Another Update and more fun on the way this weekend!

Good afternoon fiber friends!! The sheep just updated the site with lots of goodies including dyed & washed fiber, and batts!! Be sure to browse around....

Our Baker has been busy picking out stunning colors for his Border Leicester fleece--the picture of the golds/yellows is the first round, and we have four more colorways drying for the weekend update! More pictures here.

This weekend we are launching a round of fun silent auctions, a raffle and items for sale--we are calling it 'Circle the Wagons' and more info will be available hopefully by Friday. We have a fiber friend in need and look forward to being able to help her out--the sheep are very excited about this, they LOVED raising money for Breast Cancer research last spring! Hope you are all warmer than we are! Over and out for now!

Abigail art by Dennis!

I got the way coolest gift in the mail yesterday! Our friend Dennis (Barbara our knitter's hubby) is a very talented rug hooker. This is his own design and he did a wonderful picture of our Abi (even though she would not cooperate with picture time as you can see!). He uses recycled wool coats and items he picks up here and there, then hand dyes the colors himself. I sent him this picture of Abi and a bunch of her wool and wa-la, a wonderful Dennis T original of my very own sheep--told you it wouldn't be long and sheep would be living inside with ME! bwaaahahahahahaha! I am hoping Dennis will love making these up--would love to offer them for sale on the site--what do you think??

Happy weekend everyone, look for our next update Monday or Tuesday--some rockin' colors out of the dyepots!! Over and out for now!

Snow, sheep and update galore!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope all is well! Had to break out a snow picture since we had 9 inches of snow the past few days. This picture is from last year but I love it--you can see Bobbi (the Great Pyr) in the front of the group--probably wishing her sheep would wise up and go INSIDE! Such dedication!

The sheep updated the site today with lots of goodies including yarn, dyed fiber and roving/batts. Be sure to take a look around! I have lots of dyed Romney drying now, just out of the dyepots so hoping to add those this weekend--got some really fun, stunning colors!

We also have a variety of so soft, debris free Jacob fleeces to sell from our friends Becky and Carl. Be sure to take a look at them, they are not your every day Jacob fleeces by far. They take dye well, are easy to spin and are great for next to the skin projects, felting and where ever your imagination/art takes you!

Over and out for now, the sheep have gotten their hands on the sleds AGAIN. Not a good plan!

Those speedy sheep! ha!

Hi all! Yes, this IS our Speedy sheep! He came to us as a very young sheep with a broken front leg. You would never know it now and he is definitely living up to his name--which really was cute at first although I hear from the other sheep he really did not like the name back then!! His best friends are Claire the Shetland and Casey our North Country Cheviot girlie. And treats of course!

The amazing sheep got the update done today instead of tomorrow so be sure to check out the new fiber! More pictures here!

We will be adding new yarn to the site this weekend and hopefully some more fiber if it is dry in time....

If you think about it, please think some good thoughts for our little Sweet Pea sheep--we think she got knocked into (sheep play like a bunch of rowdy four year old boys I swear) or slipped on the ice. She seems to be sore and not sick so we have her inside with lots of hay, grain and treats next to her usual group of Bobbi and Andrew's sheep. I hope it is not something worse than being stiff and sore so please keep good thoughts for her.... :0)

Meet some MORE sheeps!! Cotswold!

Today I present a sheep (third picture) who arrived pregnant, Athena is Ross' sheep and is a sweet girl. Her fleece is gorgeous, long and nice spiral curls! She had twins, Amelia (first picture) and Macki (second picture). Both lambs are almost a year old already--can't believe it! Amelia is Ross' and I took Macki for me.

Macki has an 'undershot' lower jaw, he is fine but we have to keep the lambs in with our Kelly (lamb babysitter/mama) so he gets a good chance to eat. He eats a little slower than the rest of the lambs but seems to be getting plenty of corn, treats and hay. He is growing and is only slightly smaller than his sister Ame. Both lambs are spunky kids and their best friends are Pippy, Sunny and Mario.... and did I mention TREATS?? Be sure to visit our Snapshot Pages for more stories, sheep and cuteness!

The sheep are working on an update for later today or at worst (with all their bickering-ha!) tomorrow! Happy fiber day!

Whaaat??? A camel in my basement??? Don't tell Jim!!

Time to meet a new friend--Humphrey the camel!! He is a very lucky boy who came to our new friend Cindy's place very very sick and sporting a broken back leg. That was nine years ago and he is now a happy healthy camel--even though his broken leg healed 2 inches shorter than the other. Cindy rescues horses and ponies--and has even rescued several llamas. The pony baby in the picture is one of her rescues from doom--who Humphrey actually fostered. The baby grew into a beautiful boy and is one of Cindy's many success stories of rescue and re-training.

I myself will probably never be able to have my own camel, so I am living vicariously through Humphrey!! ha! I managed to purchase half of Humphrey's gorgeous fleece this year and have made arrangements to purchase it every year now--the entire thing--oink oink! We also plan to purchase all of her llama's fiber too--oink again! SO, have all this year's fiber washed, tumbled and ready for the mill to run it through the magic de-hairing machine. I plan to offer up Humphrey's fiber asap and am even planning to spin up the longer guard hair into rug yarn.....

Hope your weekend is full of fiber fun!! over and out!

Meet some MORE sheeps!

These are not the best pictures but they truly capture the personality of these little stinkers! Hay in the fleece--eeeeeek! These are our little Shetland twins we purchased from our friend Naomi. They are black and both were bottle lambs--so they are very happy to see us and our pockets full of treats! Mario has short stubby horns and was sick most of the first months of his life. He is now happy, healthy and re-growing his fleece. His sister is Sunshine, she definitely lives up to her name! They love to romp and play--and live with our best babysitter ever--Kelly. They are only the size of a small springer spaniel so this means everyone bigger eats over the top of them--this year. Their fleeces will still be gorgeous so look out at shearing time for these teensy sheep!!

I am working hard to get through my fleeces at this point--it dawned on me the other day how close shearing is getting--oh my. Have to make an apointment with David the wonder shearer--better get cracking huh?

Watch for more fiber this weekend, have Romney in the dyepots, in the washer and am sorting through several of our own fleeces too. Fun fun fun--happy Thursday everyone!

Happy N-ewe Year!!!! hahaha!

The sheep are proud of their sheep related 'slogans'--silly! Happy new year to all of you and thank you for another great year here at the Homestead! We appreciate every one of you! This is Ross' sheep Amelia, daughter of his sheep Athena-and she also has a twin named Macki! Cotswold cotswold cotswold I say! wheee!





My good friend Holly Eqq sent me some beautiful (as always) batts that I had to get out of the envelop and onto a wheel! I am adding in left overs of my own fiber and this yarn will be available on the website as Holly & Me yarn soon.... I am spinning it up on my first ever wheel--an over 100 year old Russian spinning wheel. From Russia yet. It has its 'thoughts' on things, a little chatter but to me, it is telling me stories of long ago hands that used it to spin wool and flax for clothing and linens... Too fun!

We just finished an update that includes washed fiber, dyed alpaca fiber and yarn--more pictures here!

Be sure to check out the snapshot pages--I got out with the camera and am almost done adding all the newbies--trust me, it has been too long! Still have to go chase around the sheep in Dali's group that are not on the site yet--just a few more! Hope all is well and look forward to hearing your holiday fiber stories--what do you think of a name the lamb contest?? More on that tomorrow!