A few weeks ago I was reading the March/April 2011 issue of
Hobby Farm Home Cherie Langlois has an article called the Invasion of the Sheep Snatchers! It is a great article about sheep shearing day. This year our Fleece Snatcher (shearer) is going to be the nice Amish man who seared the girls last year. Sorry I won't be able to take any pictures while he's shearing but he does a very good job. The girls had a few nicks but that can't be helped. Currently, my girls look pretty funny. They are so wide that they have a hard time all fitting around the feeders! After they get sheared they look like old men in long underwear! I don't know why I think they look like that but the poor girls also don't know each other! Every year it's the same thing they have to figure out who's in charge and every year Rosa (my youngest, smallest and loudest sheep) thinks maybe this year she'll be the one but it's always Buttercup! She's the sheep with the spirit of adventure!
I had off work on Friday and I along with a friend drove to
Blackberry Ridge. We picked up last year's wool. It is fantastic. We have white and brown/gray wool and roving. Lori Scharlau from Allen Creek Country Store and I combine our wool and have it processed together. On Saturday I went to Allen Creek and we divided up the fiber. My car is still full because I can't find room in my craft room! Which has led me to a very painful decision - I must start to sell some of my yarn and roving! I've been reading the book Sweater Quest by
Adrienne Martini . In the book she describes what I've become a SABLE. which means Stash Amassed beyond Life Expectancy! So even though I may shed a few tears as I package up sold yarn and roving I know someone else will love it and use it to make some amazing projects.
If anyone is free this Friday morning - April 29th they can come and watch my sheep get their fleeces snatched! Oh and not only is it interesting to watch it's a great aerobic activity. We have to move the sheep from their pen to the garage. Not really that far and 4 of the six girls always follow me with my grain bucket into the garage. Then I have to go and get Marigold and which ever sheep she has talked into joining her in the grazing of the backyard!
I'll try to get some after pictures posted but for now I'll put up a few pictures of the girls from previous years.
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| There really is a sheep in there. She's abut half sheered. |
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| Here's one of the fleeces laid out on the garage floor. It's abut the size of a VW Bug! |
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| Here's one of the girls looking like an old man in underwear or a goat! |
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| So you can get an idea as to what Marigold looks like before shearing! |
Contact me if you would like to buy some roving or yarn.
