Finally after all these years..........

[Roving Jacobs]

What lovely girls! If it's something you're interested in Penny can be registered too. The Jacob Sheep Breeders Association does registration by inspection so if she looks like a jacob (and she definitely does ) she can be registered as a jacob.

Hopefully you have easy lambing and lots of adorable spotty babies!

 

[hilarie]

There are excellent tutorials on YouTube for knitting. Keep practicing, it gets better. Make a lot of scarves and potholders

 

[SillyChicken]

Thanks Roving, yes the fellow I purchased Danika from said the same. I will be looking into it soon.

Hilarie, yeah.. and they make it look so easy! One little slip up and it's all over... lol. I've learned this several times... well, every time. one thing I have learned. Start out with a lighter yarn, the darker stuff is hard to see!

 

[hilarie]

That's true. And although you hate to "waste" good yarn, another thing I believe firmly: use at least decent stuff. If it's not pleasant to handle/work with, you won't enjoy knitting it. It's the principle of the school band instrument. You don't want to spend a lot on something that might not "take", but playing a good instrument is so much more rewarding.

 

[norseofcourse]

I plan to go to a fiber expo next month to get supplies, connections and pointers... they have a one day beginner spinner class, but it's 50$........ I think I'll figure it out myself at that price. I started teaching myself to knit last night... it looks pretty bad! LOL!

Do you have a wheel yet, or are you going to use a drop spindle?

I got a wheel last year, and a $50 class would have done me no good at first (besides, I'm cheap.... ummmm frugal). I spent some time every night for a whole week, just learning to work the treadle to keep the wheel going (in the correct direction ). A friend of mine who spins suggested this, and I was glad I spent that time. I practiced, with no fiber, till I could keep the wheel turning in a smooth rhythm, without looking at it (most of the time).

Then when it came time to start spinning, it was a little easier (slightly!) to work the treadle as I tried to figure out how to hold the fibers and work with them. It was still like trying to do six things at once ! I could not talk, or I'd lose my concentration, and I don't think I was able to listen all that well, either! My wonderful mentor would give me a pointer or two, and then leave me to figure out what worked best for me, stepping in only as needed or to give encouragement. And sometimes I'd just sit and watch her or the others spinning. This was a group of people (mostly SCA) who get together and spin, not a formal class.

By the third or fourth session, my fingers were finally figuring out what to do, I could treadle for longer periods of time (we're talking whole minutes in a row here!), and my yarn was getting a bit of consistency to it, sometimes... LOL
They keep telling me that when you get really experienced at spinning, and you *want* to spin yarn with all kinds of fat and skinny variations like when you're a beginner, that you can't! LOL So I'm sitting there watching them, thinking "I wish I could do that", and they're sitting there watching me and thinking the same thing!

 

[SillyChicken]

So far I have no supplies. I was thinking of hand carders and a drop spindle..cause I don't have a ton of cash for a wheel.... and I'm not sure if I'm going to like working with it.
I was down with the sheep last night and notice Penny seemed a bit "wide".. I hope it was just ruminant activity. She was exposed to a large Dorper ram before I got her, I was hoping he wasn't able to cover her. I worry for her. I do know that the other ewes she was with are dropping their lambs now so if she is, it could be anytime. I think I'll get her CDT shot to her this weekend just in case. The one I hope was bred isn't showing any girth..and I don't know if this is normal not to show much until later in the game.

 

[SillyChicken]

Yes, I love it when things work out! DH said go ahead and get a ram lamb!
this won't happen until the end of summer, but I'm excited about it. The ram won't be related to the ewe or her offspring due end of April. So, keeping fingers crossed for an ewe lamb! We've cleared up a bunch of our financial obligations so hopefully this also means we'll be able to put up more pasture too!

 

[SillyChicken]

spent the weekend playing with my carder and drop spindle......... Haven't gotten the knack of carding yet. I think I'm either working it too much, or the wrong way . I spun some chunky yarn, double plied it, set the yarn... It's hard to know if your spinning it too much, or too little. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet...It was fun though.

 

[SillyChicken]

Well... the day I was thinking wasn't going to come.......DID!!

We have a little ram lamb!!!

 

[Ruus]

Yay! He's so cute!