January 2008 – Sheeps and Peeps Farm

A Productive Dyeing Day

January 28, 2008July 6, 2017 Sheeps & Peeps1 Comment

We began the day by preparing a Marigold Dyebath, breaking up a large amount of dried stems, leaves, and flowers in the dyepot and simmering for an hour.

From this stinky ugly brown concoction, we got some very lovely yellow hanks of yarn

and the next day a more golden/tan color on some locks of wool from our Coopworth cross ram lamb, Goliath.

While the marigolds were beginning their magic, we used our canned hibiscus liquid to begin dyeing another hank. This yarn is still soaking for a couple of days.

We also did some rainbow dyeing of yarn and mixed lamb locks. First, using turquoise, purple and periwinkle.

And then using emerald (brightened with some yellow), pink and turquoise.

Using up our left over emerald, we rainbow dyed some additional locks.
Woo Hoo!! We feel like we accomplished a lot!

Warm Wooley Hats

January 23, 2008July 6, 2017 Sheeps & Peeps1 Comment

I have recently finished two hats made from my spindle-spun yarn:

The beautiful brown was gifted to us from our coopworth cross ewe Hera. The blue yarn is spun from wool we dyed in a spinning/dyeing classes we participated in.

It is so fun, and such a feeling of pure accomplishment, to make something starting from the very beginning of the process — raw wool.

This one looks better on a model!

Ohh, they are so warm!!!!

Thank You Hera!

The Ram Cram

January 14, 2008July 6, 2017 Sheeps & PeepsLeave a comment

How many large rams will fit in a 3X4 pen? Well it turns out that 3 large rams fit perfectly. We broke up the breeding groups and very snugly, penned up 3 of the rams together for 24 hours. We used this method last year with success and it worked very well this year also. By the time we turned them out, they were not interested in much more than eating and getting a drink of water.

They behaved fairly well as we led them around the perimeter fence to the top of the hill and are now pretty much settled in.

We kept Liam, Sally and Dawn in another small, separate group. Liam has been very busy with a large breeding group and we wanted to give him a little less competition at the feed trough. Sally is our old girl and needs a little extra TLC. Dawn is our special girl and does not handle stress well. The three are quite happy in their small paddock.
The four remaining ram lambs (almost yearlings) are also in their own small paddock. We used Goliath in a small breeding group but he seems to be fitting right back in with his buddies. We have the large group of bred ewes, ewe lambs and wethers in the graveyard field and by the barn. Snostorm is standing guard and enjoys being reunited with everyone. We were really fortunate that the weekend weather was unseasonably mild and warm.