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.

Finishing Projects, Starting New Ones and a Lovely Surprise

 I forced myself to sit down and finish the pattern for Nadia's Shawl. It is an intermediate pattern that takes advantage of gradient yarns. I have been spinning a few and playing around with ideas. The color way is a single edition. I have others that will work up beautifully but in different color ways. I have finished the Watermelon Shawl pattern but will not publish it till I have a few sets of yarn to go with it. I have a hard time revisiting yarns, so when I publish the kits, if you want one, better not wait. I plan to only make 4 and then sell the model. Nadia's pattern is available on my etsy shop,if you are interested.

 Got some better photos of the peacocks. We got a lovely surprise when she laid an egg. We composted that one because she did not lay again for two weeks. Then she was serious and she started sitting about the 1st of September on four eggs. It would be exciting, if she has chicks. We plan to have a structure and aviary built for the peacocks, so the chicks will be less stressed. All of the birds love the small tomatoes. Marc and I don't like them and they keep showing up every year. I pick several handfuls to give them every day. Otherwise, I would consider those plants a weed and rip them out!

 This is Sleeping Beauty. The peacock is Prince Charming. Beauty and Charming for short. Their feathers are lovely - even the shorter ones. Charming has a few more short tail feathers to lose and then I will spin a yarn. Don't know whether I will sell the yarn or knit it up as a sample. I won't have any more feathers till next year.

 Rug hooking a landscape has been in the back of my mind for a year and a half. Today Marc helped me set up a board and pin the linen to it, so I could trace the farm photo that I chose onto  it. I bought a digital project years ago to do power point presentations. As you can see, I knew exactly what to do when it came time to trace my design.

 I am spinning yarns as I go. I use it as a challenge to do color ways and styles of yarn that I would not usually spin. The yarn for the barn is gorgeous. It is several shades of red. I had spun it as a single and got mad because I think it is too itchy to wear. Today I Navajo plied it and it looks luscious. The sheen and colors be just right. i have hooked one sheep and part of the silo. This is going to be a lot of fun. I can actually name some of the animals and I know whose fiber I am using for some sections.

This is our wooded area. The deer and fox have now abandoned it. They don't want to share. If you look closely at the center of the photo, you can pick out a few of the sheep. There are 47 ewes and one ram running around out there. Most of our pastures are drying up, since we have not had much rain and it is hot. This area is nice and shaded with a stream running through it. Whenever the animals get access, they are super excited.

Show season has started. I head to the GA Fiber Festival on Wednesday and have the PA Knitters' Day out the weekend after. Lots of fun places to go and friends to visit. Hope to see some of you there!

I will be teaching a pin weaving class here on September 16. I have openings for 2, if anyone is interested. Email me at jmarckathy@aol.com for details.

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!

New Lambs and Yarns

 Above: Black Eyed Pea with her lambs born this morning. Cloudy and Showers are the names. Bet you can picture our weather!

 Sweet Pea and her lambs are out in the front yard with the rest of the sheep. They have figured out that they need to keep an eye on their mother. They are now sprinting around the field. I have handled them enough that they will let me pick them up. I could not catch them otherwise.

 It is supposed to rain and then snow again. We closed the farm gates so the sheep could get out of the barn for a while. It does not look like there is much to eat, but they seem to be finding something.

On Thursday I head off to the Ocean City, MD, for their first fiber festival. I have loads of new yarns and colors, so come check it out, if you have time. It closes on Sunday at 2 p.m. so don't wait till the  last minute.

Shearing and lambing

Yesterday was so busy that I really did not sit down till 10 P.M. My friend, Penny, showed up about 10:30 to shear. We managed to get 6 sheep and 3 angora does sheared, as well as watch the black Shetland ewe deliver her lambs. I will put that story in the next post.

Penny shears in the traditional manner of flipping the sheep on their backs. The goats, because of tailbones that make them a lot more fidgety, are shorn on a stand. I love the Shetland fleeces as much as I love the kid mohair. The variation in their coloring is always a nice surprise, when it comes off the sheep.

Penny is an awesome shearer and willing to travel, so you can contact her at penshearing@yahoo.com. She is well worth her fees, since second cuts are rare and the animals don't stress. She does sheep, angora goats, llamas, and alpacas.