Stories from the Farm

At the end of June, I made the goal to spin some yarn this summer.  My handspun jacob yarn is almost gone and I was thinking about buying some at Black Sheep Gathering and that just seemed silly, so it inspired me to spin some of the wool I have here at home!  After I made this goal, I read about the Tour de Fleece on Punkin’s Patch’s blog.

Here is a simplified description from Ravelry:  The Tour de Fleece is a spin-along during the Tour de France – July 3rd through July 25th.  The concept is simple – they spin, we spin.  A real spinning themed spin-along.

Sara at Punkin’s Patch started a group through Ravelry called ‘My Favorite Sheep’ and here are the guidelines –

This TDF group is open to anyone who has a favorite sheep, wishes they had a favorite sheep or didn’t even know you could have a favorite sheep. While we’d prefer your Tour de Fleece challenge is spinning wool, we’ll still let you join in if your challenge involves spinning other fibers…but might make you sing a silly sheep song to prove you are worthy of ‘sociating with Miss Ewenice and her Punkin’s Patch friends at Equinox Farm ;-).

Your challenge should be a true personal challenge of any level and anyone completing their challenge will be entered in a drawing for a special needle felted Miss Ewenice sheep at the end of the tour.

Enjoy the ride!

Great motivation!!!  I love her felted sheep and Miss Ewenice is so cute…

look at her all dressed up 🙂

I definitely have some favorite sheep and a LOT of wool to spin up.

Here are some pictures of both…

Progress!

It is so hard to say which one of my sheep is ‘my favorite’, but Infiniti is high up on that list.  She loves to be scratched and is so sweet.  She out did herself this year by producing one of the prettiest lambs ever 🙂

Lulu is another favorite.  She may not conform to the breed standard as well as she should, but her sweet demeanor and excellent mothering skills has earned her a permanent place in the flock.

Chevelle was born a few years ago when we used car names as a naming theme.  She was one of my favorite lambs and was given the name of one of my favorite cars – having a fast, muscle car would be so much fun 🙂

This yarn is from the following roving.

It is a lamb fleece from a daughter of Wrangler.  It is delightful to spin and such a pretty color!

Here is what I have accomplished so far – it is amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.  There is a little over 12 ounces, 2-ply yarn in charcoal, lilac/white blended, dark gray, and a yarn I am calling lumpy, bumpy, and chunky in light gray and dark gray.  My personal challenge was to spin every day and I am happy to say that I have done just that! 

Last but not least – one of my original favorites, Holly.  Such a good girl.  She isn’t pushy, stands patiently at her spot at the feeder (an uncommon thing in our flock), great mom, beautiful fleece, and loves to share quiet moments having her ears scratched.

Next on the spinning wheel is Wrangler’s fleece from this year – a favorite to spin!