What to do with CAMEL fiber???

Ok, I am sure you are all familiar with my beloved 'nephew' Humphrey? He lives with his family in KY so Cindy is glad her camel is far enough away--I might have to pack my bags and move in with Humphrey--he has a very nice apartment there! :0)

Humphrey arrived at her rescue farm with a broken hind leg, that has long since healed. He spends his time babysitting little baby ponies and entertaining his family--he loves to give kisses and never spits.... What manners!

And what to do with Camel fiber you say?? I say, just have fun--Humphrey says you don't know what you are missing! We wash his fiber here at our farm then send it to Argyle Fiber Mill where the fiber is then sent through the de-hairing machine to remove most of the guard hair--leaving behind a gorgeous 'cloud' of the soft downy fiber. I have spun his fiber into single ply, two ply, alone or with other fiber added in. The fiber spun on its own may have some guard hairs left that can either be easily removed while spinning, or left in the yarn for some texture--it is a great felting yarn also! The pictured yarn I spun two matching plys of dyed Humphrey (yes, you can dye it any color too!) fiber. When I spun each ply, I spun a random amount of camel and then a random stripe of Corriedale wool that was a very similar dye lot. It will be a softer yarn that can be used in most any project--and it is gorgeous--the yarn was a gift to Cindy, ordered up by Humphrey himself.... hee hee hee! We are working on the second half of Humphrey's 2008 fleece now so watch for it to hit the site--both in clouds and dyed up some scrumptious colors!! What an adventure!!!

Update this weekend--sorry we are late, the sheep are enjoying some late fall weather--lots of breeze, cool nights and sun in the day time. Perfect time to be a sheep! Toodles!

Wash day and new toys!

Saweet! Lots of yarn spun this weekend--in between a sneak visit to my parents that included my 'other' mom and dad--Barbara and Dennis! Had a fun day, and thank you mom and dad for all the wonderful 'stuff' (drying rack and so much more) we scooped up to help me organize my shop!!!

I was so tired yesterday I played with the sheep (in the most windy day we have had in months) and just spun lots and lots of yarn! Whew--really is a great way to spend a dreary inside day don't you think? Spins the bad right out of you--hee hee! The sheep have also been busy washing and dyeing fiber--and roving. Should be ready for an update later in the week--sorry we (they-ha!) are off their schedule. Just makes for a better update though--lots of goodies!

Be sure to get yourself on our email mailing list--will keep everyone posted about the update! Cheers!

She's a girl!!!

Thank you all for your patience this week, my baby sister had her first baby on Tuesday, everyone is healthy, happy and wonderful--heading back home tomorrow. Yey! Her name is Macie Josephine Brown. The Josephine is Kevin's mom's name (she passed away when kevin was a teen) so what a beautiful baby, and a name to match! Will post pictures when I have them available--not so sure about posting unprotected on the internet? Any thoughts on that? Our pictures are protected on the website but not here.....

We are also thinking about some changes for payments--nothing new choice wise but to save me some bookkeeping (or make it easier and less time involved). We are setting Jenny and Kendra up with Paypal accounts so when you order their wool, you will need to make a seperate payment to their accounts--that way they get the money pronto and saves the sheep time in the office.... hee hee! They say Baaah humbug to office work as we all know! Any thoughts on that appreciated too--might be confusing at first but I can alway send seperate Paypal invoices to keep it easy. Anyone paying via check would continue to make one payment to the sheep.... Do I make any semblence of sense today? Probably not! Off to sort fleeces!

Ooh la la and cha cha cha! Update and more!!

Flashback picture of our Keebler--whose fleece is on the website today--all dyed up and ready to go!! :0)

Hooray for updates--and sheep who showed up for work today! They were too 'busy' yesterday watching football and drinking sodas with umbrellas in them--scary huh? :0)

There is plenty of fun in this update, took us all day to get it done--lots of yarn, fiber, fleeces and batts--be sure to have a look around! Happy Monday and look forward to hearing from you-- cheers!!

Marci's Fiber Fun Day!

Isn't this a cool picture?? This is one of the pictures Marci sent to us--a new friend of the sheep! She homeschools her kidlets and they had a fiber fun day to learn to felt. They worked from some project ideas in Living Crafts Magazine (which also did a small feature on our fiber/sheep) that included pumpkins, hedgehogs and more.... She had the wool all set in the middle of her table and she said it was just a fun time--they had company over (kids AND moms) and while they were learning, her hubby had a smokey adventure with dinner--and wa-la, a visit with the local fire department just completed their fun day! No fire, just smoke enough to set off the smoke alarm--and I am sure most of us have done the same--but his timing was great don't you think? hee hee. Please be sure to send the sheep pictures of the art you all create with the sheep's fiber ok? We LOVE to share and post on the sheep's web gallery! Off to work on the update for this weekend--stop back ok? Toodles!

Dennis Toren Originals!

Our Dennis has been busy! These are his latest original rug hooking art-- created as a special order. I just LOVE them! And I am sure the person he created them for will too. The pieces are approximately 10x10 to 12x12 and he uses actual wool locks and llama fiber to give such a realistic effect. He is such a talent! We have more rug hookings from Dennis listed on the site so be sure to take a peek!

Our new llamas are settling in and having fun knocking around their new pasture. Max has not been too happy that he has company--he loves our Chaquita (and she hates them all--just loves her goaties!) and does not share. He is getting to be curious about the boys though, he follows them but as soon as they look at him, he puts his ears back to boss them again. Silly llama. Will be good for him to have friends of his own. Jim is adopting three alpacas from Jen too--they should be here soon. And yes, you heard right--JIM!

The sheep are working on an update for this weekend--keep an eye out and be sure to sign up for their e-mail notices on the site--those are the first to get sent by the sheep immediately after the update is complete. Happy Tuesday everyone!

Llampalooza!

Here we are, llamapalooza week! ha! Jenny just brought over six of her 'special needs' llama babies for us--no arm twisting involved either! The llamas were brought to her last summer/fall, very hungry, skinny and taken too soon from their moms. They are all healthy now thanks to Jenny's hard work--the only left over is they are stunted growth wise so will always be half the size of a 'typical' llama. They are adorable and getting to know their way around. The white llama is Radar (leader of the crew), there is one with ears that had been frostbitten before he got to Jen--he is Van Gogh. One is Obama (of course) and the names for the rest are being batted around to see what fits best! They are priceless, they hum a LOT, and tell us stories. They sound like a barbershop quartet getting ready to sing--too fun! We are glad to help Jen make room for more needy critters.... Thank you Jenny!

The update is done! (yey sheep) so browse a bit for some gorgeous dyed, washed, unwashed wool, Crazy Quilt Batts (yes you heard correctly!) and more. Been getting things sorted so I don't have to do much of that this winter so keep an eye out, hoping the updates are all this big from now on--yarn to add this week too! Happy Fiber Art!

Rainy day website update......

Buddy Schnauzer was too sleepy to do much more than watch the sheep work at the computer. What a lazy rainy day! Slept in a little late, fed the sheep and 'convinced' a few sheep that had the best typing skills to get in and get the update done early! hee hee and BAH say the sheep. They are now out munching on the grass that is looking green again--sheepy salads all around! We managed to scrape off 20 small round bales of hay for them from our field (wah, buying hay again this year, at least not as much though) that will be delivered next week to their favorite spots to dine alfresco!

The update is a little smaller in nature than what we usually aim for but llama circumstances what they were last week, we are all off our 'schedule' a bit. However, not sure we ever truly have a set schedule? Too much excitement around here every day!



Our wonder shearer David was here the other evening for a visit between shearing stops. He is a hoot! Such a great source of knowledge for us and we always learn something new about sheep from him. Let us all hope he NEVER retires! Fingers crossed right David??? :0) He also dropped off a gigundo bag of his beautiful sheep's Corriedale wool--it is heading to the mill for white, soft, clean roving--should keep us all in plenty of wool for our dyeing fun so keep an eye out!

We will be having a mid-week update with lots of unwashed wool, and am currently washing up the mighty Kirk McNair's Romney fleece-- a blue ribbon winner at the Jefferson Sheep & Wool Festival again this year! It is beauteous wool and a whomping skirted weight of 10+ pounds! Will be offering both dyed and washed from his fleece.... We will keep you all posted about the llama rescue and please keep sending good thoughts for them ok? Cheers!

Hollyeqq update!

Yey Holly! She is baaaack home all safe and sound! Her surgery was a success and now she has to rest rest rest. You can see how glad her puppy is to see her--he was worried can you tell? Poor LA! Makes you want to give them BOTH a big hug doesn't it? You can read more about her adventure on her blog so be sure to take a peak, she captured some gorgeous pictures of wildlife, nature and more while hiking (pre-surgery of course!). She is SO grateful for the fundraiser you all participated in and gave so generously to--you paid her way for the rental car and hotel stay--the biggest part of her expenses! So again, you are all amazing and wonderful--thank you for helping us take care of Holly when she needed all of us.

She is ahead of the fiber game so be sure to shop her site too--fun browsing to say the least--she is a fiber/color wizard!

LLAMA RESCUE UPDATE: To date, the llama rescue is working out the kinks of where they will end up--there is a rescue interested in taking the entire 25+ in to get them vetted, FED and evaluated for new homes--keep your fingers crossed!! It would be a good place for them to get more acclimated to people. We have everyone on a list here so when it gets to a point they are heading off that farm, we will be sure your names are all passed along to the people in charge. Please continue to email us so we can keep our list current!

With all the excitement, our update will be this weekend, probably Sunday so I have a day to get it on there! It will be a good one--washed wool (Romney-wheee!), dyed fiber and even some yarn to re-stock! Hope you are all enjoying some fiber time this weekend and always look forward to hearing from you--you are wonderful sheepy peeps!