Bottle Baby

Sierra has beautiful wool and a great personality, but she is a lousy mother. I've had trouble with her in the past, and this year was a replay of difficulties. She wouldn't let her lambs nurse even though she seemed interested in them.

I ended up giving the little ewe lamb to a great couple who live north of here. They are raising her as a bottle baby (feeding her using lamb milk replacer and a bottle). It seems to be a match made in heaven. They've fallen in love with her, and she is thriving. They've named her little Sierra. Pam kindly sends me updates and pictures. Wow, is she one adorable lamb.

Photos courtesy of Pam Lampson Staples, http://www.freewebs.com/punziwu.

Felted Slippers

I took a great workshop last month on making felted slippers. We began the day drafting patterns of our feet and ended it wearing our slippers.

We used dyed Merino wool roving. I added a little gray curl of Cotswold wool from my own sheep on each of my slippers; you can just see it near the cuff in the first picture.

This footwear is seamless. We applied and felted wool on both sides of the pattern, creating both slippers simultaneously. When the felt was firm enough, we cut apart the two slippers and pulled the pattern out of each.

Then, one shoe at a time, we worked the felt inside and out, shrinking and hardening the fabric. When they were almost to size, we put on our slippers, and a helper finished felting them on our feet. They are really comfortable.

Optimistic Sheep

I really think sheep believe in the power of positive thinking.

If I look out a window before I go out to feed them, I see a sheep, usually a ram, standing, staring at the door. If I wait longer to feed them, there will often be two or three sheep, standing, staring at the door. The numbers increase the longer I postpone feeding time. It's as if they are willing me to come out and give them hay.

They aren't pushy or loud about it. They simply stand quietly and patiently gazing at the house, focusing their energies on getting me out the door.

Who knows? Maybe it works.

A Snow-loving Dog

Our Briard, Dierdre, loves the snow; she's choosing to stay outside most of the day. The snow gives us an opportunity to discover some of her habits, though. We can track where she goes, how she gets there, and even where she places her paws as she walks. It's amazing how close together her tracks are--she places her feet within a very narrow path as she moves.

I love the center trail that winds around the tree.

Dierdre is a tending dog as well as a herding dog. Tending dogs keep their flocks in a confined space, allowing them to graze, hang out, or sleep only in that limited area. Dierdre tends her flock as they start eating each meal. She runs 'round and 'round and 'round them as they munch their hay. Tending them in the snow leaves a ring of paw prints around the sheep. If someone looked at them after Dierdre and I went back into the house, they'd wonder why I was drawing circles in the snow around my sheep!

Snow and Ice -- Cold and Gorgeous

Wow, we have had some intense weather this week. A major cold front came through Arizona. We got about 6" of snow and had lows in the teens and maybe even colder last night. It's absolutely beautiful, but it's difficult feeding the sheep in this weather, and the hens certainly don't like it.

Dierdre, our dog, doesn't care to be out when the snow is actually falling, although she bravely accompanies me to feed the sheep and to bring in firewood. Once the snow stopped, though, she's been having a blast. She keeps scooping up snow with her muzzle and tossing it in the air and then jumping around me to play. She wants to be outside in the snow, but she also wants to be with me (and I want to stay in the house where it's warm), so she's having difficulty deciding what to do. She keeps encouraging me to go out and play, and I keep prompting her to either stay in or to be satisfied being outside without me.

Brrrr!

My ears hurt! It's 32 degrees F with a wind chill of 23 degrees. Feeding the sheep was actually painful; that north wind is fierce. It's one of those days that I contemplate putting weights on the hens, so they don't blow away.

The sheep, of course, love it. What's a frigid wind when you have a nice wool fleece? Dierdre, our dog, thinks it's great, too. She kept stopping me every few feet on the way to the barn to play. Cold (really cold) weather seems to give her energy. I kept alternating between laughing at her and urging her to hurry up, so we could get out of the wind.

Well, I don't have to feed the sheep again until late this afternoon. The forecast says it may be 35 degrees by then (with a wind chill of 26 degrees). What a warming trend to look forward to....

Christmas Stockings

Three months until Christmas! Yikes, how did that happen? And why am I surprised by this date each and every year?

As usual, I had intended to have several Christmas presents started, and quite a few completed, by now. How many have I done? Hmm, um, well, one. I've got some great ideas for some gifts, though; now the question is can I (start and) finish them in time?

Speaking of Christmas, I want to show off three Aran Christmas stocking patterns that I'm quite proud of.

Each pattern is $3.95. If you want to download a PDF of any or all of them, go to my website's Knitting Patterns page.

Books

I've decided to mention in my blog the books that I'm reading, so I thought I'd begin by sharing what I've read this summer.

Maureen Ash, The Alehouse Murders
Lorna Barrett, Murder is Binding
Rhys Bowen, Her Royal Spyness
Gordon Cotler, Artist's Proof
Linda Fairstein, Deadhouse and Hell Gate
Caroline Graham, Faithful unto Death
Ann Granger, Say It with Poison
Rebecca Hale, How to Wash a Cat
Lauren Haney, The Right Hand of Amon and A Face Turned Backward
Charlaine Harris, all the Sookie Stackhouse books except the one published this year (I've been on the library waiting list since June; I started out as 89th and have finally reached 3rd, so I'm almost there!)
Charlaine Harris, Shakespeare's Landlord
Bernard Knight, The Sanctuary Seeker and The Poisoned Chalice
Tim Myers, At Wick's End and Snuffed Out
Ellis Peters, The Raven in the Foregate
Anne Barclay Priest, Trafficking in Sheep
Michael Scott, The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

and I just finished tonight: Paul Doherty, The Horus Killings

Obviously, I like mysteries, but my tastes are pretty eclectic, including such genres as fantasy and historical fiction. I also enjoy memoirs, especially those on rural living.

How Many Knitting Needles Do You Own?

I needed a 24" size 7 circular knitting needle. That’s a common size; I use them all the time. But could I find a set? No-o-o. All I found in my knitting needle container was an empty size 7 package.

Where were they? Like I said, I use them a lot. OK, so that, of course, explains it. All my size 7 knitting needles are in projects, in bags, throughout the house. Hmmm. Maybe I should finish more of my knitting projects before starting a new one…no! When inspiration strikes, you need to follow it! I guess I just need to pursue it to its conclusion more often. Or else buy more knitting needles!

I’ve already done that, though. That’s why I have an undisclosed but significant number of them. At least they’re small and don’t take up much room, unlike my yarn stash…but that’s a subject for an entirely different post….

Snowden

Isn't he a beauty? Snowden is three years old and is very friendly. He kindly posed for photos without me even having to ask him.