Spinning, Knitting, Crocheting, Organic Gardening, Living off-grid, and chasing sheep - because- I'm, like, NOT SANE!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Babies!

Since I've been 'missing' from the blog for sooo long (sorry about that - shows coming up, kids with the flu, and lambing season seem to have swallowed ALL of my time) I thought I would keep the blather short and sweet - because I can try something new LOL - and just DELIVER the goods on what I've been doing for the last few weeks.

Well, there's been a good amount of dyeing for SPA next weekend but I can't show you that because I'm neurotic and have already packed most of it away and double bagged the totes because it might be rainy when unloading the truck (I told you, neurotic!). But I can show you the fuzzy noses I've been petting - and somewhat portray for you the politics of being a lamb:)

babes First, there were the Valentine's Day babies. Aren't they sweet? One ewe, one ram - born literally hours apart so they are having some difficulty establishing the pecking order that is being the first lamb. First lamb gets to pick the games they play, gets to run ahead of all the other lambs, and gets to be generally doted on. But, ya'll, I don't know how to say this nicely - it is a known fact that ram lambs tend to come into their 'brains' a little slower than the ewes. I look at it as they are taking just a wee bit longer to wake from the long sleep in the womb. Still, 2nd lamb - a precocious and 'you're not going to tell me what to do, buster' ewe is outsmarting, out running, and out maneuvering first lamb every day and he's more than a little frustrated with that. Here, they are discussing why it should be he that gets to run the full length of the barn and back to the waiting place first and she, well, she's just not listening to him AT ALL.

babes Older sister (a ewe yearling born last spring) steps in to negotiate. Naturally, she sides with the gwirls and the little ram is left standing their stomping up and down while our ewe runs the full length of the barn - complete with skidding to stop and slamming into walls - TWICE. Oh, he is so irked!





babes To distract them from this 'issue', in walks a farmer's boot.
her: oh, he has a boot - mmm, that smells nice, I think I'll lick it
him: whuh? He has a boot, hmmm, what's a boot?



babes When you're the 3rd lamb, you just don't get alot of respect OR ever get to be first running the barn - UNLESS you are wicked fast and afraid of nothing. This little ram is an experiment - he will become a whether like his uncle, whom I adore. He's born of a Cotswold mother and his father is Merino/Corrie cross in that gorgeous dark chocolate natural color. Not only is his fleece to dye for (silly pun, I know) but he is just about the spritiest (word?) little lamb I've ever seen - healthy- born running, and just doesn't manage to get too worked up when bossy lambs 1 and 2 try to push him around. We have to be careful, though, when opening the barn door as he tends to like to run for the door when he hears us coming and will, on occasion, jump right out the door!

babes You can see, here, he's getting a good tongue lashing from lamb 2 (who doesn't seem to like a dose of her own medicine and is irked that this 'younger' ram has the audacity to disrespect her order) because he gets so excited about running that he'll take off an the slightest encouragement and is wayyyyy faster than the other two lambs so, you know, he always wins the race to skid to a stop slamming into the wall. They still skid and slam, too, but they like to be first at it from time to time. I don't pretend to understand how that ranks one superior over the others but it is their system so I try to respect it - LOL.




evenstar shawl spinning Aside from that, there's been an insane amount of spinning going on. Some silly fool decided to spin a 1700 yd lace shawl's worth of yarn for the Knitting Olympics. I mean, really, who would do something so foolish? Uhmmm, me. I'm 700 yards into it and it's not looking like I'll finish - what with vending at a show this weekend and all. I hang my head in shame and step aside to let the other olympians shake their needles and spindles at me and curse me for not finishing. Or, I just have a little chocolate in my coffee and keep on keeping on - LOL. I'm fickle like that, I guess.