Winter Musings

Thought I would share a few pictures of how winter is going around here. Since my last post a few more winter storms have moved through the area leaving us with about 3 feet of snow. My poor sheep have to jump if they expect to get anywhere. So they stick to the paths that have been kept clear for them using the snow blower......or the paths that they have created from walking in the same tracks time and time again. Needless to say everyone is staying pretty close to the barns. With the exception of Levi, that is. For some reason he seems to think it's wonderful fun jumping through the snow. :.) I guess that's part of being a young, playful llama.

Today brought us rain instead of the usual snow. It was nice in that it helped clear many of the roads. Not so nice in that it now added weight to what was fluffy, light snow. So the morning was spent cleaning off shed roofs.....and around the skylights on the house. Both barns have metal roofs and the snow is slowly sliding off. The pumphouse has already lost its snowy covering. Of course we are due to have another storm move in tonight and leave behind another 5" of snow.

While it may not be the most fun always having to make sure paths and the driveway are clear, the snowy weather has made for some very good spinning. I have managed to spin up 3 more skeins of bulky weight karakul yarn and am just about finished with a bobbin of Shetland singles (which will eventually be sock yarn). I have also brought in the fleece from my older llama, Cavi. I am going to run it through the picker and then spin it from the fluff. I had a vision of spinning it into a nice bulky yarn and then knitting up a felted llama (or two) with it. He gets sheared again in the spring and I really don't want to have two of his fleeces to deal with.....espeically since Levi will be sheared the following spring. I think one llama fleece a year is more than enough to keep me busy. :.) I won't even mention the 21 Shetland fleeces that I get every spring.

I have been making quite the dent in my Shetland fleeces. I have gone through quite a bit of it and have about five or so fleeces left to play with. A couple of those are earmarked for my use only. No putting them up on my etsy site. If I don't do this then everything will end up on my etsy site and I won't have any for myself. I'm also working on my second (out of three) Karakul fleeces. Looks like I will be buying at least one more Karakul fleece in the new year. And a Scottish Blackface. Love the looks of the sheep, but really don't want to buy any. So the next best thing to buy a fleece to play with. :.)

Have been busy knitting. I knitted up felted kitty for my one daughter. Used Suffolk for that. It didn't felt real well in the places where it was done using an eyelash yarn. That is one breed that will go on my "doesn't felt well" list. I also did a felted sheep out of Karakul....and a felted puppy....also from Karakul. The puppy was for my other daughter. I knitted up a felted winter hat for my loving hubby out of camel. Learned a very valuable lesson there. Camel is hard to felt and becomes very fuzzy when it does felt. Another fiber to add to my "doesn't felt well" list. Finally I knitted up a felted quirrel. That was done using karakul, grey norwegian, and suffolk. Yup, you guessed it! The karakul and gray norwegian felted up beautifully! The suffolk....not so much. Pictures of the felted lamb and felted puppy are below. Not sure if I will post pictures of the felted kitty.....and definitely won't be putting up any pictures of the felted winter hat. The felted squirrel isn't quite done yet....so no pictures there.

I even managed to get some quilting in....believe it or not. A friend asked me for help with a pattern that she really liked. So I took some time one morning and played with it in EQ6. Loved the way it looked so much that I pulled out some Christmas fabric and started cutting. By the afternoon I had all of my blocks sewn together and my rows were partially put together. By the next afternoon I had the rows together and the top done. The quilt is now on the machine and in the process of being machine quilted. It's a wonderful pattern and I'm so happy that my friend brought it to my attention. It's been quite some time since a quilt pattern has caught my attention so much that I just had to make it. It also renewed my interest in quilting. I've been happily stitching away on December's block of the month. Does this mean that my knitting will come to an abrupt end? No. It just means that I will be spending some time working on my applique in between knitting projects. And I tend to spin just about every day. After all, there should be balance if one enjoys several hobbies. :.)