A Very Late New Comer!!

Welcome to Darla!

Darla, an Icelandic ewe lamb, was born here Monday afternoon as a result of a unscheduled breeding at Stony Meadows Farm in January/February. I bought her mom, Candice, (pictured with her) uncertain of whether she was pregnant as a yearling.

As you can tell, Darla is teeny tiny! She was most probably born prematurely. Since her mom's milk had not come in, she needed some colostrum. I fed her frozen colostrum from my neighbor's dairy goats for two days. Her mom didn't understand about nursing her lamb, so we had to be a bit forceful with Candice once her milk did come in. Then Candice became a nursing mom.

Now Darla thinks it's time to eat some hay... and she's only 3 days old!!!

Icelandic Sheep have many, many different colors and color patterns. To me it looks like Darla is Mouflon and white spotted. But I haven't learned enough to say for sure. I'll leave it to the experts to determine! One thing's for sure: this breed is born with lots of long curls of fleece!!!

Candice's long fleece has grown since April 8th!

Here are more pictures of total cuteness!!

Jacob Sheep Sculpture: Christmas commission

Never Winter Parfait a 2010 Jacob ewe lamb

Parfait

Parfait

My version of Parfait. Her owner sent me some of her actual fleece so I could use it for the exterior.  I used Suffolk wool for the rest as it is my favorite for sculpting the core and legs.

Using Jacob fleece was so nice. It's soft and fluffy.

Making Contact

I must hand out 50 or so cards every week at the Farmers Markets. That's putting out money rather than bringing it in, but it's also making contacts and connections. Yes, I do sell some needle felting wool and yarn every now and again and I do get commissions for all kinds of critters, but slowly. I just hope that everyone who took a card to get back to me on a commission doesn't show up 3 weeks before X-mas!!!

I love sitting at my booth, needle felting away and having folks of all types come up to see what I am doing. Some think my work is way over-priced and hurry their children away. Others really get all the work that goes into each animal: feeding the sheep, shearing them, getting the wool washed and carded, dyeing the wool, not to mention the actual sculpting process. Those in the latter category tend to think I'm not charging enough. Interesting!

I'm just grateful that I can make money doing something that combines my love for animals and my ability to sculpt!!!

Snowy Sheep

Today my 3 Sheeples finally went out to their pasture after a week of being in their shed and small paddock. It has snowed a total of 12 inches in the past week. No grass to be seen until now. And only a tiny bit is peeping through. They'll find it!

Sheepish Times

This is a very sheepish time of the year. I'm showing my jacob sheep at the county fairs and my son is showing Suffolk/Hampshire market lambs at the county fairs. I'm also needle felting little sheepies as quickly as my fingers can go -- or until I get distracted.

Worrying about whether or not my yearling ewe is pregnant out of season and likely to deliver by end of Oct. Previous owner had her and her 1/2 sister together with a ram after they delivered their respective lambs this spring. My ram, Jericho, will be terribly disappointed if he has to wait until next year to breed her... so will his paddock companion Georgie (he's tired of being bum-rushed). I need to sell or trade a 2009 ewe because I can't breed her to her father which is the only ram I have. Could breed her to someone else's ram, but would rather have an unrelated ewe to replace her.

Getting needle felted items ready to be entered in the Dixie Classic Fair. The prize money is pretty darned good in both the professional fine arts and professional crafts divisions. Some more than I would ask for the pieces to sell.

Very rainy. Wet and heavy sheep in the pasture and some wrung out ones in their pen. We coulda used this rain earlier in the summer. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers!

Have some great ideas for needle felted pieces. Need to make the ideas real!

Getting Started

Just starting out with blogging. This will be about my sheep and my work with wool. Stay tuned!