Tomday! What Have You Done!

Awwwwwwww! Look at my little Tomday! This morning when I was feeding he peeked out of the barn door. He didn't come running down the hill for breakfast, but instead stood and watched. I could not see his hind end, only his front so I figured he was fine, and would come when he was ready.

After getting the two-leggeds out the door and onto the bus, I began my daily ritual of filling up water buckets and general duties. It was then that I noticed my littlest goat hobbling down the hill on three legs. He left rear leg dangling and crooked off to the side. I felt all of the bones, flexed his joints, and felt for swelling. Sure enough, the lower leg was swollen.

A few hours later we were off to see our favorite doctor -Tammy Doughty who X-rayed Tomday's leg. She found his knee cap was out of place and higher then it should be as well as a small fracture. We figured he must have caught his leg and wrenched it as he tried to free himself.

Tonight he is settled in to the barn in a huge stall with his mother. He'll have to stay in for 4 weeks or at least be in the barn as it has to stay dry. Never a dull moment here.:)

Look at my mama hen defending her chicks from the marauding "sheepdragon". I thought for sure that this little hen had fallen victim to the fox. Instead, she had made herself a nest behind the feed bin, and proudly strutted out of the shed with her little clutch. She is quite proud and a great little mama.

The days are getting shorter now and my life is shifting once again. In the summer I work outside early before the heat of the day. In the fall and winter I wait until mid-morning for the sun to warm the earth and dry the ground from overnight frost.



I am still plugging away at fencing the ridge. A few hours here and a few hours there. I keep telling myself there is a reason why I am not wealthy enough to pay someone else to do it. But then I also remind myself that I am healthy enough to carry rolls of fencing and buckets of nails up the hill. And there is no place I would rather be than up on that hill in the afternoon, surrounded my my peaceful sheep munching all around me. It sooths my soul.

A Give Away!

While skeining and labeling yarn last night, I noticed that a few random colors I had placed in a basket were the colors of the rainbow. How lovely! How fun they would be to receive in a package in the mail! Imagine opening up a box to find these beautiful colors each one bright and sunny and all looking so perfect together.

Soooo ...I decided that I would enter the names of everyone who buys a calendar before December 15th into a drawing for the yarn! I'll give away two packages of these six skeins of yarn, a pair of bamboo needles, and an extra calendar to the winners.

Winners will be chosen on Dec 15th. Good Luck!

Cool, Crisp ...Ahhhhhh.

Yea for the sun this week. So far adjusting to the time change has been easy and in my favor, I am waking up too soon ( though my body tells me it is 5 a.m. ...the clock says 4 a.m.) but I am enjoying watching the sun creep up over the ridge. The sun has changed course now and in turn, I need to reconfigure my dyeing and drying techniques.

The deck on our house, where I do all of my drying, faces south and in the summer and early fall some afternoons it is unbearable to sit out there. It makes for excellent drying though. Now the sun is lower in the sky and the few hours I do get are far from enough to wisk the moisture from my freshly dyed skeins. Time to adapt and overcome ...as my husband says.

I've been dyeing a few new colors this week. A deep dark blue and a brilliant violet. Both will be added to my website today. They are the same generous 245 yard/4oz skeins ...they are just beautiful pared together. I am also changing the way the monthly yarn share works. Even though I thought it would be fun for members to open up a package, not knowing what was inside, I have had a number of requests from folks to see the colors before they buy, and I can understand that. So, I will put a picture of the monthly share on the very bottom of the page, that way you have a choice in case you do want to keep it a surprise.:)

I am enjoying the cool crisp weather, but I have a few not-so-happy critters waiting at the gate to go up on the hill. My land is posted, but I don't dare let them out. "Big Tall Sheep" may look a bit like a deer ...well maybe not head on.:)Funny how the leaves are released early from the maples and those oaks hang on with all their might against the winds and rains. Some outlast the fall and winter, then finally new buds must push the elderly leaves to their death. I have so much energy at the end of the day, even when I have been up since the crack of dawn. I sat in the doorway of the barn this afternoon and breathed in the fresh, crisp air with Junior. His 5 minute ear massage turned into about a 20 minute ear massage. Unfortunately I forgot my camera in the house, or you would be looking at some great pictures of Mike and Angus playing king of the mountain.

While taking pictures of some new scarves today, I had a little help from L.T. Funny how much help you can get when you just don't need it.:)

2010 Calendar Update ...from a procrastinator

I am a procrastinator. Yep. It is true. I have projects due, deadlines to meet, and yet I can't seem to get out of my own way when I have weeks or even months to accomplish them. I have found that sticky -notes help keep me organised - when I don't misplace them. I write events and schedules down in a calendar, then I forget it at home. I have even begun scheduling things in my cell phone so that it reminds me the day before with a cute little "din-dong" sound.

But you know I figured something out about myself two years ago, and that is that I am at the top of my game and the peak of my creativeness when I work under pressure. I can't even wrap my brain around the end result of my work or how to even begin when I know I have time before it is due.

Take my calendar for example. I guess I have a bit of an excuse with that one, as I need seasonal pictures to fill the pages. I swore I would begin designing it in June ...well I stated it four weeks ago. I took pictures all winter, spring and summer looking for the perfect cover shot. I took that picture of Handsome Mike exactly four weeks ago. And isn't it just perfect!:)

Here are a few preview pages. Joker, my Olde Babydoll Southdown ram looking wintry and woolly.

My precious little Katie from a few days old until age two.

And here is Junior with those long fuzzy ears that some how end up in my hands everyday after he eats. I call them his daily ear massage ...he just loves it.

I signed the proof on Friday so the calendars, documenting a portion of my life that I love to share, are off to the printers. They will be available in early Nov so if you like, hop on my website and order. They usually sell quickly.

My new 3 ply yarn is in and it is just scrumptious! The good folks at Green Mountain Spinnery convinced me to try this method of spinning with the chocolaty yummy brown fleeces I brought them in early summer. It is light weight, lofty, and slightly heathered ....mmmmm mmmmmm good! I have thought of several projects I would like to make with this yarn, but I keep coming back to the Ascutney Mountian Hat & Earwarmer pattern in the new Green Mountian Spinnery book 99YARNS and Counting. I am also in love with Maureen's Cardigan on page 56 ( I love her hair too!!) This yarn is fantastic for cables and patterns, it is a light worsted weight - 258 yards/4 oz skein. Every color I pair it up with looks great! Ahhhh I need to go make something with this yarn !:):)

OOOPS ...almost forgot! :)

Well, how could I forget! Look who followed me home from New York!!!! Meet Paulie Walnuts and Silvio Dante! Two wether Angoras with Texas lines ...where they grow em' big!:)

I walked by their pen several times in Rhinebeck, thinking what nice firm little bodies they had and beautiful horns ...no trouble since they are wethers ( I convinced myself ) small and easy to bring home ....hmmmmm should I get one or two? Well you can't have just one since one gets left behind, so we loaded them up on Sunday and headed back to Maine with two sheep ( belonging to my friends Chrissy and Regina ) and three goats, my boys and a little doe for my friend Betty.

To answer a few questions about my wall hanging, Joe was completely needlefelted using his cap and face wool from this spring's shearing. His face and ears were felted with Babydoll since it is so full and lofty, to create depth.

Uma's face and ears were knit with hand spun wool/mohair yarn, her curls and horns were needle felted, and her nose and mouth were created with stitching yarn.

Mellow Yellow is needle felted from his own clip and his face and ears are crochet. Martha's face and ears are hooked with hand-spun yarn from her fleece (this picture doesn't do it any justice) and her fleece is needle felted on. The last sheep has a woven face and crochet ears.

I'll try and post better pictures this week!

18 HOURS, & 7 MINUTES & 2 SECONDS

8 hours of needle felting.

1 hour of applique.

1 hour of rug hooking.

2 hours of sewing.

30 minutes of knitting.

30 minutes of weaving

30 minutes of crocheting.

2 hours of fussing.

5 hours of driving to N.Y.

30 minutes of picking hay off ( after I dropped it in the horse trailer) heads and faces.

5 minutes of walking very fast to building E to make the deadline for entry.

2 seconds of shock and heartbreak from the words " your too late, the competition is closed."

1 minute of disbelief.

1 minute of pleading.

1 kind and understanding judge .....equal one BLUE RIBBON!

When I signed up for the HarborArts Show in April, of course it never occurred to me that it wouldn't be a bright, sunny, fall weekend to sit overlooking the harbor and spin or knit while shoppers perused my booth. Turns out it was quite the opposite! Saturday began overcast and the clouds loomed in my rear view mirror as I drove up the coast to my destination. Foolishly, I wore my favorite, beat-up pair of Keen shoes with a thin pair of socks, but I layered my upper end with my Joe sweater -had to show that off, and down vest. By noon, the rain began falling, it was a heavy mist for a few hours. Boats cruised in and out of the harbor, and people began raising their umbrellas. But you know ...they kept coming! And my booth ...in the dreary grey weather, glowed with bright colors ...and more people began to walk down the paths and into the hollow where I was set up. And the cold inspired folks to knit! Yarns for sweaters, yarns chosen in coordinated colors up for hats and mittens, yarns for ponchos and scarves and vests! Folks became excited and one lady who said she hadn't knit in years chose enough skeins of the bright Turkey Red to make herself a vest! The energy inside my booth was fantastic!By the end of the day I had finished my Weenie Hat, and began a pair of thrummed fingerless mittens. The visitors had inspired me as well.

On Sunday it was a quieter, slow-paced crowd. Fog and heavy mist slowly gave way to cloudy skies and warmer temperatures. The morning was quieter, and I opened up two sides of my EZ- UP tent and watched the bustle on the docks. You could smell breakfast cooking on the big yachts, and dog-lovers brought their dogs to the park for their morning fun. Yesterday I was back to work on my 2010 Calendar. I finished up last night and will send it off for proofs today. I sat on my computer last night cracking up over some of the pictures I found from years past. This project reminds me each year of how fortunate I am to live the life I live. Whether it is shots of my kids laughing and sledding in the snow, lambs bouncing around the paddock, or dogs chasing each other around the yard. It is a good, good life ...and I am so blessed.