe lamb at 9:21 a.m. Shepherdess mom was patiently waiting for me to give her another wonderful baby and I did a good job. Shepherdess mom was coaching me through my labor. Here's some shots of my sweet little baby girl. She's white, just like me!

Lambs are growing!

Here's a few pictures of the lambs. The one below is Belja (musket blettet ram lamb with possible scurs) on the left and #7 (black krunet ewe lamb) on the right. They are from Mulan and Wilkins.

This is a picture of Flik (musket blettet/flecket ram lamb) on the left and #9 (moorit or musket ewe lamb) on the right. They are from Sassy Too and Wilkins. This is a picture of Bergelmir (gre blettet/flecket ram lamb) from Sylph and Wilkins.
This is a picture of #11 (moorit or musket ram lamb) from Celebrian and Wilkins.

The second round of lambing will be starting shortly. Keep posted for more lambs.

Keep them guessing

Hi all, my name is Sabbath Farm Celebrian and I'm a moorit Shetland ewe. Moorit is a nice chocolatey brown color. I surprised shepherd dad with a ram lamb in the field when he got home. He had to do some quick work to get a lambing jug ready, so he evicted Sassy Too out of hers and cleaned it up. That is right, I don't want to be having MY baby walking around in the same straw and hay that Sassy did. If you look at the picture below, you'll see the little cutie. He weighed in at 7 pounds. I know that Sylph wanted a post next of her ram lamb's "cute" face, but you can't beat a face with no spots. Dear me, what a horrible thing to happen to a lamb! Mine is perfect with just a few white hairs on the top of his head. I blame that white completely on his father. I can't control everything, can I? Well, enough of this, here's a picture of him (I think the s.m and s.d are calling him #11 or some such).

Bringing in May in style!

Hi, my name is Sabbath Farm Sylph. I'm the grey ewe on the left hand side. I had a really hard morning today. I started to go into labor at 2:40am and finally at 3:10am gave birth to a very big ram lamb. He weighed 8.2 pounds at birth. He is really cute and I've asked shepherdess mom to post a picture of him. Here he is:


I'll try to get shepherdess mom to take a better picture of his adorable face. She thinks I'm a great mom as I did well lambing him and have been very attentive to his needs.