As I prepare for the craft fair/farmers market season, I have been madly playing with wool. I have discovered the joy of the felting process, both needle-felting and wet-felting, and have experimented with new items for the Shear Bliss booth this season. My Jacob wool seems ideal for both processes; it felts easily and the natural colors inspire a variety of ideas. Amazingly light and sturdy, the "cobweb felt" scarves are so much fun; it's like a combination of painting and playing with clay: a color and textural thrill. I am inexplicably drawn to spirals. This scarf, just laid out, has grey wool from Tehya (one of our original ewes from Meridian Jacobs; she always produces gorgeous, soft wool) and silk threads from recycled Indian saris. Rather than the typical roll-it-800 times-around-a-pool-noodle method, I invested in a fantastic felting tool from HeartFelt Silks. It's a wooden hand tool with a waffle-texture bottom. Wet-felting is hard, physical work, but the results are so satisfying. And then there's needle-felting. Sometimes the whimsy comes out... I heard somewhere that wool is good for keeping pins sharp, so why not fun, useful pincushions?
I will soon have these new items up on the website.
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I went out to the pasture today, hoping to get some action shots with the lambs, who have been so very entertaining with their 180s and paddock-racing these past few weeks. Instead, I found drowsy sheep in siesta mode. Savoring the precious scenes of lambs and moms sleeping, and thinking about the long process of processing fleeces by hand, I got musing about how this all fits in with the "slow movements" -- the cultural shifts toward slowing down life's pace. Wool is a "slow" fiber; its qualities are well worth the wait, and handspinning the wool is a "slow" activity, nurturing the spirit with meditative calm and the mindfulness one engages in while transforming the fibers into yarn. Check out this extraordinary concept, which expands much of my personal philosophy to a wide community. Unfortunately, our farm is outside the 150-mile radius of the fibershed. Perhaps we can grow this idea here in Plumas County... I'm finally getting to those 15 fleeces that are in bags, taking up half of the living room. It always amazes me how large the fleece is, all laid out, compared with the size of the sheep. And, of course, the cut side of a fleece reveals the beauty of the wool I've been waiting a year for. Now to wash it and get spinning!
I spent the cool of the morning skirting three fleeces; putting the dung-tagged wool in a wheelbarrow for "woolch" (wool mulch--it's great for plants and trees) and some of the less-desirable-for-spinning in a bag to wash to use for felting projects. I've skirted 7 fleeces so far; almost halfway to reclaiming the living room! Fleeces for sale are up on the website now. As a native Californian, having grown up with earthquakes, I never expected to be nervous about one, but our 5.7 quake on Thursday, about 8 miles from here, has me a bit edgy. Take a look at all those aftershocks! Most of them we have felt as little jolts or rolling waves that make balance questionable. Amazingly, the sheep didn't seem to react, but the cat went in the closet for the night and most of the next day. The frequency has diminished, but I caught myself jump when the toast popped out this morning... This was a particularly tough lambing season, with three first-time moms, five of the six lambs born needing some assistance from me, one three and a half pound lamb (Whisper, at left) who needed help finding the udder, and a lost twin. We have, however, six new, lively, beautiful lambs who are so very entertaining to watch leap and gambol, and get lost from their moms, and learn how to be sheep. I was thinking during each ewe's labor, "Why do I do this?" Watching the lambs now, I remember... All the lambs are out of the lambing jugs and down with the rest of the flock now, getting acquainted with Nella (our new guardian llama), trying to dodge horns ("You're not my mother..."), and leaping onto and off of rocks. The lambing shed has been cleaned for next time, thankfully many months away!
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sheep thrills
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