Weaving Women

I am really happy to get my first project on the loom at the Fine Arts Club. I picked a loom (there are several choices), which is the same as mine at home so I would get the experience using the same loom. Makes sense huh !

Here is the loom I'm using. It's a 4 harness Leclerc.

And here is a close up of my very simple first project, guess what..... it's a scarf !!

I'm using some wool I dyed for the warp and the weft is a nice purple mohair with pink shiny slubs in it.

And here is Val winding her bobbin for her first project. Guess what, it's a scarf too !

And now for today's OLP, (that's Obligitary Lamb Pic in case you didn't know).

Here is Cashew and Opal, who sits on her Mum's back A LOT.

And in the front, our sweet, smiling Wurly, (Curly's twin). What a lovely girl she is.

A Busy Week

....it's been, what with one thing and another.

Here are a couple of pics of things that got made this week.

This is a skein of yarn that I spun and plyed from the fleece that was in the dyebath last post.

I put pictures of it in the making on flickr.

And then I made this batch of laundry soap. This may sound really boring but for some reason I find this gratifying. The ingredients are very simple and this big batch cost so little to make. It will last us quite a while ! Mine turned out more solid than the batch made by PeaceLovinMoma who made a great movie tutorial. It can be seen here. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/821928/make_your_own_laundry_soap/

I think mine was more solid because I used Lye soap that I found at the $ store, 2 for a buck. I tried the home made laundry soap with clothes in the washing machine and it works really well. The real test will be when I wash fleece with it, which is why I made it to begin with as I dislike what happens to my hands after having them immersed in harsh detergent laden soapy water.

As you can see it's pretty solid but it dissolves in the wash no problem. I'm planning on making fabric rinse next.

And I can't post without including at least one lamb pic...

So here's two.

Here I managed to catch them all together.

And Simon just caught Opal before she got off Cashew's back. She loves to sleep on her Mum's back and it's broad enough for now.

Happy Easter

What would easter be without a chick ?
Here is a felted egg and knitted chick I made for my Mum.
He flew off to England in time for Easter.
And of course there must be an easter lamb picture, so here are Curly and Wurly enjoying the sunshine. And here was yesterday's dye pot. Some food colouring and mixture of Babydoll/Babyrom fleece. I'm looking forward to spinning it up.

And a pic of some Babyrom fleece I washed up this week. I was pleased at how nicely it cleaned up !

Lamb Central

It's been pretty crazy around here, with lambs appearing at all hours !

The last one was born in the early hours of today, March 17th so we're officially done.

Here are Dandelion's twins, Curly and Wurly, boy and girl.

Here is Marmite, with Rolo, her little ram. He got stuck with his legs back and Simon had to be the Midwife and sort him out. He's great now though !And this is Opal, Cashew's lamb. She is a pretty grey colour. She was very new here.And this is what our kitchen looked like at one point in the proceedings !Lamb paraphenalia everywhere. The brandy is an old shepherd's trick for weak lambs, although we could have done with a tot ourselves !

Smartie's Day Out

Today was warmer and drier than yesterday so it seemed a good day for the young 'un to be outside.

"Off you go" says Pom Pom.

We decided his name is Smartie, as all the lambs are going to be English sweets !

A close up shot.

And here they are checking things out in the orchard.

And here is a little movie of him in action.

Pom Pom Had A Little Lamb.....

whose fleece was black. Due to unfortunate gestation arithmetic, we were surprised to find this little guy in the barn this morning. Actually it wasn't so much the arithmetic, more due to being calendar challenged. I had convinced myself that we put the ram in with the ewes at the end of October. I should have checked, as in fact it was the 10th October. So almost to the 150th day Pom Pom obliged with this lovely boy.

Mother and son are doing well.

Needless to say we spent the day sorting out the maternity ward !

Just a quick post. There will be more pics tomorrow on flickr.

Today is Tansy's birthday

She is 1 year old today. Here is a picture of her when she was just a few minutes old.

Cashew is just cleaning her up. Tansy had a poor, neglected twin that Cashew didn't really know what to do with. We got him going and I had high hopes for him but he only survived for 3 days. I was very sad. Poor little scrap didn't even have a name.

Anyway, here are the Mum and daughter.

And here is the birthday girl herself. Isn't she sweet ?

Tansy lives on Vancouver island with Anise, April and David

.......more lamb pics on flickr.