Sweet Petunia

I had to make a hard, well, it wasn't hard...a sad call on Petunia today and here I sit trying to decide what I want to say about one of the very best sheep ever.  

I thought I knew what picture I wanted for this post, but as I scrolled through all the old blog posts looking for it, it became one of the nicest trips down memory lane and I could have easily pulled out 20 favorite pictures.

Her "Mug Shot"

She'd been here so long that I'd almost forgotten some of her stories.  I'd forgotten how she stepped up as lead ewe after Elizabeth had died.  I'd  forgotten how she was one of the main chicken sheep who helped the old hen get to her favorite high perch each night.  

Her official baby picture back in 2008.  She came from Nistock's along with Woolliam that year.

I remembered how much she enjoyed wearing the flowers for the 2012 Tour de Fleece.  I knew that she would be happy to wear the bell because of how she acted with the flowers.  I don't think she thought she was special, but she understood special and humbly accepted it...like any great leader.

I'd forgotten about this sweet picture with 20. Almost every picture on the blog is captioned either "Pretty Petunia" or "Sweet Petunia".  

Checking in with me during a lunchtime nap last month.    

So many good pictures and great stories.  There will never be another like her. If you'd like to take a stroll, you can follow this link or any of the labels on the right side of the blog.  

Sweet, pretty Petunia

2008-August 10, 2022

Gate Runners

It goes without saying that all sheep will run out an open gate.  For a sheep, there is nothing better than racing out to a fresh field or busting into the barn hoping to find an open bale of hay or feed bag.  If they see an open gate...they're out it. 

Only a few sheep will think to check a closed gate.  An even fewer will try to figure out a way to unlatch a closed gate.  Most sheep can figure out how to push open a "closed", but unlatched gate.  Only a rare few can figure out how to pull an unlatched gate towards them to open it.  

Murphy is a serial gate opener.  He can spot an unlatched chain from probably 25' away and I think takes great pride in that.  He can manipulate a push through gate with ease and is also adept at wedging his pointy head into a tiny crack at a stall door and pushing those open as well.  

Woolliam was exceptionally good at using his foot to pull a gate towards him and B. Willard has reached master status with that as well.  Willard is also notorious for using his foot to bang a latched gate long enough that I finally give up and open it for him.

Cheeto and Short Round would never think to check for an unlatched gate, but Krista...is another gate runner :-/.  She figured out quickly that the yard was quite fun and never misses an opportunity to take everyone on a walk-about.  I don't know if she taught Christopher to do the same or if it's genetic.  He will walk away from the feed trough if he thinks he can go exploring.

Possum's not thrilled about it either.

 

Crochet Lamb Camp

While spring lambing is still a few months away, we just had some surprise Christmas lambs in the Wool House!

   

I noticed this ewe standing off to herself, which is always a promising sign.

So I did a little check...

...and sure enough, we had lambs coming!  Looked like just a head and no feet, so I had to help her a little bit ;-).  You would much rather see two front feet coming first and facing the right direction with a nose showing just behind, but it all worked out and she had two healthy lambs.  

Next you do an udder check to make sure everything is working properly (but you don't need to sit them up to do that unless you are trying to take a picture ;-).

And then you make sure everyone gets a good drink so they get lots of colostrum.

Once you know the momma and babies are settled in you can start taking cute lamb pictures :-D.

I saw the pattern for this adorable ewe and lambs and decided I would learn to crochet so I could make them for Sheepmom for Christmas.  That was harder than I'd hoped, but a fun challenge for the end of the year.  I love tricking myself into learning new things and I had some excellent virtual help along the way, both in online tutorials and a crochet friend who was willing to answer the phone at all hours of the day :-).

I used leftover Rebecca Boone yarn and I dyed some of it to make the dark face and legs and pink udder.  The white lamb was made from her cousin Woolliam.  Both Rebecca Boone and Woolliam were born at Nistock Farms.  I wish Rebecca Boone had had some lambs in real life.  She'd have been an amazing momma :-).

A Wool(ish) House

I found a super sweet bird nest the other day.  It had blown down during a wind storm.  I love all bird nests, but this one is extra special because of all the wool in it. Buddy and/or Woolliam, Petunia and/or Daniel and Chocula, Salt and/or Hank and probably some others as well.  Here's a quick tour:

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Thank you for all the calendar orders! I hope you know how much that is appreciated.  They are still "at the printers" waiting to be assembled, but luckily Tim's been busy this month.  That's appreciated as well ;-).

Some neighborhood news - there appears to be another stray cat hanging around.  Both my neighbor and I have been blaming the sightings on each other's calico cats and two days ago I broke up a fight next door in which "Betsy" took off running towards our farm...but then I found the real Betsy asleep in the house.  "Betsy's Stunt Double" was spotted between the two farms again last night.

Four bossy calico cats in one area is probably going to make for a long winter.  Why couldn't it have been a sweet orange kitty :-(.  Sigh...

The Titan

There has been a group of sheep here over the years that I've considered titans.  Buddy, Woolliam, Ewen McTeagle, Jester, Marcel, Keebler, Graham Lamb...  Big in stature...and personality.  Count Chocula was The Titan.  

We've been trying to fight through a bladder stone attack for a week.  He patiently tolerated everything we tried and we tried pretty much everything.  I finally had to call it. 

I will sure miss seeing you standing in your doorway.  Thank you for one final classic picture last night.  You were a good sheep.  The bravest Titan of them all.

May 2013 - June 26, 2020

Golden Oldies

My original paragraph started by stating "Renny is the youngest sheep in the Golden Oldies group...", but I wanted to make sure about Rebecca Boone and then started checking everyone and, yikes, time has flown.  

PPPP is 14, Ewen is 12, Billy Belly is 14, Rebecca Boone is 11, Woolliam is 11.  At 10, Renny is not the youngest sheep.  That would be B. Willard, who is just 9.

(!)

Ewen McTeagle.  It seems like just yesterday you were terrorizing the cat food on the back porch.

There's a new puzzle :-).

Wool In A Bird Nest

Or a Wool-li-am bird nest :-D.

Do you see him/her?

How about now?

I've seen lots of wool in bird nests over the years, but I've never seen a bird go straight to the source ;-).  

This little bird fledged this morning.  I'm not sure where it started, but it ended up hopping around in Easy Breezy.  It panicked when it saw me and jumped into Woolliam's curls.  I was worried it might get smushed or tangled up so I moved it back into the straw where the parents could find him.

The house robins started fledging yesterday.  The Wool House robins are still a couple days away.  I'm not sure where Peep's family lives, but I'm wondering if they are in the wisteria out front.  I have a nest of teeny tiny wrens living in the garage.  Sigh...

Stay safe little ones!

It's Going To Take More Than A Couple Weeks

I've been told the only difference between a good haircut and a bad one...is about two weeks.  I think these are going to take a bit longer.  When the majority of the flock was shorn back in March, we didn't shear the oldest sheep.  If you are frail and thin or not super mobile, you shouldn't have to work hard to stay warm until the weather breaks.  

The weather has broken.  Or is broken.  It was 90 yesterday.  In May.  That extra wool needed to come off.  I managed to get Ewen, Woolliam and  PPPP sheared...and only had to call the vet once. Needless to say I'm not going to quit my day job and start shearing sheep anytime soon.  Or any time.  

PPPP doesn't look too bad.

Well, relatively speaking...

A little Biscuit and Muffin break midway through :-).

Kate nervously watching yet another storm headed our way.

"Rebecca Boone.  I'm trying to take a picture of Ewen."

"Whatever."

Handsome Ewen

"She snipped me under my jaw and to make matters worse, because it's summer and fly season, she called the vet out and she put six staples in on top of it."

"I"m sorry, Big Wool :-(."

By this point it was raining hard so I sat down with everyone to wait it out.  You can tell by Kate's ears (glued to her head) that she wasn't enjoying the storm break as much as I was.

At The Ceremonial Start

This is my seventh Iknitarod!  I always have to like to go back and count - Marcel/Woolliam, Keebler, Maisie, Baaxter, Liddy/Buddy, Baaxter and now Muffin/Biscuit/Mrs. Pepperpot.  

Each race has been different, but they've all been fun.  I've learned a lot about knitting each year.  I've learned a lot about mushing.  I've made some great new friends and we've enjoyed challenging ourselves and cheering each other on. 

I treat the Iknitarod very seriously.  Well, not like life and death seriously, but definitely seriously as in embracing the spirit of the Iditarod race itself.  I enjoy thinking about it throughout the year, planning my race.  I push myself to do something hard.  I choose my team carefully.  I get as prepared as possible.  

And on race day eve, I pack my sled.

My race map this year is the Dreyma sweater by knit.love.wool.  I took a bunch of pictures of the yarn and the color gradients (yes, there are colors if you look closely) and thought I'd already downloaded them to post here...but I haven't.  I'll include those in a future post.  

Before each Iditarod race, for a fundraiser they auction off the sleds for each musher and the winners  (IditaRiders) gets to ride in their musher's sled for the 11 mile Ceremonial Start. For the last several years I've carried a mascot in my sled throughout the race. My IknitaRider this year is that sweet little sheep I picked up off the road last summer.  

I didn't think sending a sheep to Nome wearing acrylic was a good idea, so I knit her a little wool poncho featuring some pattern colors and thereby getting to practice the increase stitch I was going to need to use for the sweater pattern.  I think she'll be toasty warm :-).

Muffin and Pepperpot came to watch the sled packing, but they won't be riding along.  The trail can be messy and dangerous (Oh, Graham, how we miss you!) and I would hate for something to go wrong.

Packed and ready...and without further ado...

This might be my favorite ravatar to date.  Like a Dreyma (dream), Biscuit and Muffin and I are at the Iknitarod, watching the Northern Lights and staring up at a bright shining star (Mrs. Pepperpot).  I have my hand on their backs to let Mrs. P. know I'm taking good care of her babies.

My project is too big, my hands are too sore.  Still, the pattern with it's bright shining star yoke is perfect and the ravatar is so sweet I just want to stand there forever...and so we once again hit the trail.  

*      *      *      *      *

The Ceremonial Start begins at 2:00 p.m. EST today.  I believe you can watch live for free on Iditarod.com .  If you enjoy that coverage and want to watch video updates throughout the race (these are so fun!), I encourage you to sign up for one of the Insider packages.

Oldies But Goodies

I think I've talked about "Easy Breezy" on the blog, but in case I haven't, it's the bigger version of Del Boca Vista, utilizing the end of the outside stall and the level paddock next to the barn.  DBV is perfect for a couple sheep, but when the population as a whole starts getting older, more and more sheep needed to move into "assisted living" this fall.

Silly Lila, one of my very favorite bottle lambs from quite a few years ago.  She's not exceptionally old, but she has some arthritis issues that make it hard for her to keep up with the younger sheep.

Popcorn PeePee Pants.  Her birthday is in January, but I don't remember the exact day.  I'd look it up on the blog...but she's older than the blog!  She will be 14 next month.  

PPPP is the lamb on the bookmarks we hand out in the festival booths :-).  She makes a nice puzzle, too ;-).

Renny the invincible.  She's not old and definitely not skinny, but she's starting to have trouble with her horribly damaged back legs and can't negotiate the hills on the other side of the barn any longer.  She's loving the Easy Breezy life ;-D.

Billy Belly and Heidi.  Heidi is another of the old girls.  She'll be 13 this spring.  Billy Belly is only 11 this year, but he was a bit thin heading into fall so I moved him into Easy Breezy so he could get some extra food.  He's also loving the EB life ;-D.

Ewen McTeagle (11), Woolliam (10) and Allie (12) do still come out and graze at least a little bit.  Ewen can usually be talked into grazing in the yard for a few minutes after breakfast if I stand out there with him.  Allie likes to go out in the afternoons and Woolliam does a bit, but he's also quite happy to hang out indoors and eat hay and wait for the next Bingo game ;-).

The Week In Review...Because It's Been A Busy One

Don't get excited.  There wasn't any knitting.  I had great hopes for posting with the monthly Yarn Along on Wednesday and even took some pictures of my current (sadly idle) project.......  Maybe today.

So, let's see...

The 2018 Christmas card is finished and printed.  Not stuffed and mailed, but they are painted, printed and on the dining room table.  Whew!!!  I'll post a puzzle version this weekend for anyone who'd like a sneak peak and I'll also have some at the Wool House tomorrow.  Not for sale (until next year), but if you come out to the farm (open this Saturday from 1:00-4:30), I'll give you one :-).  

If you didn't follow along with the Wovember Instagram photo challenge by daughterofashepherd last month, I encourage you to go check it out. There were so many interesting prompts and excellent posts from all over the world.  What a fun way to really focus on sheep and wool.  One of my posts was selected for the top ten!  :-D

The sold out calendars are back in stock.  Tim brought home some more Lamb Camp calendars last night, so everything still here on hold will ship out today.  Thank you so much for your patience...and all the orders.  Your support, on all levels, really means so much.

There are still three 2018 Equinox Farm fleeces left (Baaxter, Liddy and B. Willard) and several Tring Farm fleeces (lovely Maybelline and a few other white, gray and black), in case anyone is looking for a fun winter project.  Rebecca Boone was so dirty and greasy I offered to wash her fleece before shipping, so that was my fun project for yesterday.  Look at that shine!  Some is from the grease, some just because it's fun, shiny Cotswold.

I divided her into two parts so there'd be plenty of room in the washer to loosen up all the dirt.  Before washing on the left.  Washed on the right.

Washing wool in the winter is like an all day spa treatment.  The room gets warmer and steamier as the day progresses and it smells like heaven, not "smelly animal fur".  If you aren't aware of the Duluth "issue", here is one article that addresses it.  Clara Parkes always says it best.  

All washed and set out to dry.

Isn't she pretty?

So back to the picture of the yarn and project at the top.  That's Rebecca Boone!  I spun that yarn several years ago and had never found the perfect project for it.  Isabell Kraemer's Indigo Frost capelet kept showing up in my favorites and it (finally) dawned on me that the design shape looks just like Rebecca Boone's cool dreadlocks...and if I dyed some of the yarn, I could match her colors in the color patterning.  So I did!  

I overdyed her light gray to get a darker gray like her nose and legs and a reddish/brown to match her sunbleached locks.  I then spun some Woolliam for her white nose.  I wasn't thinking and didn't wash her yarn before I put it in the dye pot and the remaining fabric softener made the dye take up unevenly and I love the effect.  

I'm now ready to start the colorwork section and I can't wait.  Maybe today!

Old Friends

I wanted to add Ewen McTeagle and Woolliam to the "easy breezy" paddock.  Allie was doing really well in there, even getting out to graze some, so I knew if I could talk the boys into moving they'd be happy.  

Well, they weren't.  The two grumpy old men who have always slept in the back of the inside stall were absolutely Not Happy that they were now being forced to sleep in the front of the outside stall.  I had to lock them in there the first night.

The next morning (yesterday), when they only had to walk a few steps to the breakfast bar and could just step out the door to graze, they started to come around ;-).  This is what I found when I headed back out after dinner this evening.

Woolliam and Ewen would normally already be tucked deep into the barn, missing out on a nice evening outdoors.  Allie, too, but she'd be more to the front...and yelling at everyone to come in with her.  They all have to be happier outside on a nice evening.  I know I was happy to see them out there :-).