Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Animal things and yellows

Precious' daughter, Pear had triplets last week and they kept me busy for quite a while. One buck was up and drinking with no problems, another was really little, and the third was spreadeagled for days. I had to support the last two on their mother and bottled feed them some to get them up and on their feet. I am happy to say that they were both on their mom three days later. The mother refused to leave the pen when I tried to evict her two days ago, so I am going to leave her in there as long as I can. The two kids that I had to handle a lot are going to be very friendly. They will curl right up in your arms and fall asleep.
Babies find a quiet spot to sleep.
The Shetland ewe was born last week. I regret not having locked her and her mother into a pen. The mother freaks out every time the lamb goes to play with the rest. Her cries can get annoying!
The Shetland lambs have had some really cool colors this year. There is no guarantee that they will keep the same colors, except on their faces. The markings are all quite distinct.
As the does get ready to have their kids, they tend to isolate themselves from the herd. This mesquite tree has become a popular place for the younger does.
The kids have to be cleaned off in a hurry because the wind chill factor - even in 70 degree weather - can be fatal. This doe kid was born first and I have named her the Wanderer.
I put all of the does in a pen in the large shed to make sure that the moms and kids have bonded and to make sure that they are actually drinking off the mother. Above is Evening (202) and her kids - The Wanderer, who got confused and thought that Winter, the alpaca was a source of milk, and Homebody, the buck who knew who his mother is.
I have been carding and spinning. The above is a batt of black kid mohair. You can easily pick out the variation in color in one fleece.
This is a Georgia O'Keefe inspired freeform yarn. I loved the colors in one of her pictures.

Above is a piece I wove during one of my pinweaving classes. I might frame it.
This is a piece that I wove during the last class I taught. I loved the color combination.
So - I spun two freeform yarns and have a third almost finished. They are each quite distinctive, but can be used together. I used a lot of the fleeces that I have been washing from the spring shearing.
The second skein.
I am currently waiting for one of the young does to deliver. She has had stuff dripping for hours, but has not started going into serious labor. They rarely deliver after 8, so she is going to be one with a problem for sure. I might not get much sleep tonight!













1 comment:

Alan said...

I LOVE the yellow, green, and purple pin-weaving. DEFINITELY frame it and put it in a prominent spot in the shop.