Animals for sale

 I am no longer breeding my alpacas and would like to sell a few of them. This is Maryland, an intact male born four years ago. $1,000 without papers. He was just shorn and had a beautiful fleece. I also have two Huacaya and two Suri females for sale. They will not breed, so think of them as pets.

 Four French angora rabbits were born  last month. They will be available the first week in August. I also have four 1 year old rabbits for sale. I plan to keep several but, since they are all lovely, i will keep the adults and any babies not sold. We plan to get a rabbitry built soon.

 Angora goats and sheep of all ages are also available. This has been my healthiest and loveliest group since our move. Email me at jmarckathy@aol.com to set up a visit and talk pricing.

 Four pea chicks were born this week, I have three males and one female available. that are a year old. They will not be breeding pairs since they share the same parents. Everyone talks about how loud peacocks are. If you are on a farm, you will know that sheep, goats and dogs are much louder!

This chick was born three days ago. There are three more under the hen ready to rest for the night.

If you would like to visit and are not shopping, please be aware that I charge $5 a person for tours. Children under 2 are free.

A Week of Contrasts

 Sunday morning the East Friesian had a ram lamb weighing over 9 pounds. I was thinking that she had twins based on size, but nope! Just the one big lamb.

 Last night I did my final check at 8:30 and discovered that Cloudy (mom) had twin babies. Thought for sure the the ewe lamb was dead and the ram just about. They both cried when I picked them up, so I spent two and a half hours drying them with a blow dryer and waring them up. Then I finger fed them colostrum that I saved last year and got them sucking. By 11 the ram was standing. I held both of them on the mom to drink and then left them to settle in. I went back out at 1:15 and both babies were walking around and popped onto mom when she stood. I have had to supplement today. They are very small for Merino babies.The mom was in the barn and front yard area where I have been feeding grain, so I think she had them prematurely. She is a first time mom and was fortunately relaxed enough to let me handle her and her babies. I am naming them Angel and Candle in honor of the Christmas season.

 Our barn renovation is moving along. the front is almost done, the downstairs windows are in and big picture windows are behind the blue tarps.

 I plan to move my shop to the area behind the french doors, so that will be the first thing that people see when they come into the barn. I am going to turn the current shop space into a studio, so I can work in the barn and heat only a small area. We plan to put a catwalk around the upper area for roving storage.

 I am busy weaving on my Majacraft loom. I have decided to turn the piece into a vest. The back is done and I am a fourth of the way down the front.

I managed to get close up photos of the peachicks this morning and I can now tell that I have three cocks and one hen. The mother is the second from the right and the hen is to her right. You can tell by enlarging the photo that their wing feathers are the same. The cocks have speckled feathers like their father.

It is warming up!

 I am now working down in the barn creating my favorite type of batts. They are somewhat rustic because I am grabbing all sorts of fibers. There is some vm in them, so they will be priced lower than my usual. I am seriously tempted to wet felt this one. Above is how it looked while the carder was actually running. Below is how it looked when I stopped the carder.

 This is the same batt taken off the carder and folded so you can see both sides. The left is the top color that you can see on the carder. The right side is what went onto the carder first. I rarely do batts that are all one color. This is the Patrick Green Elsa carder. I love to create batts on it, because it holds a lot of fiber. I do get tired of some colors as I card which is why there are always two sides. Felted it is always a surprise and spun it has a Monet/impressionistic look.

 I am currently spinning the pinkish color of the locks above. I just spun a gradient skein of yarn using it and some natural colored moorit Merino. I have just started a freeform yarn in those colors. So tempted to knit or weave it. I have been adding some new surprises in the yarns. Those who are going to Stitches South this coming weekend will get first looks.

 This picture has already been on my Facebook, page as have the last two photos. You can follow or like me - either as Kathy Withers or uniquedesignsbykathy to keep up daily with events on the farm. Follow both, if you really want to know. I am not always sure where my photos will end up. I love the shot of the kids playing in the water trough. It was empty since that water had frozen the night before. I had to haul buckets out to them.

 This is our bottle baby. He will be four weeks old tomorrow and has gone from 2 to 8 pounds. I have named him Toggle, since he has a switch - he is either running around and dancing or immediately asleep when I put him in his box. I have been taking him down to the play area during the warm part of the day, so he can see other goats. He is definitely too small and maybe stupid? to leave in the barnyard full time.

A view of the farm from one of the pastures. So glad that the animals are finally out of barns most of the time and doing more than eat my earnings!

Still shearing when Marc is available. So glad to have someone coming the weekend of the MD Sheep and Wool Festival who will do the Merinos and as many of the Shetlands as he has time for. I will be in the Dog Run area where I was last year. Come hang out and do stop to say hello.

Yarn Styles

 I have been busy spinning feathered yarns and the singles to go with them in preparation for upcoming shows. I will be packing my shop up tomorrow and heading out to Sanford, NC, for their annual fiber festival. I am indoors this year, so weather will not be an issue.

 I have added a few freeform yarns to my inventory. They will all be new to NC since all of the ones I had before are long gone.

 Some of my favorite yarns are the beaded ones. This yarn is closer to black than the charcoal that you see here.

 One of my most recent lambs' tails.

 I am trying to list more rovings on my etsy shop: www.uniquedesignsbykathy.etsy.com.

I spun two elastic yarns from the roving above. Both are slightly differently colored since the roving is variegated.

                                    
I raise my own fiber and my yarns would not be so unique without the animals. i love blending the different types together to get texture. This ram was huge and is a Merino Shetland cross. I just sheared one of the Shetland Merino crosses and the fleeces are gorgeous. Not quiet as fine as the Merino by itself, but awesome since it does not have to be spun up lace weight, which is what my pure Merinos seem to want to do.

My farm shop will be closed till the first week in June. You can find me at shows or through etsy. All of my most recent yarns are there as well as quite a few rovings and most of my patterns. Enjoy browsing!

Just Another Day on the Farm

 Silkie, one of our dairy goats, had her kids on Friday. We decided to let her feed her own babies for a month, since we have two freezers full of mik. Saves us a lot of time, since there is so much else going on now.

 This mom is now looking like triplets. Any day now...

 We now have a playroom into which we are throwing the moms and kids so they can get used to each other and to be sure that they can recognize each other in a crowd. we let them out yesterday and today. The moms ran out. The kids took a little more coaxing. It was fun to watch them run and play. One of the white kid does is obviulsy going to be a ring leader.

 As I have been shearing, I have been putting the most recently sheared into the pen with the heater. Today, I finally moved the colored goats into one pen and left the white ones in the other. Amazing how much animosity there was in that pen. The walls were shaking!

 This is Holler with her mom being very protective. They  sharing a pen with two other does and their kids. The mom is afraid that they will try to steal her baby.

 These two does were posing beautifully for me today. They were the last two that I sheared today. All of the goats have now been shorn, so I will keep an eye on the sheep and start shearing them next. I won't tell you how many goats there were, but it was a lot.

 Life is not always fun on the farm. This afternoon, the above ewe gave birth to a lamb with no jaw. I suspect that it might be the result of worming medication or something that she ate out in the new pasture. Her second lamb is a perfectly healthy little ewe. They are both in a stall bonding.

This ewe was doing a walk about yesterday - in other words, she busted through a gate. This morning she had twins. One did not make it and her insides came out with it. I thank my friend Greta for her advice on fixing it. We managed to get everything back inside her and cleaned off while my sewing skills came in handy. Her stitches are holding and she is chewing her cud with her baby by her side. Good thing that I no longer hesitate to take action.

I always debate about sharing some of the horror stories that happen when you own animals. There are always people who criticise and see the animals as pets and not as livestock. You can't keep all of the animals and you should not breed, if you are not willing to do what has to be done. I can tell you that Marc and I were seeing this ewe as a goner when we saw her uterus laying by her side. You can't wait for a vet to show and most do not want to deal with livestock - horses, cats and dogs are much more lucrative. I am fortunate to have a network of breeders who are willing to help out - even long distance. I have pulled babies and treated all sorts of things. today was probably the worst that I have ever dealt with. I won't know whether what we did will have worked for a week, but I feel like she will be fine, since she is eating and caring for her lamb.

Every morning brings new surprises. Just pray that all of them tomorrow are happy!

Off to Indianapolis for the Knitters Guild of America Show

 

 Above is the batch of fiber that I am giving away through Spinartiste's blog. She is doing a feature on me fairly soon, so keep an eye out for it. People who read the article and make comments are entered in the drawing. They are all natural colored super soft fiber from my animals. Includes kid mohair, Merino, Shetland and alpaca.

 Our front yard is now fenced in and we are periodically letting the sheep and goats take turns cropping it down. Currently the males are getting the honors. Above is a photo of the ewes out. They have been well behaved when visitors have driven through the gates and they show no interest in  cars or trucks.

 

My garden is growing wild and hopefully will survive my being gone to Indianapolis for a show. It does not appear to be a huge show, since it has only 48 vendors, but it is nice to have somewhere to go in the summer that is different. My husband will be watching the animals while I am gone.

 

Unfortunately, a lot of the kids have developed Coccidia and a small few have edema. Having kept all of my notes from last year and watching them like a hawk, I split the kids from moms immediately (instant weaning since they are all old enough), and started treating. I have only one that seems serious, but he should be fine, since he is now eating and drinking normally. I have placed all the ones that I worry about in a stall, so they will be on a dry lot till I get back. It will also make it easier for Marc to find them. Last treatment is tonight for most of them. My microscope and centrifuge have really made a difference in the survival rate.

 

Will keep you posted on the Show!

Wildlife on the Farm

I have added a Sunday nuno felting class on June 9, from 10:30 to 1 p.m. I have a wet felting class this weekend with room for a few more. We will be making a bowl that can be turned into a yarn bowl.

 On a dreary day last week, I took a walk about the farm. I discovered this turtle on the path that I walk from the house to the animal barn. The face looks somewhat like a face, if you enlarge it. Fast moving turtle. I came back after half hour and it was nowhere to be found.

 I finally made it to the pond with my camera. This goose has been sitting about 2 weeks ow, so I hope to see goslings in about a week. Her nest is about a foot above the pond water level and surrounded by weeds.

 The beaver is now long gone, but his lodge remains. It is very easy to spot now that everything else has turned green.

Technically, Shetland sheep would not be called wildlife, but they do tend to be distrustful. Spots had triplets and, sure enough, she has not been able to feed them all. This was the little guy that kept getting left out, so I am now bottle feeding him. He has learned to come up to me for the bottle, but he keeps me at arm's length . He does not like being picked up and he runs as soon as he feels full.

I started a new design at the Hampton, Virginia show. It is freeform, so it will not have a pattern.The back is almost done, so I will post a photo next time.

I have pulled the Pantone colors for fall and winter. Currently I am working in shades of natural black and brown to create freeform knit and crochet kits.

I discovered that one of the Shetland/Border Leicester crosses is pregnant. I am currently spinning her fleece. It is one of the blackest to date. And, Columbian is still hanging in there, getting bigger every day. They are the only two left to deliver.

In other news, we lost Pearl last week. She became a pet back when I first started raising animals. I was sorry to see her go. She gave me some awesome lambs over the years. I am castrating her last two lambs and keeping them. They are 1/2 Merino, 1/4 Shetland and 1/4 Border Leicester. They feel like Merino and are a lovely white. Not as sticky as the Merinos, so they will be a lovely addition to my flock.

First Kid of Season is not an Angora

 Rosemary surprised us with her kid on Saturday afternoon. According to the breeder, she was not due till the first week in March. I have Parsley down in the barn with her mom, now that she associates milk with me and a bottle. Rosemary is three years old and never had a baby suck off her, so she did not let the baby nurse. I am glad, since I wanted a dairy goat to provide milk for angora goat babies that fail to thrive. Now I just need to get my stiff fingers to loosen up! Marc is a much better milker than I am.

 Everyone has suggested that I get brooches to complete my collars and scarves. I found a lot of vintage ones two weeks ago and I am starting to design to fit the brooches. I have another larger daisy brooch that is crying out for a scarf. I might start selling the pins, if I find there is enough interest.

 The skein of yarn above and below are the same skein. I have just wrapped them differently. I tried different pins for color. Since it is yarn, I won't permanently place the brooches, because it limits their use. There are a lot of knitters and crocheters out there who like to use the yarns as embellishment.

I am busy spinning beaded yarns over shades of green right now as part of my Fields of Green series.

Starting the first week in March, I will be available for farm visits. Call 410-795-6070 or email jmarckathy@aol.com for an appointment. I will be publishing a class schedule that starts then. Hopefully it will be warm enough to do wet felting. Call to schedule your own class or contact me, if you are interested in a trunk show at your location.