The fleeces look great this year (well, with the exception of our one Clun - she must have slept in the siltiest part of the barnyard!) The Shetland fleeces seemed cleaner and softer than in previous years - or maybe it is just that after a long, cold winter, the feel of fresh Shetland fleeces is irresistible! The Shetlands are all skirted and pictures have been taken. I hope to get those posted on the web site later today, along with a few of the Coopworth that are done, plus our one Jacob and our one Clun Forest.
This past weekend, we resorted the sheep into their respective lambing groups. Most of them were together for shearing - we sorted them back into the ewes who will start lambing this weekend and the ewes who won't start lambing until next month. Some of those girls look like they are ready to pop, so I anticipate the first lambs by Sunday, maybe a day or two earlier if they are having triplets. We also wormed any sheep that seemed to need it.
Sunday, Larry was out in the barn by 4:00 am and by the time I was up shortly before 9:00, the barn was rearranged and ready for lambing to start. We have six jugs (small pens to hold the ewe and her newborn lambs for a day or two after birth) set up, ready to go with hay feeders - I still have to get the water buckets and feed buckets attached. The nursery area is all set to go when needed - just have to shut it off from the rest of the barn with a panel and a gate, when it is needed. Nursery area - a penned area for new moms and their lambs to go to after they come out of the jugs - there they get to "socialize" with other new moms and lambs, but they don't have to deal with the ewes who haven't lambed yet.
I have been working on a knitting project. The dishcloth pattern that was my grandmother's that was mentioned in an earlier post - well, I knit up a bunch of dishcloths to be distributed to the cousins, along with a copy of the pattern, written in my grandmother's hand. I don't know if they'll want a handknit dishcloth (I personally think they would make nice face cloths, you know, exfoliation), but they will have something of Grandma's, sort of, through me.
There's eight there, with a ninth on the needles. I still have to weave in the ends on most of them. The colors were fun, although they may not show up well on the picture. Today is grey and rainy, kind of cool and windy. Which is part of the reason I decided to work on the blog and the web site today - good day to stay indoors as much as possible drinking a hot cup of tea or coffee.
Well, that's what I've been doing. What have you been doing?
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