Zig and Henry

It's quite a chore to get a good picture of these guys.. and as you can see, I still have some work to do! (since the best picture i could get has a wire running thru it) But this is Zig (left) and Henry - twin brothers, both sporting their summer fleeces.

Zig really is a calm and gentle ram. When the others want to butt and bully around, he is just off to the side. (Him and Joe.. neither one likes to get involved in disputes) I told Zig he looked a little mean in the pose, and for him to just let his personality shine thru....

Then I got this....

No.. that's not quite that either.. Zig is really sweet, but these pictures just don't describe him well. Maybe it's because he doesn't smile much.

Henry on the other hand, well.. this picture fits him.

These boys have the thickest, richest thel coat. (the undercoat) Their wool last year, as yearlings, made such nice rovings, that i'm looking forward to seeing how the wool from them works up this year!

I'm hoping, that with all the thel they produce, to separate some of the thel from the tog (the outer coat of wool) and felt just the thel to see how that will work up.

I made a cobweb felted scarf a few days ago from last years fleece (Ziggy's) and as far as the experimenting is going here, this is my favorite yet. I am still working on the scarves - learning what works.. what doesn't. This one needs to be felted more. I'm finding that with the layers being so thin, it takes a lot longer to felt than if they were solid, thicker layers.

This scarf took less than 1.5 ounces. It is light, yet, when wrapped around my neck, (or the neck of a headless form) it's a nice shade of warm.
And hey- the dyes I ordered just came in! I am really excited to try handpainting the scarves.. yet, I have promised myself I won't get the dyes out until things get a little more caught up around here! One thing (well...30) at a time.. dyes will put me over the limit, but it's great motivation to knock a few other things out of the to do category.

Felted Buddies from felting friends..

This handsome fella -lil cody- arrived here as a gift from the crazy sheep lady at Punkins Patch http://myfavoritesheep.blogspot.com/. (fabulous blog site!) I thought I was just getting rid of some wool when I sent her home with it! What a thoughtful gift she sent back this way!

The details are so nice on lil Cody, I especially love how she felted the wool while leaving the locks long.

Big Cody - his indian name means "provider of wool for adorable felted lil cody"

(note: just made that up)

Now, speaking of felted gifts...

This adorable mouse was a gift from my friend Shelly. (Shelly, where is your blog?) This is Shelly's first felted creation. My pictures here just do not do either of these little guys justice. It's hard to see from this photo, but he has the cutest little slingshot in his back pocket that she made from a small tree branch.. and his back side is just as adorable!

What fun felted gifts! Thanks CSL and Shelly!

Lamb update - we have 3 more since the last post and one ewe left to lamb! Tally -- 9 RAMS, 3 ewes. Maybe next year will be the year for little ewes? We're just glad that they're all doing great. This year was SO MUCH easier than last year's lambing season. Just enjoying all the little ones running around out in the pasture.