Just thought I would give an update! We were able to bring home our new ram in August. He's a little thing! He has some interesting markings on his face which categorizes him as a sponget. I think they look like little freckles on his face. He really puts me in mind of a clown.

I have sold all of the rams that I needed to for this year. I just have McDuff, Jack Frost (wether) and Buckeye. McDuff will be going home next summer with all the ewes back to Nancy. I'm considering bringing in a Border Leister ram next year to replace him.

The fiber mill contacted me last week to inform me they were getting started on my fleeces. I am not sure how long the processing will take once they get started. It has been 4 months since I shipped them. They had a back order and let me know it would take this long.

I have been knitting a lot lately. I had purchased an online class through Craftsy which walked me through knitting my first sweater. I've always been intimidated by big projects like that but I've always wanted to have my own sweater made by me. It turned out a little big but I'm ok with that. I knitted up the large size when instead I should have gone with a medium.

I didn't use my own yarn for this project since it was my very first sweater. I wanted to make sure I had enough yardage that was all the same weight. It would have taken me a long time to spin enough yarn to complete this project. And I didn't need any excuses to give up before finishing. Perhaps in the future I will attempt it, but for now I'm just so happy that I finished! The buttons are handmade pottery buttons I had an artisan on Etsy make for me. I also added cables to the front to add a little design interest even though the pattern didn't call for it. I took the photo before I had a chance to block it. I was just so relieved to be done!

I have a few more knitting projects that I need to finish up this fall. One is Ava's fair isle horse hat that is taking me FOREVER. I started it over a year ago and it has taken me awhile simply due to the fact that I have to focus without distraction.

Here are the photos from the pattern.

Hopefully it will look like that when I'm finished and have blocked it. And hopefully Ava will like it...and not lose it. That's the thing about putting hours and hours into something like this...it is heart wrenching if something happens to it. Oh well...

I've got a few spinning projects finished. I have photos of some handspun that I had kettle dyed green. Not sure what I'm going to do with it just yet, but I've been thinking of getting the loom out and weaving a scarf. I also had some commercial spun sock yarn that I dyed. I love, love the color! I dyed it a grey and then over dyed with a purple called antique mauve.

I'm experimenting with the different colors so I can develop the process, and the colors I will want to dye the mill spun when it arrives. I believe the antique mauve is a winner.

I saw this image posted on Facebook and had to share:

Life has been super busy this summer, and I hate to see it wrap up. Before I know it, Christmas will have passed and it will be lambing season again!

I'm just trying to enjoy the beautiful fall weather we have been having and anticipate the fall colors that will be arriving soon.

The sheep have been moved and wormed and I'm sure they are all as happy as me to see these fall temps! ☺️

Blessings,

Annie

I had kettle dyed some of my wool top a lovely purple and then experimented with adding texture as I was spinning it into yarn. I had some thick and thin areas and some coils worked it...I really was just experimenting with technique rather than having an end product in mind. I was excited to see what it would look like worked up.

I started to knit with it but the texture was getting lost in the work. I decided to use the rigid heddle loom to emphasize the yarn's uniqueness.

I used hand dyed, handspun that I had from last year's kool-aid dye experiment as the warp. I hand manipulated the bobbles so they stood out as I passed the weft through. I think it turned out interesting!

It may not be the prettiest scarf, but I'm not afraid to wear it!