Hi All -

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Thanks, and sorry for any inconvenience!

Well, what can I say?

I did manage to find a little fiber talk to put up here…

I have sheared several of the sheep, and my fleeces are lovely.  Several of them are ruined this year.  I assume because we had a huge wet and windy weather mess this year.  Several of them have been cotted until most of the fleece is trashed.  Some is still usable though, and they were lovely, except that they got all matted up… a real bummer.

I still got a couple that weren’t cotted, and I didn’t loose any of my best fleeces!

I am always shocked by how little they look after shearing.  Here is Brietta in full wool.  She is a moorit Krunet purebred Shetland ewe.  Her wool is soft, and spins very very fast.  It is a gorgeous gray brown.  This is one that cotted, but there are large peices of it that are good.

She has a big ol wool coat here….

Puny little ewe….

So I have a few fleeces that are so indescribably lovely, I will undoubtedly keep them all for myself.  I didn’t loose any lamb fleeces thank God.  I got two that are just so nice that it’s amazing, both off ram lambs.  Beautiful, and creamy yummy white.  They have such a high shine on them, that they look like silk.

I am going to get them washed and I am thinking I may comb them or at least one of them.

I’ll post as soon as the baby comes.  I am 38 weeks and 2 days preggers.  I predict that the baby will be born on the 17, 18 or 19.

Put your guesses in, and we can have another contest!  LOL.  That would be fun.  I am due the 22, and I have a history of beginning labor at about midnight.  I usually take 12 - 19 hours total, with plenty of light early labor.  So take a guess, and win some raw fleece!

There just isn’t anything much of interest going on.  I am working on the next issue now, and because I am HUGE my carpal tunnel syndrome has kicked in, so less typing.  I think I will be able to peice it together, although I may have to make use of a typist….ahem I mean Beau.

The little lamb by the way seems to be doing great, he is in with the flock now and keeping up fine so he should be good.  Two weeks with splints on corrected his pasterns, and I am hoping time will correct his shoulder.  I guess I should have taken him into the vet, but for one, I didn’t see what they could do and also they said that if it was broken or dislocated that he wouldn’t be able to walk.

I am starting to doubt that, but too late now.  Hind sight is always 20 - 20.  So, he runs around fine and is getting bigger and stronger so I suppose it will work out fine anyway regardless.  Now we are just choosing the few lambs that will be registered, and their names…

I am still working on pictures for taking a batt and pulling it into roving.  I am seriously considering trying to do an online video (gasp).  I didn’t get this put in last issue because of time or laziness which ever you want to think… So now I can put it in this issue.  I have a bunch of great angora fiber given to me by Heidi, and Jordan.  Heidi is from Norway and Jordan is from Missouri.  So I want to make some lovely blends with it.  I prefer to blend it with some nice lambs wool or something than use it straight.

Speaking of angoras, in the next week or two I will own some.  Dominic is doing rabbits for 4H, and so instead of a meat type rabbit, why not fiber I says?  Well, he says “Fuzza-buns….CUTE!”  so we will be getting 4 show quality breeding rabbits for him.  I wanted one, but found someone who wanted to trade for lambs, so Clare and Star will be going to live with Jeanette, and four fuzza-buns will be living here.

Pictures when I get them home.  I still have to make cages, although I now have all the supplies so Dominic and I can start working on that soon.  (heh heh, does anyone see an article here?)  Angora rabbits: The fiber pet for ANYONE!

Can’t wait!

Not a creature was stirring, except Mom who was frantically running around like a crazy woman. None the less, a short update. I am debabting finishing Elizabeth’s tam, because she says she doesn’t like the yarn. She would rather have different yarn. Hmm, but Teresa likes it, so perhaps I should just finish it up for her, and give Elizabeth a skein of yarn to dye herself however she likes. I think I can finish the tam today, it’s almost done.

I have about a million more cookies to bake today, and of course all the other Christmas stuff to get done. Presents to finish wrapping, and shoes to put out for St Nicolas. The tradition of Santa Claus began with the Bishop, St Nicolas. He was known to be a very generous man, and when some poor girls were without a dowery (required in those days) he apparently slipped the appropriate amount into their stockings that were hanging to dry in front of the fire. Anyway, children being the enterprising souls that they are, because hanging stockings, and laying their shoes out too, so as to give St Nicolas plenty of space to distribute goodies.

I am pretty sure that Beau is on the naughty list this year, and it’s quite possible that William is as well. A lady asked me if Santa would be visiting the baby (now 14 months) and I told her I was pretty sure he was on the naughty list instead of the nice list. However, Santa usually gives some consideration for age. Overall though, William is pretty naughty. For example, you remember way back when I published the yarn pillager? He was 6 months old. He’s had 8 months of nos, scolding, punishment, and he clearly KNOWS he should not pilliage my yarn. Yet, as soon as a bag is left unattended, and Mom is out of the room…. Yesterday in fact he strung a ball of handspun angora (about 30 feet worth) all over the house. On the plus side, the incidents are getting fewer. The kids have all been pretty good, what with the idea of Santa watching all of the sudden. I’m sure William will get something nice, even if he is more naughty than nice, he’s certainly got cute appeal.

Finally, another cute Christmas video, since I have no pictures.

Sorry about that guys, I’m not feeling very well lately, as morning sickness worsens.  Hopefully it will be slacking off soon, and I can get back to the computer.

Thanksgiving was nice here, we went to my parents house.  We have Christmas open so we are weighing our options, and maybe we’ll go off somewhere for Christmas, that would be fun huh?

I am still getting the blog gift together, and I’m really sorry guys that I have posted so few times, so you have fewer chances to enter.  I will try to put something up more regular, even if  it’s just more videos or something.  I’m sure I will feel better soon.

On the other hand, (pun intended lol) I have been making gloves.  I have a friend who is a super hero.  She goes out everyday, saves lives and selflessly sacrifices her own comfort for the well being of others.  She’s a paramedic.

Here in Missouri, it gets really cold, well below zero much of January, and with the wind chill 20 below or even colder is not unusual, especially at night.  I always feel really bad, because she goes out in it to work wrecks, and all she has on her hands is latex gloves.  So I came up with the idea of knitting very fine gauge fingerless gloves that she could wear under her latex gloves.  That way she could still work, and start IVs and things, and yet keep her hands a little warmer.

I decided to knit them up in 100% alpaca for extra warmth.  Alpaca is 5 times warmer than wool, I am also working on some angora yarn, which is 8 times warmer than wool, and too bad that quivet is just out of the question for price reasons.  So I may end up doing an angora, alpaca and wool mix which would be ideal for light gloves that could go under latex gloves.  I have also made her a nice head band to keep her ears warm and a pair of socks.  The socks don’t really count though, because I made them for me, but they were too big and they fit her, so problem solved.

Anyway what I wanted to say was that gloves are not hard to do.  But the instructions don’t make much sense until you have the work in your hands.  Then it all goes rather smoothly, and the gloves knit up pretty fast, useing worsted weight, I cast on 36 stitches, and finsihed within about 5 hours with the first glove.  I think the second will go faster.

This is probably most of my knitted gifts this year, I want to make hats and scarves for the kids, but that’s all.  My family is all getting handmade candy and caramel corn for presents.  Cheap, not to hard, and so well loved by all who get them.

Merry Christmas!!!

TOOOO FUNNY!!

They usually have a code snippett, but they didn’t for this picture, which really made me laugh.

www.icanhascheezburger.com 

We’re off to the fiber festival in Bethal Missouri today.  If you wonder where that is, it’s well as far away from us and still be in Missouri as possible.

Hopefully, we will sell lots of stuff and come back with much less stuff.

The hot item for us is usually our spindle kits.  You get a spindle, one ounce of fiber and a free lesson for $5.  So I’m usually spindling all day long, it’s so much fun.

Wish us luck!

Ok, so maybe posting about our vacation is a little off topic for the Spindle And Wheel blog, but we’ve been asked to blog so that you can get to know us a bit better - so here it is

Along with sheep and fiber and what not, another of our big interests obsessions in life is our horses.  We took the horses down to Eminence, Missouri on the Jacks Fork river and camped for a week.  We left our four kids with Grandma and Grandpa who have our undying thanks, as this is the first vacation we have EVER taken without kids (we never did get a honeymoon).

The horses logged many miles to their dismay and I’ve got to say the scenery is absolutely gorgeous.  We had some good days with the horses - days when they were willing if not eager to do what we asked of them and go where they were told.  I was amazed when my horse crossed a river - he’d never seen a river before - without hesitation.  He seemed to really enjoy it, he even stopped an stuck his head in the water up to his ears and splashed around.  We also  had some bad days with the horses - the first day in particular they were a bit freaked out by all of the other horses and trucks driving around.  They were also a little “buddy sour” which just means they really wanted to stick together and not be separated.  Then there was the day that my horse decided he had forgotten what “whoa” meant - don’t get me started on that!  Overall though, it was a great time.

Now, even though we were camping, this was no primitive affair.  We went to Cross Country Trail Ride, which for a truly bargain price included three meals a day, plus nightly entertainment and all kinds of other fun.   I gotta say that camping without having to cook or clean up after meals is not a bad way to go.  The food was simple but tasty and plentiful.  The entertainment was really good - they have a “house band” that played most nights, and even got some big name talent in one night (Trick Pony for those of you who know country music).

All in all, we’re feeling refreshed if not rested.  In fact, we’re exhausted and sore.  But we’re definitely ready to get back to work!  It’ll kind of be a vacation from our vacation