Double DOUBLE Trouble !

So when I left to help out at Seedy Saturday we had one lamb, Sienna.
When I came back, Cashew had given birth to twins. They were very small and weak. She was on her own as Simon was away in the afternoon too. Our power was out so I ran down the road to our neighbours to use her phone to call him home. We got them eating, a boy and a girl, but we were quite concerned about them. The girl was particularly TINY and the boy had something up with his leg, (we think Cashew may have stood on him by mistake).

But all is well so far, (day 3). Here is the little ram. His name is Ochre. His leg is fine now and he runs around no problem.

Here is the little ewe, her name is China. She's a little fighter and has been gaining weight since Saturday.

Aren't they sweet ?

Later that evening we were out with Cashew and the twins. We had put Marmite in the camera barn so we could keep an eye on her when all of a sudden I heard a new born lamb crying. Marmite had given birth to black twins. They were very lively and she licked them off and they were up and eating within minutes. A very different scenario to Cashew's twins.

Here they are on day 3 out and about in the orchard.

And a photo op with the shepherd.

Marmite is keeping a close eye on them !

And one last one of the littlest members of the flock.

I just love the kneepads

First Lamb of 2010

Here she is !

   Brand new, with her Mum, Humbug.

We decided on colours as a bit of a theme this year. Her name is Sienna.

Both Mum and daughter are doing great. Humbug is a very good and patient mother.

Sienna is very curious and met her first monkey puzzle tree today.

Hello from Quatchi

He is wearing his Olympic red mittens that I made him. The pattern is courtesy of Pogknits who came up with them and posted a free pattern.

 
 

They are  the most popular souvenir from the games so I thought it was fitting our little office mascot should have a pair of his own. 

Does My Belly Look Big In This ?

You look just fine Marmite ! Only a few more weeks to go now.

Cashew, you are looking quite round !

Here is a shot of Humbug, Dandelion, Pompom at the back and Cashew sporting the ever fashionable

leaf beard.

This year we are lambing  a little later. Last year was quite cold in February so we decided to hold off another month. Of course this winter has been warm and wet so there goes that plan !

It's time to check our supplies, making sure we have everything on hand, get the camera set up in the barn and check the thrift store frequently for old towels.

And then we wait......

Pink Latte Anyone ?

This yummy fibre is made from milk, pretty incredible really.

It's called Latte.

(More about it if you are interested, here)

It's in the dypeot with some silk. This was an afterbath of some bright pink yarn I dyed.

And here it is naked, as it were.

When I was a kid at primary school in the UK we had a free milk programme, as per the 1946 School Milk Act and were FORCED to drink 1/3 of a pint each day. I hated it and have never liked to drink milk  since.

This is a much better format !

Here's my little dye station set up outside.

And here are the results.

First Post of 2010

Let's hope I keep it up !

Anyway, hope your New Year/New Decade will be everything you want it to be !

For the first day of the new decade we went out to Saltery Bay.

It's so pretty.

It was breezy and warm today.

Not quite a polar bear swim but Tika got her feet wet.

We went on  a small detour and drove down to the powerhouse at Stillwater. It's a pretty art deco building, built in 1930.  Could do with a coat of paint but quite charming just the same.

I was out looking for lichens today to do some dyeing. I found some but I'll post pictures another time once I figure out what I picked up and whether they are good varieties to dye with.

So that's it for now.

What-I-Did-Over-The-Christmas-Holidays

Well not much actually !

Which is fine by me.
The 23rd of December is our wedding anniversary so to celebrate we went to Texada Island for the day.

We went to Shelter Point.

And found these little wild blueberries.

We had lunch at the Tree Frog restaurant which is a favourite of ours. As always they made us very welcome and we had a great lunch.

Here are a few more things that I did.

Carded some batts.

Spun up this skein of Babydoll/Romney plied with Angora.

I don't always give my skeins a name but this one is called Jane Eyre.

Made this pink hat which flew off to Europe.

Knitted up these legwarmers for a little gift.

And knitted this sheep hat for me, based on a pattern by Melissa Burt, using my handspun wool.

There's more, but  I'll show you another day.

Today I'm back to work.