Saturday, June 01, 2013

Puzzle, Moon Pie & Sheldon lambies!

Never let it be said that I need much of an arm twist to take in a bottle lamb- seems like every spring! Jim is such a sweet man. Ruth McNair called and asked if we would adopt three little Wensleydale lambs. The twins are Moon Pie & Sheldon. Their mom died when they were only a few days old. 

The weather was so cold when they arrived we set them up with a special bedroom on our enclosed back porch. They stayed there for 2 weeks til it was warm enough for them to move outside into our 'nursery'. We spent lots of time snuggling of course! 

Puzzle was also a twin but he was much slower to get moving than his sister so mom would not stay with him. She was worried more about the lamb she could not keep track of than the one who would still be in the same place when she came back. We think he had a little heart murmur (?) that he is growing out of. He spent his first few days in the house with me. He is named Puzzle because we had to figure out the puzzle of what was wrong with him so we could fix him! Lounging on the couch while I spun wool. My version of heaven...

And here we are, exploring our new house and court yard across the driveway. Still in my full sight but next to the big group of sheep's pasture. That lets our Pyrs Bobbi & Andrew get used to the new sheep before they move in. It will take a while since the lambs need to be big enough to not get hurt running with the big sheep. The big sheep would never hurt the lambs on purpose. They are just big, clumsy galoots who like to play a little rough.  

More Moon Pie & Sheldon.

Moon Pie & Sheldon pretending to be chickens? We bring the lambs over to the back yard for the day time so they can have pretty green grass, fresh water and of course, be right outside my back door. They really are quite the distraction- but a good one!

You want us to go WHERE?? But remember lambies, matter how far a lambie roams, the back porch is always home... 

Puzzle strikes a pose!

Whoa! We can really run fast! 

And why do we also love the Wensleydale fleeces you ask? This picture is Puzzle's curls when he was just a month old. 

This is what their wool will look like when they are sheared each year. The curls are very well defined, 6 to 10 inches long, soft and silky. Easy to dye, spin and felt. People use them for doll hair, needle and wet felting and lots of different yarn spinning techniques. 

My favorite use for the curls is our signature Crazy Quilt Lash Yarn. I 'tail spin' the locks onto a core yarn. Very dramatic yarn and I think this has to be my favorite yarn to spin. 

SO, for now this is the story of our cute little lambie pies. Hope the weather has been kind to you all and sending good thoughts to anyone in the path of all the weather wildness. 

We're updating the website tonight (June 1) so hope you'll have a look. New handspun yarn, roving, washed and dyed fiber. Always lots of unwashed fiber available too. Smooches from the sheep!! 
www.homesteadwoolandgiftfarm.com