October and November..

Goodness, where does the time go? The month of October was over in a flash, and November seems to be clicking along at a similar pace.

October was the month for our fall shearing. I was really hoping to get started in September, but was probably lucky to get them sheared in October. It's not an organized shearing where they are all put up and sheared in a few hours.. it's a month long process. A sheep here - and a sheep there. I think 5 sheared in one day was the record. I've heard some shear more than 100 a day, but it will never be a goal of mine. Shearing went pretty well, other than near the end... my toughest girl was on the shearing board and my clippers started to short out - argh! She's a fighter to begin with and she's just hard to settle down - so to have her nearly controlled and the shears not work was really aggravating! And to turn her loose half sheared wouldn't have been appropriate (although it has happened before)

this was her first shearing back a couple of years ago- and my first attempt at shearing. Is it any wonder she is a fighter now?

On a positive note, I called Oster and explained the problem i was having and they sent out a replacement cord - i was impressed with their customer service.

So with 'most' of the sheep sheared, it was time to get back to pottery.

It took a while to get back into the swing of things. A lot of pots were made and soon tossed - because I couldn't trim them in time and they would dry out - argh! But not all is lost.. they will be recycled into another pot.

I hope to fire the kiln later this week. It's full of special requests, orders, and a few new things too.

I don't know if you noticed, but Ewenice was getting pretty big! Here, I thought it was a grazing and grain issue.. what was I thinking? She is actually not due until spring.. looking at the calendar, I'm thinking it will be in May.

This little ornament I'm hoping will be ready next week. I was trying to design an ornament that looked a little more like a suffolk, and Susy here was what came out of the clay. She'll be made from white stoneware clay and will have handpainted black legs and face, and a little red on the hat.

When I can't get down to the pottery room, I've been enjoying working with the wool, and have been experimenting with the "fulling" felting process. I'm excited about a few new projects and will share results when they are finished.

I've been picking thru wool from our Henry - which is a yearling icelandic ram. It is on the drying shelf and the carder is standing by.

We have 3 yearlings that was sired by our moorit ram Andy. Henry and Ziggy are 2 of the 3 and after going thru their wool, I am looking forward to our next crop of lambs as Andy is the flock sire this season. He will then be moving on to another flock. We've enjoyed having Andy here,
he's been a good ram with such a laid back personality.

Thanks Andy!