Christmas

We had a very rainy, but full Christmas. Family and some friends came over and we ate and read a passage from the Bible and visited. The next day though it got cold again and stopped raining. Here are a few wool related projects I made for Christmas presents.
A wool filled quilt for my Dad (covered in cotton fabric.)


I made a scarf for my big sister, Helen, out of some of the yarn in an earlier post.

Here are a few of my ewes and adult rams. I keep my adult ewes with the adult rams in the winter. (The ram lambs are in a pen with my Angora bucks and the ewe lambs have their own pen. The Angora does also have their own pen.)

My crossbred market lambs are growing nicely (the were shorn in Oct.) I just have 10 of them left.


I just thought that this snow drift was really neat looking so here are some pictures of it!
Oh and just 3 months to go till these guys start popping out!

Wool

My load of wool er hay came. (The sheep and goats will turn it into wool by spring !) The unfortunate thing is the hay guy was supposed to come in November and I had even called him in October to try to get a date set, but he kept canceling or changing the dates. So now that it is winter our driveway is too slippery for a semi to get up. The bales had to be unloaded on the road and taken up with the skid steer that I rented. The bad thing is three bales fell into the ditch-a very steep, muddy ditch where cattails grow in the summer. Anyway my Dad and I managed to drag up one of the bales piece by piece on sleds up the driveway. Then my brother, Iain, thought he could get the other two bales after all with the skid steer. Well....the skid steer slipped all the way to the bottom of the ditch and after an hour and a half the skid steer was still stuck in mud that is like pudding. We had even tried putting down some hay (about half a bales worth) to try to drive on, but that did not work! The good thing is the skid steer company said not to worry and they'd just bring a tractor on a semi tailor and tow it out.

The other good thing is now I have hay! I was feeding small squares of marsh hay and about 1/2# of grain to my ewes a day (there is not a whole lot of nutrition in marsh hay and they waste a lot), now they will just get alfalfa hay.


Here's what I've been spinning- picked mohair locks with...
black Corriedale lamb. The yarn is very soft!

Art Yarn

Laurie Boyer is a fiber artist who specielises in making art yarns and finnished products using local wool, mohair and camild fiber. She does and incredible job!


Icicle yarn.
I don't remember what Laurie called this yarn.
Boucle yarn.
I also don't remember what Laurie called this yarn.

Peppermints and dyed red Navaho Churro lock yarn. (Peacock feather yarn on the side.)
Some of Laurie's feather yarn.


Wool lock yarn. Most is Coopworth, but she has some Shetland (the brown on the left hand side on the first picture of the lock yarn) and some Navaho Churro (not pictured.)

Two of Laurie's shawls made from her yarn, The first is llama and the second Merino.

Laurie has also made hardware yarn, q-tip yarn, drinking straw yarn and much more. Sorry I don't have any more pictures!

Yarn drying

Here is a picture of some of the yarn I've been spinning. This yarn is all single ply and I sell it at the WI State Fair. Some is Shetland/mohair, some Romney/mohair and 2 skeins are Polypay.

Wool for dinner!?!

I work at Hidden Valley Woolen Mill and a customer bought 1# of washed wool. He works at a flavor factory and they are planning to use a blend of ( veg.) oils and the wool to make a chicken flavoring! They heat the oils to 1300 degrees Fahrenheit with whatever else, in this case wool, to get flavorings (the wool would completely disappear at such high temps.) The reason they are using wool is it is a source of carotene and they could not find a different source. The factory also makes liquid smoke as well as other flavors. Oh on environment he said that when they are running the factory only steam comes off-no smoke, and no oils escape!

Holiday Open House

Hidden Valley Farm & Woolen Mill
14804 Newton Rd., Valders, WI 54245 (920)-273-1849
http://www.hiddenvalleyfarmwoolenmill.com/index.html


Is hosting a "Gifts from Nature" Holiday Open House
November 20-22 Fri. 1-7, Sat. 9-6, Sun.11-4

"Please join us for our holiday open house. Many finished products will be offered for sale; from beautifully hand-carved wooden ornaments and glass bead and buttons to wearable by local artisans. Demonstrations will take place throughout the event. The fiber enthusiast will find an exquisite rainbow of dyed roving, yarn, naturally colored raw fleeces, batts and llama clouds. Our farm and woolen mill is nestled in the gently rolling hills of north-eastern Wisconsin, just minutes from I-43. Please make your holiday gift a gift from nature-Paul and Carol Wagner"

I will be selling dyed Shetland/mohair roving, handspun yarn and possibly some finished products. I will only be selling on Fri. and Sat.

Sick of breeding season???

I am!

One of my Shetland rams, Drummond, who was in a pasture far far away from the Coopworth's group came up and picked a fight with the Coopworth-Cooper. Poor Cooper's head is all red. I can't catch him to see if his skull is cracked, but he is not feeling to good right now. I just hope he'll be ok! (I did have a horned dairy buck kid who got in a fight with an adult ram and busted one of his horns off at the base. He acted sick for a while, but was ok. )

Update:

The Coopworth-Cooper is acting a lot better. He is eating again and is interested in ewes again. Thank goodness!