The boys have names

I sat with the sheep this morning while they were having breakfast. For better or worse, some names came to me. Jeremiah, Seth and Timothy.



In June I bought a Majacraft Suzie Pro. I love this wheel. I have added the high speed head. Did some trading for the lace kit, so I can spin a vast range of yarns and fibers. The wheel had been making some noise and I noticed some *play* in the drive wheel. Not a good thing. Upon investigation it was discovered that the shaft bearing was bad. I called the dealer (wheel is under warranty) and sent pictures of the problem. My dealer is Lisa Souza. WWW.LISAKNIT.COM. Lisa's husband was great. He and I discussed the issues and he called Majacraft which resulted in my being shipped a new drive wheel. Great service! I am a happy spinner. I do have other wheels and spindles, so it was not a total hardship being without Suzie for a few days. But you know how it is when you have a project going.............

Comings and Goings

Yesterday I said goodbye to the twins, Slate and Nubbin. They went to live with a guy that raises Scottish Blackface and trains working dogs. His ram was the one that had his way with Sequoia and that resulted in the birth of the cross bred twin boys.
In their place are triplet wethers that were born this spring. They are Coopworth. I need to name them. Any suggestions?

This and That

RAIN! I emptied FOUR inches of liquid sunshine this morning from last night's storm. I do hope this is a start of a wet winter. I harvested the cotton bolls a couple of weeks ago. (a bit early) I got about 140 bolls from five plants. I have a large zip loc bag full of brown cotton with seeds. I may gin it or just spin from the seed. That is a fun thing to do.

This is a bit of a catch up post. I just cannot seem to find the time to sit down and write often like a lot of you do.

September 26th was National Alpaca day. Four spinners from my group went to an alpaca farm about an hour away.

http://www.alpacas-porterbraypines.com

We had lovely weather and a lot of people came to see the alpacas and things that were offered for sale. I came home with two bags of alpaca wool. One is a lovely almost black and the other is cinnamon. This is the sire just before he broke out of the pen. He wanted to be back with his girls so he put his head under the rail and lifted the side of the pen and then went to the barn! Good thing that there were other alpaca on display. You cannot believe how black this guy is. One gal said that he looks like negative space. It was the first time that we visited the farm and I think we will go again next year. The alpacas are such lovely creatures and those large liquid eyes.............oh my, I am in love.


The first Saturday of the month was the annual Art and Craft in the Park. It is sponsored by the local garden club. There are many vendors with handcrafted items and some really good foods. There is music and dancing too. And of course there are all of the plants for sale by the garden club. One of the gals in our group has a bear that she used as a knitting bear for display. Her son carved some knitting needles for the bear. It did get a lot of attention and kids had their picture taken with the bear. It was a fun day.

cotton

The cotton is coming along.............

I just came in from watering my cotton plants. Planted brown/rust this year and five came up. They have been blooming and setting bolls for a while now. I thought this second day bloom was pretty. Too bad that the blooms do not last longer. First day it is creamy white and the second day it is pink and then it falls off. I love the little *hands* that the plant makes. They hold the boll that forms. I do not, however like them when they are dried up and I am picking the cotton. One has to be very careful not to have them crumble and get all over the fibers.

Okay, so it is not exactly like making a silk purse out of a sows ear.......but.. I have twin CoopworthXScottish Blackface wethers. The wool is not next to the skin soft, so what are my choices? I thought maybe something felted would work well. Yesterday I whipped out a Mesa bowl. Took no time at all to knit. This morning I felted it. Washing machine, hot wash/cold rinse/extra rinse. I did two cycles with old jeans and towels. I like the results. I am thinking that some embellishment is in order. Beads maybe. I think there is enough yarn for at least one more bowl, perhaps two. This is the ball of yarn that was in a previous post about dyeing. I like the shape of the bowl and the name. Mesa. Also that it looks like turquoise. All came together happily. I love it when that happens.

Bobbin Lace

Thought I would show a bit of bobbin lace. Really hard to photograph when it is behind plastic.That is why it only shows part of the ruler. (reflected flash) This is a book mark that I elongated to fit into a ruler. I have been making bobbin lace since 2000. Not a lot of experience yet. I really enjoy exploring it when I have the time. So far, I have only done Torchon and a bit of Bedfordshire. There are so many laces to try and so little time!