Along came Brady....

Who is SO lucky I did not think of the name Tootsie before he was already Brady! A spring long ago found us helping our best friend on shearing day. The shearer was working away and along came a cute dark brown sheep- a yearling. This was supposed to be a group of girls you see- when this little cutie showed up for his haircut, finding a boy was quite a surprise! All neutered and masquerading as a girl?! Too funny and what an ingenius plan....

Long story short Brady ended up riding home with me- and 50 fleeces at the end of that day. He was a little on the wild side at first, but one day, he all of a sudden decided to be a lap sheep. He started eating Fruit Loops with the rest of the sheep and hanging about for hugs.

Brady has a beautiful fleece that has changed through the years to a very pretty, chocolate brown with silver threaded through. The locks average 3 to 4 inches long and he generally keeps his fleece very free of debris. The ends of the locks are of course cinnamon sun kissed because our sheep are happily romping outside year round with out jackets or coats (for now anyway!).

Brady's fleece is very medium to coarse in texture. When he sends his fleece to the mill for carding, he always picks out another fiber to soften it up. He does not try for next to the skin soft like Merino, just soft for hats, mittens and specially socks.

This yarn (not a great picture- too dark) is one Brady had me spin single ply- he blended it with pretty llama fiber from our friend Jen's happy flock. The yarn features really fun bounce- again, making it extra cool for socks....

And THIS is my sweet Brady now, all grown up into a big, happy sheep. He loves loves being hugged- and still thinks he is small enough to sit in my lap. On those days, I remind him how lucky he is not to be named 'Tootsie' after Dustin Hoffman's movie performance. He just giggles and calls me 'flat lap Sandyrella'..... gotta love it!