Merinos Finished, Shetlands Beginning

 This Shetland ewe is a first time mother. She delivered out in one of the sheds and did a great job of drying them off. I have several Shetlands that could deliver at any moment. Their lambs are so much smaller than the Merino lambs. These two are wearing a preemie and a newborn onsie. The Merino lambs were almost all in 3 month onsies. When the snow melts, I plan to hit Goodwill for a new batch. The lambs are hard on them!

 This is a Merino ewe lamb chasing down a Shetland due to deliver any day. The lambs are opportunists and are always sniffing out new sources of milk.

 I have 11 Merino lambs. The ones still in onsies have not had their tails docked or their ears tagged. Ican still tell who they belong to if I keep their coats on. The blue stripped one is Bronze. He would not have lived, if I had not blown him dry to warm him up. He had pneumonia. He is significantly smaller than the rest, but he is now thriving.

This is a collar that I just finished. The pattern is on my uniquedesignsbykathy.etsy shop. Very easy. The yarn is what makes it so unique!

I currently have two other patterns in progress. One is a hat and the other is a crocheted snood. This winter my mind is all over the place. I have been soaking in epsom salts nightly to reduce my aches and pains - that is where I am coming up with original designs. I need time with nothing in my hands to come up with ideas. Hard to knit or spin in the bath!

Spring, New Designs and Art Yarn

 I am hoping that this will be our last snow for the year.

 I thought Rosemary, one of our dairy goats, was due March 17. Guess she did not get bred that time. She has the blank stare that a lot of the goats get right before delivery. Of course, she has had this look for a few weeks. She is now enormous. Last year we could not tell that she was pregnant and out popped a kid. Definitely twins this time around. Good thing I saved a lot of her milk from last year, because most of my sheep and goats have delivered already.

 Winter is a good time for designing. I started the sweater around Christmas and then decided that it needed a hat and cowl to go with it. I finished it just in time for spring, when I won't need it!

 I have been playing around with new yarns and this is what happened to my feathered yarn. The pattern is available as a digital download on my Etsy shop: www.uniquedesignsbykathy.etsy.com. I have one yarn kit spun up and custom colors may be ordered.

 Spots has given me the cutest lambs so far, They are both ewes and have the modern style fleece. It will be very crimpy.

I have also been busy spinning. The above batch has already been sold, but I thought I would share what I have been doing. I have lots of yarns on Etsy, if you are interested.

Upcoming Shows: Carolina Fiber festival, Stitches South, Powhatan Fiber Fest, Maryland Sheep and wool Festival, and Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Festival.

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.