Sheepie Softness

This is what I plucked from Charlie this morning. This is some of his neck fiber. He is coming into the rise....meaning his fiber is at a break , where the old meets the new, and he is nearly ready to be rid of his winter coat. He was more than happy to let me "roo" him just as long as I didn't pull too hard and scratched under his chin every now and then. He let me know when he was done. This morning's yield was 1/2 an ounce of some very lovely neck fiber. Incredibly soft with lots of very fine crimp and elasticity. I hope Charlie will let me "roo" him a bit more over the next few days. It would be lovely to have a few ounces of neck fiber to play with. 

I had thought about roo'ing all of him but think its best to let him keep his coat for now. We are still getting pretty cold temperatures at night (tonight it's supposed to dip down to 28). The shearer will be here at the end of the month. I think everyone will hang onto their winter coats until then....due to the colder temperatures. 

I know I'm getting older....just don't feel older. There's been all the usual things to let me know I'm older. Like my kids moving out.....and my youngest getting married. Sure I get the achy joints when I've over done it....and I'm not as quick as I used to be. Still....I don't feel older. This carries over into my flock. I know they are older but it doesn't feel like it. When I look out in pasture all I see is a young playful flock. Sure my guardian llama has some gray in his tail. And my Shetland black ewe now has more silver in her outer coat. And the twins move a bit slower than they used to. It wasn't until I started looking at my flock book that I realized exactly how old my fiber flock is. This in turn got me thinking about bringing a ram in so I can breed my " younger " ewes thereby continuing my flock. I've got a lead on an older ram from good stock. He belongs to my shearer (who also raises Shetlands). Now to determine whether I will be buying a ram or simply "borrowing" him for a bit. Thankfully I've got plenty of time to get things all worked out and my shearer is an amazing person that I've known and worked with for over 10 years now.

Amazing how quickly time passes.....