Roving in the Wind

Good morning Friends!  I just wanted to take a minute to draw your attention to our "farm products" blog, in case you didn't know about it.  It's listed in the side bar of this blog over on the right, or you can click on this link to go to it My Wool Mitten.  It's just a separate place where we can list items produced here on the farm that are available for purchase, when we have them.

Right now, the only thing we have to offer is some lovely white roving from a Corriedale ewe "Hannah", raised here on the farm and processed at Zeilingers Mill in Frankenmuth, so a completely Michigan product!  It's a lovely spin, so check it out if you're interested.  You can also email me at serenityfarmswool at yahoo dot com if you have any questions.

If you happen to be visiting here after watching The Woolen Homestead podcast, welcome and thank you Tiffany and Ethan for the shout out.  If you haven't already, check them out - they're so much fun and so talented!  They dye some amazing yarn colors

April Showers Bring...Knitting?

Lack of blog updates do not mean that knitting hasn't been happening!  Mitten knitting specifically but also....drumroll please....sweater knitting!

Yes, it's true, I started work on a sweater and this time, darn it, I aim to finish.  Because the truth is that in all my years of knitting and despite many starts and intentions...I've never completed a sweater for myself.  Can you imagine?  LOL, I feel no shame in this but I have decided that it's a knitting goal I am going to accomplish in 2017.  More on the sweater later, but right now I wanted to catch you up on the mitten knitting so far this year.  (Have you been following along in Tiffany's Ravelry group The Woolen Homestead? Much of our mitten chatter is happening there)

So, I'm continuing to diligently work on my Shine Mittens.  Slowly, but loving every minute of it.  I had intended to finish them by the 20th of March, but it didn't happen.  Now my goal is by the end of April.  I started and stalled making a pair of Shetland Garden Mittens for the New Hampshire Knits Mitten KAL.  I even won a wonderful prize at the cast-on "party"!  But my fingers and hands were really rebelling against more tight knitting of lots of stitches on small needles and my gauge was terrible.  I've set those aside to begin again at another time (possibly in the fall?)  Because I LOVE the pattern!

Another mitten pattern I was excited to begin was the Reflecting Light Mittens by Emily of FibreTown podcast.  I knew I wanted them to be made from handspun.  The handspun I had picked out Corriedale, with Lincoln as the contrast, is perfect mitten yarn.  But again, gauge was off and after no less than three false starts....I've also set them aside until the Shine Mittens are finished.  Might have to chose different handspun (luckily there is plenty of that on hand!)

I mentioned that I won a prize in the New Hampshire Knits Mitten KAL?  I was absolutely thrilled to win the Selbu mitten package donated by the truly marvelous Patricia from Knitography.  This was pattern and traditional Norwegian yarn to make them with!  Oh how badly I wanted to cast on the mitten the minute the yarn arrived ;)  But I also want to savor and enjoy the process, so they will be cast on after Shine is finished.  I'm planning that for the first of May.

So those are the mitten updates.  So far this year I've finished a full pair of mittens, a pair of fingerless mitts, and have been dedicated to a third pair.  I need to kick it up a notch!  We've awarded prizes in January (yarn) and February (pattern).  No prize in March, but I think I'll get one out for April, probably from the Finished Object thread of The Woolen Homestead group (mentioned above)  And I'm thinking of a large giveaway in May, watch for details.

Finally, just a little bit about the sweater I'm working on.  I'm totally weak for a good, relaxing KAL.  And when darling Kate of Hawthorne Cottage Craft podcast announced her first kal for The Gingerbread Sweater...well, I just gave in.  Partly because I had the perfect ginger colored yarn (our "Dunbonnet" from the moorit sheep).  So I cast on and am really having a good time with it!  It's knit in the round, top down but with interesting details.  I'm at the endless knit, knit, knit stage but that's okay (need a little mindless craft these days)

And that's it!  What have you all been up to?  At the end of this month we'll be shearing the sheep.  Lambs should arrive after the first of May.  Grass is slowly greening.  I'm looking forward to our first ever Finnsheep yarn when it comes back from the mill (I mentioned it here, on our yarn blog) and more Corriedale blends with Outlander inspired titles.  OH, and I've finally...finally taken the plunge and started on instagram, can you believe it?  Come and find me as @mywoolmitten!  Strictly knitting and the farm related.

More of the Mittens!

Here we are at the end of January, three weeks into the Basket of Mittens 2017 "project".  It's been great fun to see lots of people joining in, here at the blog, through Ravelry or Tumblr and from Tiffany's podcast, The Woolen Homestead.  We've been mentioned in a few other podcasts as well, how exciting!  Thank you Jennifer of Driftless Knitting and Ali, Little Drops of Wonderful!  I love both of these podcasts, go and give them a look if you haven't already.

I thought I'd share a little of my progress and also try to answer some questions I've received.  And at the very end, our first prize giveaway!  First off, I finished my first pair...and within 24 hours, I lost them!!!  Arrgh!!!

This picture shows one of the pair of mittens, pattern is Those Zig Zag Mittens via Ravelry.  Now I know the finished pair is in this house somewhere!  We have been doing some "spring cleaning", organizing and painting...they've simply gotten taken from the table and put somewhere they don't belong.  I'm having faith they'll turn up.

However, not a good start to filling the basket, is it?!?

I'm continuing to work on my Shine mittens, I'm knitting both mittens at once but on two separate sets of dpn's.  I've finished the cuff on both, have the thumb gusset complete on one.  Slow but joyful knitting those are!

In my organizational efforts, I gathered together some WIP's (works in progress).  UFO's (unfinished objects).  All mittens....

What a jumble!

And obviously, I have a thing for grey/silver (and cream), LOL!  I couldn't help but think of Sarah of Fiber Trek ;)

Here we go, all sorted...

There are five on the go mittens on this table (plus two that got left out of the picture).  Maybe I don't need to cast on any new mittens for February, but rather finish these?  What do you think?  I don't know, I may need to cast on at least something colorful ;)  But I'm going to make myself finish one pair from this group first, how does that sound?

I wanted to answer two questions I've been asked.  One is from June, for a favorite pattern for handspun mittens.  June, I've made several pairs from handspun, not from patterns that particularly called for it.  I think if your handspun is close to gauge for the required yarn, it will work!  I need to search my "archives" for photos of some I've made. This free top down pattern is one I like, and I've made a few times.  Someone else asked if there were any good YouTube videos on making mittens, and the only free one I found that I thought was pretty good is this one from KnitPicks.  However, she uses magic loop and I'm not sure how easy that is for a beginner?  Maybe I'm underestimating ;)  Otherwise, it's got some helpful tips.  I believe that Craftsy has a good paid for class on making mittens.

Also,  a reminder that crochet is totally welcome in this kal!  And as you can see, WIPS are welcome, too ;p

Finally, it's time for our first giveaway!  Are you excited?  Did you even know this was coming?  LOL...giveaways will be random throughout the year, I'll try to do them once each month but don't promise it.  I'll try to coordinate with Tiffany to do some through her Ravelry group, too.  For this first, though, I simply wrote down the names of everyone who contacted me in some way (blogs, Ravelry, email) and drew your name.  I hope you'll trust me ;)  The winner is ****  drumroll please **** ~

Ali, from Little Drops of Wonderful and via Ravelry!!!  The prize is one skein of yarn from the farm, wool from our Corriedale sheep, in natural colors...250 yard skeins.  I'm so excited for the first prize to be given....

I think next month's prize give away will be for a lovely mitten pattern, so stay tuned.  And tell me, have you started your mittens/gloves?  Still in the planning stages?  Pulling out unfinished pairs?  LOL, I'd love to know!

It's All About the Wool, the Yarn and the Farm

Hello again!

So I mentioned in my last post (way back four months ago) that I had something exciting to share with you all.  And it's taken me this long to prepare myself to share it...ah, life, you do have a way of throwing stumbling blocks and detours our way, don't you?  But here I am again and thrilled to be able to talk a bit about what we have to offer.  Can you guess from the photo what it might be?

Yes, it's yarn!

Farm yarn.  Our farm yarn.  Completely Michigan grown, nurtured and processed.  Small farm, small batch, heirloom quality Corriedale and Corriedale cross yarns.  All natural colors. Not just single breed yarn, but yarn from a single sheep (or two).  Woolen and worsted spun!  I can't tell you how excited I am to have this worsted spun yarn, it makes my heart and my fingers sing holding it in my knitting hands!  If you've never tried Corriedale wool, this is a delightful way to treat yourself.

I want to write a little bit more about each of the yarns individually, and the sheep who have provided the wool for them, but as we've been getting questions, I'll share quickly that these lovely skeins were spun at Stonehedge Fiber Mill in East Jordan Michigan.  Each one is a 3-ply, plump sport weight.  With names like "Dunbonnet", "Breath of Snow and Ashes" (SOLD OUT) and "Gravel Road at Dark" (ONLY A FEW SKEINS AVAILABLE).  The moorit brown and the pale silver are both worsted spun yarns.  The charcoal gray is a squishy woolen spun.  There are approximately 250 yards each and if you are interested in having one of your own, the cost is $20 per skein.

I thought it would be fun to offer a sample pack.  Four Corriedale "skinnies" , junior sized skeins 50 yards each of the three foundation yarns plus one of our Corriedale~Alpaca blends (either the natural black "Murmurations" or crystal white "Wise-Woman") a total of 200 yards for $18.  
ETA: Sample packs are not available at this time as three of the yarns are sold out.  We'll offer them again as we get more yarn back from the mill!

I can't tell you how proud I am of these yarns and how happy I am to have them.  As you can imagine, there's a lot of knitting going on around here!  For that reason, these have a very limited availability.  If you're interested, I'd love for you to have some for yourself!  We accept Paypal, personal check or money order for payment.  I'm happy to ship outside the United States.  Prices listed do not include shipping.  You can reach me at serenityfarmswool at yahoo dot com with any questions and I'll be happy to give you a total with shipping and make all of the arrangements.

Happy sheep, happy yarn.

Fleeces and Fence Posts

Morning

 Well hello Blog!  It's been awhile...how've you been?  Have you forgotten me?  No?  I'm glad to hear that!

Fleeces and fence posts ~ so much I'd love to catch you up on, happenings and every day routine things.  But I guess my farm life right now is dominated by these two things, fleeces and fences.

Some of you know that we sold our remaining farm ground back at the end of December, first of January.  What we have remaining now at this place is ten acres.  Old fences, pasture barriers, needed to be moved.  Because I wanted to save and re-use some of the woven wire and the cedar posts, this meant a bit of work!  I don't have farm equipment - at least nothing like a tractor or skid steer, and the farm truck has some tire issues.   So it was with a bucket and fencing tool, a hammer and a pair of pliers that I went to work!


A bittersweet job.  So many thoughts running through my head.  The passage of time.  The loss of the land (not really a loss, I guess, a conscious choice, but still - no longer ours).  A change in our lifestyle.  And remembering, as I dismantle this fence, being in this same spot at a different time, putting the fence up with my Dad, who's no longer with us.  I think about pausing from our work to sit on the tail gate of his truck - my truck now - to drink a cup of coffee.  Working in silence.  Admiring his efficiency and strength.  Still missing him terribly every day.

There's something, though, that's satisfying with this kind of work.  It also tests your

End of day

patience and endurance.  When my father put up fence, he intended it to last.  To stand up to livestock and wildlife, and weather and time.  So taking it down was really no easy task. But then again, now that I think of it, probably easier to take down a nice, strong and straight fence than one that is laying in the weeds or buried in the tree line.  Anyway, I cried more than a few times in the course of this job, trying to remember things Dad said or how he did it. Mad at myself when I did things wrong, proud if I got it right.  A few mishaps sent me to the house, crying to my husband, bless his heart!  At the end of the day, tired and discouraged, I poured us both a cup of coffee and asked him to just let me cry and vent my frustrations, which he did.  Then he called the neighbor and asked if they would bring their truck and pick up my rolls of newly dismantled fences from the pasture and bring them to the barn.  They did and I felt better.  The neighbor who bought the property came with his tractor and he and Alex pulled up the wooden fence posts. Friend and neighbor Caren came and hauled away wire we could no longer use.  Alex and Mark rolled up the big wire for us, as best they could (have you ever wrestled with used woven wire?)  

I'm glad that work is done. 

Kimber, a nice charcoal grey Corriedale with well defined, traditional crimp 

So in that time, as lambing finished, we also got shearing done.  As always, I'm slow to get the skirting done.  I like to do it myself and I like to take my time.  So there are fleeces available, I'm slowly getting pictures and prices.  If you are a blog reader who has spoken to me about reserving a fleece, will you please email me again?  I lost a lot of saved emails, so please contact me at serenityfarmswool@yahoo.com if you are interested in Corriedale or Corriedale-Bond fleece this year.   

I also received a lovely, large shipment in the post right in the middle of all of this work and excitement ~ I can't wait to share with you what that's all about, but I think I'll just save that news for its own post!  Thank you for sticking with me! Do any of you have stories or memories of working on the farm with your Dad or husband or someone special to you?  I'd love to hear!

Edited to add:  Although we are down to ten acres here at this place, we still have the Round House and Burnham Barn and Woods, along with about eight acres of hay at the Burnham Farm ;)

It's Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day ~ from Francie and one of her daughters, ewe lamb "Nan"

Advent-A-Long ~ Finale

And we come to the end of the Advent mitten knitting ~ well, save for the thumb on the second mitten!  Somehow, I managed to mix up the stripes towards the end (now how did I do that?!?) but its okay.  And they fit me, so I'm going to get to keep them for myself.

I adored doing this project, it made me happy the entire way and I'll have such special memories of each time I wear them.  I'm still working on one small gift knitting project that needs to be finished before Sunday, as well as a larger crochet project that's also a gift but in the meantime I want to pick up and finish the Outlander themed sock I began one year ago (can you believe it, it's taken me an entire year and I'm still only half way finished!)  Its a great pattern but a bit fiddly and in black yarn so it's not a carry along project.  Do you remember them, my Black Selkie socks? I know I'll love them when they're finished and I certainly don't want to wait till next Christmas to wear them.

  Merry Christmas to all and any who might be reading this ~ are you already dreaming of what to be knitting, spinning or crochet-ing in 2016? I'd love to hear!  In the coming days, we'll be separating the rams and ewes, the rams will go back to their bachelor quarters and after a few days of tussle they won't mind a bit.  We'll put coats back on them, do our best to keep hay and chaff out of the growing fleeces.  It's been a mild winter here but the fleeces seem very plush to me.

God's love and blessings to you, and if I haven't said it often enough I really appreciate each of you who takes time to read and especially to leave a note! Seems like so many are leaving blogs behind but its still my favorite way to connect.

P.S. To my friend Kate who reads the blog, if you see this post, would you email me Kate?  I've been wanting to ask you about something and know I don't have your email (or its probably changed, lol)  You can reach me at serenityfarmswool @ yahoo dot com Hope to hear from you!

Outlander ~Listening, Reading, Watching...Knitting

I should have learned by now not to say I'm going to do something by a certain time or date, because it just never seems to happen (like the knitting I wanted to share with you).  But finally, here I am...

Last year, as I mentioned, I discovered knitting podcasts.  There are so many good ones, I could never begin to list them all and there are new ones all the time I enjoy checking out.  There are three or four I follow faithfully, but the one that's at the top of my list is Sarah's FiberTrek video podcast.  Where to begin, its just soooo good!  There's Sarah, the host.  She loves wool.  She loves grey wool (maybe not exclusively but best).  She loves sheep and wool.  She lives in a ruggedly beautiful part of Maine and enjoys a wood fire.  And she's made it her mission in life to take others on this almost spiritual journey of wool and its traditions.  I certainly feel like she's become a friend.  She shares lots of things on her podcasts, but there was one thing she shared last fall that started me on a roller coaster ride of fiction and the renewed love of reading I spoke about in the earlier post.  That fiction was the series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.

I loved it!  Fell down the rabbit hole and haven't come out yet ;)  It is not light reading.  It's long; detailed; historic; colorful; funny; loving and heart-wrenching.  A major character, especially in the first book, is the country of Scotland - if you didn't love Scotland previous to reading, you probably will after!  I've enjoyed these books so much.  Although the stories began twenty-five or so years ago, there was a new television series starting up in August (of last year).  This inspired a lot of knitters and yarn companies, so there were Outlander themed colorways for yarn and patterns and knit-a-longs.   Some really neat patterns have come about because of the television show and I've knit a few of those.  Even made mittens of my own design that were inspired by a costume in one of the episodes.  But I've had the most fun seeking out patterns that I already had or already wanted to knit that reminded me of passages from the books.  It's been something like a scavenger hunt!  So while I didn't "knit Outlander" exclusively for the past eight months, it has been a focus.  Those projects are the ones I want to show you now...and dedicate, with much gratitude, to Sarah ;)

Getting ready for some Outlander knitting - books, yarn, pattern, stitch markers, fire in the fireplace...

 
September Simmer Dim pattern by Gudrun Johnson

(You should be able to click on the highlighted title of the projects to see a Ravelry page link with more information about it)  This was the first thing my daughter and I worked on for knit-night with an Outlander theme here at the farm.  It was a nod to a chapter in The Fiery Cross (book five of the series) titled “Summer Dim” in which Jamie (our hero) says to his wife Claire (our heroine) “Ye’ll ken the summer in the Highlands, Sassenach - the summer dim?” She nods and remembers “that the summer dim was the light of the Highland night, late in summer.”  I'd had this pattern in my Ravelry queue and saw it on my friend Lori's blog when she took a trip to the Shetland Islands.  I loved everything about this little shawl and plan to make another, possibly with thicker yarn and bigger needles to get a larger garment.  This one was gifted to a friend. The color is actually deep reds, russets and auburns, maybe a bit of gold.

Gathering Thyme and Black Kirk Cowl pattern by Kalurah Hudson

This pattern was inspired by a cowl worn by Claire in the television series and it's knit on super big needles!  The pattern writer very kindly offered it for free and so I gave it a try.  Very fast, very simple - not flattering to this chubby farm wife at all though, LOL!  I've given both of mine away, but here they are, our October Outlander knitting projects ~

The first (left) was made with bulky, unspun roving but it was very loose and floppy, so I tried tucking it in like a scarf rather than around the neck like a cowl.  Made on the recommended size 50 needles.  For the second one (below), I went down to size 35 needles and held some black Corriedale yarn doubled.  This made for a much better cowl fabric but still made me look like I was wearing a tire around my neck, LOL!

Outlander Cowl by Andee Fagen was our November project and the start of it is pictured at the beginning of this blog post.  I began making it along with a few others while listening to another favorite podcast Disa's Craftwork but I didn't like how it was working with my chosen yarn.  It's a beautiful pattern though, so I hope to start over with it and a different yarn sometime in the future.

Now comes two projects that are still on the needles, in progress, though they were started in December.  First off, a Christmas Eve sock cast-on with the Bakery Bears and Little Bobbins podcasts, these are my Black Selkie Socks , pattern by Alison Janocha.  I'm totally in love with these, even though the pattern doesn't really show in my black yarn.  This is farm yarn, a blend of Corriedale and Alpaca that I had made with my friend Maple at North Star Alpacas.  It's really nice, all natural black and feels so good to knit with.  I considered making this as a mitten pattern, but was needing a new pair of hand knit socks.  I was making great progress, too,  and then must have gotten caught up watching the series because I totally messed up the heel!  Now I need to take that out (not easy with sticky black yarn) and reknit it.  But I will...

The books speak of "selkies" quite often and in reference to Jamie's father, Black Brian.  Its what made me think of these for Outlander knitting.

And then I saw these magnificent mittens!  From The Castle Fraser Throughout The Year The Woodcarving by Aurelie Colas - I knew these had to be an Outlander project!  Bought the pattern, chose my yarn....and could not get gauge, not even close ;(  The mittens would have been the size of oven mitts and its a very detailed pattern, so I didn't feel I could successfully change it to make mittens that would fit me.  I could, however, make a cowl!  So that's the plan for this, a cowl and probably a lined one.  It's in time out right now, though, because it takes a lot of concentration.  My photo doesn't show much, other than some of the colors I'm using for it.

Wedding Plaid Mittens by me

January found me still working on my socks, but also a new pair of mittens, something I made up myself.  I wanted to make a pair of plaid mittens and couldn't find a pattern I liked that didn't include either intarsia or duplicate stitch.  So I just used my basic mitten pattern with afterthought thumbs and added some blocks of color.  I intended to line these, but they're just a bit small.  They'll be gifted to my daughter who has smaller hands than I do.

I'm really happy with the way they turned out, even though I made a couple of mistakes in the colorwork (maybe you can spot where in the photo)  One mitten has garter rows on the cuff, the other a picot hem and I like the picot best.  These are meant to symbolize Jamie's wedding plaid from the first book, and the picot hem is the lace cuff of his borrowed shirt.  Now in the book, Jamie's plaid was "a brilliant crimson and black that blazed among the more sedate green and white".  In the television series they went with blues, browns and a touch of red (you can read more about the costuming and see some stunning photos at this wonderful blog.  Really, you should take a look!)  I made the first pair of mittens in "show colors", but the second pair that I just started are red, black and grey so those are my February project along.

But knitting for myself is something I've set aside for Lent, I'm only working on projects intended for someone else.  I'm working on a blanket for my grandson and gloves for my son-in-law (neither of them Outlander related).  A third pattern, though, is a pair of mittens inspired by A Breath of Snow and Ashes (book six)  

All queued up for April, when Lent is over, are two more shawls.  Outlander Hap - Mo Nighean Donn is another pattern by Gudrun Johnson, based on a traditional Shetland Hap.  I've knit a mini-hap for a gauge swatch, color test and I like it very much.  I'm using natural colored brown Corriedale, along with silver, moorit (auburn) and gold.  Fans of Outlander know that Jamie calls his wife, Claire, "Mo Nighean Donn - my brown haired lass" and tells her that her hair is “dark in the wavy spots with bits of silver on the surface…”  The gold yarn is for her "great, gold eyes"  I'm excited for this one, participating in a knit-a-long with Gudrun's Shetland Trader Hap kal on Ravelry .  I was also going to make this my Hap pattern for KnitBritish wonderful Hap KAL (be sure to check out her podcast, its another of my favorites) that starts in April, but now I'm thinking I'll make my second Simmer Dim for that instead.  I have some handspun I've set aside for that and I like the idea of beginning and ending my Outlander themed knits with the same pattern.  What do you guys think?

I hope you've enjoyed taking a look through my knitting!  These aren't the only things I've knit or crocheted this winter, but the main ones and like I said it's been a lot of fun seeking out patterns to relate to a favorite passage or memory from the books.  I hope if you're a knitter you might check out some of these great patterns on Ravelry or even join in one of the knit-a-longs.  And if you're at all interested in podcasts, the ones I've mentioned are truly joyful as well as many others.  If there are any you follow, please feel free to share!  Edited 3-5 to correct some spelling and grammar

Fiber, Feathers and Furnishings

That title makes it sound a little bit like I furnish my home with feathers, doesn't it?  Well I don't, but it is beginning to feel like the house is being taken over by fiber!  The Burnham Barn is being taken over by vintage and rustic furniture that we're not using and the Main Barn is being taken over by our special Silver Bantam chickens.  What's a farm girl to do?  How about a little sale to share with her friends!  

~~ A Fun Fall Sale at The Barn of Serenity Farms ~~ 

NEW DATE!!! Friday and Saturday, October 10th and 11th

That's right, a first ever for Serenity Farms ~ a Barn Sale featuring Yarn; Spinning Fibers; Patterns; Books; Notions; Jewelry and Soap Making Supplies and a small but interesting assortment of vintage and rustic furnishing and architectural features.  Quality goods at thrift store prices!

And as long as we're at it, how about offering up some livestock as well, something just perfect for your farmstead, large or small?  We still have just a few of our Corriedale and Corriedale cross sheep for sale and I need to find homes for one or two breeding pairs of our Silver Bantam chickens.  

So why not mark your calender for the first Friday and Saturday in October, October 1Oth and 11th and pay us a visit?  You're sure to find a treasure of some kind and even if you don't you're sure to enjoy the big cozy barn in autumn, well-lit and dry, interesting to look at in its own right.  Enjoy a visit and a cup of coffee or fresh Michigan cider.  I'll have more pictures here on the blog in coming days, so keep checking back ~ feel free to drop a note or call if you have any questions, especially about the livestock.  

Sheep and chickens are ready to go any time, you don't have to wait for the sale if you're interested in any of them but please no early sales on furnishings or crafting supplies.

There will be plenty of spinning fibers to choose from!  Yarn, too...

Lambs and Lilies

Well, the title of my last post was "Lambs and Ewes" and this one will be lambs and lilies, you'll see why in a minute.  Summer has been pretty good to us with cool temperatures, great pasture and hay so far.  The lambs are growing like crazy and the ewes are staying in good flesh, not getting thin from nursing lambs.  I haven't been doing as much spinning or knitting as I'd like and that's mostly because I had an argument with a big barn door a while back (I lost!) that resulted in some pretty bad strain to my back and hip.  I've been on the mend, slowly, but sitting (or driving) are still very difficult and painful...maybe it's the good Lord's way of keeping me on my feet and moving this summer?  I'm so thankful for our wonderful family for helping me out in extra ways over that time...

Now about those lambs, here are a couple of pictures of two personal favorites.  A head shot of a white Corriedale ram lamb that I'm quite taken with.  Might keep him around for a while to see how he grows.  Fleece is very nice and he's a stocky guy.  It doesn't show in this picture so much, but he has good Corriedale characteristics, nice typey ears and head, though I wish his nose was more solidly black:

And then one of the ewe lambs I'm keeping, the daughter of "Image" so a granddaughter of "Violet" :

How's that for a badgerface - teardrops and sugar lips!  I'd been calling her "Lily" and I think that will stick, which leads me to the next part of this post, some of the lilies from my garden that are in bloom right now.  I've been adding more and more of these every year, they're just so amazing.  I've got daylilies, Asiatic lilies, Orientals and Trumpets.  I'll leave you with pictures of a few of them. 

 

I wish you could share the amazing color and fragrance with me as well!  Do you have a flower garden?  What's blooming for you right now?

Lambs and Ewes

What can I say, it's a sheep farm and the lambs are growing so well, I wanted to share a picture or two!
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I love this picture of Collette and her ewe lamb, Little Britches.  Collette, more than any other of our ewes, stays very attached to her lambs.  We have two of her adult daughters, and they all stay right together.  Its not unusual to find Collette with her chin rested on one of her daughters.  I made the difficult decision to offer Little Britches for sale and she'll be making her way to another farm this fall, will probably have a new name.  I just hope that having her older girls still in the flock will be a comfort to this mama sheep.  I regretted the decision almost right away, but its done now.  (Sorry they're laying in the barn yard and not out on the fresh green grass or clean straw, lol!  Not as pretty of a picture, but real life)

Ainsley and her boy, he's one of the youngest lambs but he's an eye-catcher, all of her lambs have been.  He was actually a twin, but his sister took on fluid at birth and didn't live, sadly.  I really wanted another ewe from Ainsley.  This ram lamb is going to the same farm as Little Britches. 

Ainsley and Collette are our oldest ewes now and I love them both dearly.  My heart will break the day Ainsley ever passes....she's showing her age quite a bit these days.  I still love her funny little patches over her back and hips and her fleece is as fine as ever, though its now mostly grey rather than coffee bean brown. I may not breed her this fall, though she stayed fit through this rough winter and then had the twins.  But I notice she doesn't jump to her feet as fast as she used to (don't I understand that!) and she stays in the barn more.

One last picture, this one is Ivy, Ainsley's two year old daughter.  She's almost a carbon copy of Ainsley, though she silvered out much quicker ~

She had a handsome ram lamb herself this year, though only a single.  That's okay, he was such a big lamb. 

On Into June ~

 I realized its been a bit over a month since I wrote last, but like most of you its because of the busy-ness of the season, so I know you understand.  Everyday I think of things I'd like to write - happenings around the farm and in the flock.  Tales of walks in the woods.  How the hay and pastures and lambs are growing....how the fleece sales were fantastic this year (and did I mention we sold out quickly and completely?!?  No more Serenity Farms Corriedale or Corriedale/Bond raw wool till 2015 and even then the waiting list grows steadily!  Am I proud of that and happy?  You BET I am!)  I've got stories of knitting and spinning and Bible study that I'd love to share.  We've dealt with mind-numbing losses and incredible joys in our family, and then there's just the day to day life on the farm that I'd love to record here for myself and to share with the world (or at least our loyal readers)!

LOL, but the days go by so fast and I get tired early on...no time to sit at the computer and no desire to do so when the spring weather is calling.  Its raining hard here this morning, so I thought I'd take a minute to at least post a few pictures of lambs.  So not many words, they're all still here in my heart, but some lovely lambs to steal your heart or make you smile and hopefully keep checking back to our blog, even when there aren't many new posts....let's start with these two, do you remember Leah and Logan, the first lambs of the season?  Look how they've grown!  Always together, too.  Leah is staying in the flock, Logan will be for sale if he continues to grow so well....

Above "Little Britches", a Corriedale ewe, will probably be for sale

Image's spotted ewe, "Lily"  will probably not be for sale ;)

Neither will "Lynn" (be for sale I mean)


The next two pictures are of Jinger's moorit ram lamb.  He's going to be castrated and may very well stay here as a fleece wether.  He looks rather correct in these pictures, but he's actually very light boned and also has scurs (small horn buds)  He's a single lamb, too.  But it looks like his fleece is going to be pretty amazing, so we'll see if he gets wethered and stays around.  The moorit Corriedale/Bond cross fleeces sold well for us this year.

Now here's another moorit ram lamb, this time one of Jessie's twins.  His moorit sister (that's her lying behind Hannah's white ewe lamb in the third picture) is staying in the flock, but he'll probably remain intact and be available as a breeding ram.  I like him - he's beefy and substantial.  Nice dark red color with flashy white markings, too.  These aren't the best pictures, but these two just don't stay still for very long!

Finally, I'll end with this picture of a newly prepared field, fit and seeded for hay, with oats as the "cover crop".  This mornings rain will help all of that come along, I hope!  Now tell me, what do you have to share?