A Hero

His letters made it home

But he didn't

He never married

Never knew the joy of having children of his own

He left home a young man to serve his country

He lost his life fighting a war

Freedom is not free

In Memory of a Hero

Opal C Atha

Just Catching Up

Well it has been a week of catching up around here now that the fiber festival is over. I've actually been enjoying getting the house back in order. (if there ever was such a thing) What am I going to get into now?

Fiber! This is some beautiful Llama fiber that was sent to me from my friend Terese, over at Gizmo quilts http://gizmoquilts.blogspot.com/ I was thinking a hat with the darker fiber, but I'm not sure yet what I'd like to make from the brown fiber?

It is so soft and silky! I was thinking I'd like to spin it and make a lacy scarf with it. I haven't spun Llama before, do I need to spin it with another fiber, or can I spin it alone? I'm looking forward to this. Thanks Terese!

And did I tell you that we were getting more sheep? Oh, I may have hinted around about it here and there.. you know, with all that money we were saving using cloth diapers..lol. At the time, I really was kidding. That was before I knew that Karen was going to sell more of her Icelandics! Our ewes here came from Mike and Karen at Whippoorwill Farms in WV, and we have been so pleased with all of them. When I saw that she had a spotted ewe for sale, well, we(ok, I) just couldn't resist! So - this is Mildred and her Shetland cross ewe babies Bea and Brady.

There's more beautiful ewes where this one came at www.whippoorwillfarm.com/main/page_sale.html It looks like she has just added cashemere kids to her sale page, too!

Karen has Shetlands also, and gave us this beautiful Emsket Shetland fleece! I am sure looking forward to spinning this fleece! Thanks Karen! (and thanks for the beautiful ewes)

It sure seems to be raining a lot here lately. We've had a bit of flash flooding in the area here - just hoping that it's not a terribly wet year - or dry either. That's maybe asking a lot, isn't it? This picture was taken as a tornado warning was posted on the news for an area north of us. The sky looked great from here. Fortunately, we didn't hear of any major damage caused by the storm.

I'll wrap this up here with a picture of Ziggy. He's so hard to get a photo of. (he's always under foot) To get this photo, I would run away from him and try to get a picture of him, but here he was running behind me... this went on and on.. so long, that if you look close, you'll see his tongue is hanging out!

What makes a great festival?

There were a lot of fabulous wool and fiber products at the first Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival.

Just to list a few, there were raw fleeces available, rovings, yarns. There were vendors with processing equipment, combs, carders, and spinning wheels - again, just to name a few. You could also find beautiful finished handmade items. In the department of product, the turnout was great!

There were Llamas, Alpacas, Rabbits, and Sheep on display. Sheep shearing demonstrations... oh, if I had only taken pictures of all the goin' ons!

There were some very impressive items being made as a result of the workshops. There were needle felted Santas that were just incredible. You could make a basket for drying wool. Instructional spinning, knitting, and wool dyeing and wet felting classes were also available.

There was a great turnout for the photo contest - so many fun and great photos to be inspired by. Keep in mind the photo contest when you're out taking pictures this year. The categories were:

• Portraits (sheep and fiber animals)
• Working (herding dogs, guard animals, shearing, feeding, etc.)
• Landscape (that include fiber animals)
• Products (yarn, handmade fiber items, spinning wheel, etc.)
• Junior (all the above classes - age 17 and under)

In the way of competitions, there was also a fleece and skein competition. If you didn't get your entries in, start planning for next year :)

The food was great too!

What I really need here are photos to tell the story. But I'll wrap this up by saying that what I thought made this festival great was the people. From the organizers of the festival, to the fellow vendors, the volunteers, to the visitors of the festival. It was so nice to meet everyone, and get to know those who came out to this new event. It was a great time and I'm already looking forward to the next one! This was a great festival.

p.s. Wyatt would like to say 'thanks' to the ladies who gave him attention and smiled at him - in his little eyes, that is what makes a festival great and he sure had a great time!

Ky Sheep and Fiber Festival

It occurred to me as I was unloading the kiln yesterday, that I had only posted what I "wasn't bringing" to the festival! (I guess because the other pots were busy being fired, glazed and fired.. they didn't have time in their schedule for photos.)

So, now that they're out of the kiln and relaxing, here's a few examples of what is coming to the festival with me.

www.kentuckysheepandfiber.com Hope to see you there! Stop by and say hello!

Lambing season complete!

These two lambs that were born this week have wrapped up our lambing season for this year. We have 10 ewe lambs and 5 ram lambs. With the exception of the markings on this little lamb here on the left, they are ALL WHITE!

Charlie sired all the lambs this year - except for Lambies little rammy. Charlie was born here 2 years ago. He's a gentle natured ram and sure throws that white! He's shedding his winter wool in this photo, but his fall clip is beautiful! Hoping he passes that wool on.
Had a chance to scraffito a few more mugs and bowls earlier today...

they'll need to be bisque fired, then glazed with just a clear glaze.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

Pottery

Well it has been forever since I've posted on pottery!

I've been working on getting a few pots ready for the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival that will be held in Lexington May 15-16. http://www.kentuckysheepandfiber.com/ This is the first year for the festival and I'm excited to be a part of it! The organizers of this festival have been working really hard to bring a festival to our area that is all about sheep, fiber animals, wool and fiber.

I have to admit, I don't feel that I'm doing my part here. I will be bringing "ewenice" pottery and yarn bowls, but most all of the new ideas that I had for my booth are still in the 'ideas' file. One idea though, is mid-process. It won't be ready in time for this fiber festival, but it's a good time to start executing ideas for next year!

This is a technique called scrafitto - a clay slip, or underglaze is painted on the pot before the pot is fired and the clay slip is scratched away, revealing the clay underneath to create a design.

This is "Bewelah" - sort of a ewe-in-law to Ewenice. (Without going into all the drama of the relationship, they share the same ram, so really there's no "in-law", but this makes it sounds a little more proper.) In defense of the ewes, it's no different than a lot of the drama on tv these days.

Bewelah is also looking for work - she's been seen with a sign "Will work for weed" I'm still debating if this would be appropriate. It seems it might be wrong on a couple of different levels.

Me Tarzan...

Well yesterday was just a rainy day, as was today. Wyatt and I went out to check the sheep as soon as the rain let up (only to have the skies open up while we were still in the pasture). Chloe was having contractions the first time we were out checking on them, but I didn't know how long she had been in labor. I kept checking on her and the next time I went to the pasture, the lamb was showing. Long story short, an hour and a half later, I called my neighbor for back-up, support, and child care! (just imagine the baby in the stroller, me stradling the ewes neck with my knees - she's facing downhill, I'm facing uphill, she's headed downhill- I'm going with her... the goat is headed to the stroller... ) Thanks Marlene for all your help, advice, and entertaining Wyatt. I don't like to get involved unless it's absolutely necessary, and even though the ewe was still able to get up and carry me downhill, Marlene helped to reassure me that she did need help. This is actually the first time that I've had to assist a ewe. I was afraid that it was too late and the lamb wouldn't make it, but as you can see this story ends well. The angle of this picture, the lamb looks like he has a little head, but it's just the angle.. this fella was huge! Once he was on the ground, I headed back to the house. The next visit to the field I found a little sister. Seeing these two next to each other, for whatever reason, made me think of Tarzan and Jane... I don't know why, but that's their names. Tarzan has to eat on his knees because he's too tall to eat standing up.

We have 7 lambs now - 3 rams and 4 ewes.

Lambie's rammy.

5 Ewes to go... hoping they will lamb when the sun is shining. (and not need any help.. that would be great)

Recipe

I started a post back in February and just recently went back and finished it to publish it. Of course it posted it in the February files. Anyways, it's a good and easy recipe for bread- and a starter if anyone is interested.

http://icelandicwool.blogspot.com/2010/02/bread-and-roll-recipe.html

Finally, something to blog about...

Well no one wants to hear about tax preparation. It's been absolutely beautiful this week, but I've been inside trying to get the tax return together. Yes, wait til the last week or so, and you're bound to lose out on some nice weather!

I went out this morning to check on the sheep and couldn't find lambie. Of course she was at the last place I looked. She had company too! (we're not surprised like we were when the calf arrived.. we knew lambs were coming, but to be honest, I didn't know exactly when they would start arriving this time around)

This is Lambie's first lamb. (a ram of course) Lambie was rejected by her mother, and was our only bottle lamb we've had, but I can tell she's going to be a great mother to this little guy. The picture isn't the greatest - had a little guy sleeping in the house and I was way out of range on the baby moniter, so I snapped a picture and ran!

I took this picture of Myrtle a few days ago. She has to be the funniest sheep we have here. She followed me this morning when I went looking for Lambie.. she hops more than she walks, and is just fun to watch.

Snapped a quick pic of LeRoy the other day too. He is looking so much like his papa Charlie that it's sometimes hard to tell them apart from a distance. He's almost a year old now - still has a lot of growing to do. Our rams/wethers are starting to shed and really need to be sheared soon! (this weekend-if all goes as planned) I'll shear the ewes as they have their babies.

The morning sky this morning. It won't be long before those branches are covered with leaves!

Shearing School..

Sorry, no photo available.



Of all the times to leave my camera home, this past Tuesday wasn't one of them.



The drive alone to the U.K. Sheep Shearing school held in Midway, Ky was enough for me to realize that I should never leave my camera home. The scenery was outstanding. Rock fences, board fenced farms... just a beautiful drive.



(I might have been a little pre-occupied with getting ready to leave that morning. I dropped Wyatt off at Grammy's and it was the first time in -well, over a year that I've been apart from him! He did fine, but mom here might have had a little separation anxiety)



The shearing school was just fabulous. There were 15 students taking the class and great instructors and staff. They first demonstrated shearing sheep on their rump, and after lunch they had a demonstration of shearing a sheep on a stand. The "hands on" is what helped me the most. I have sheared our sheep both standing (with manual blades) and attempted shearing them while on their rump with electric clippers. It's been hard for me to feel comfortable with the electric clippers while not knowing for sure if I was holding the sheep right, and I was always afraid I would cut them. This class is just what I needed to have more confidence with shearing.

I can't say that I'm excited about shearing now, but less scared anyways.

Cloth Diaper Pattern Link

Just after posting about the savings of using cloth diapers, a baby magazine arrived in the mail and had an article on 'going green'. Their article stated that the average family spends 1,600 dollars per child on diapers! Goodness, that is enough to buy some sheep!


http://fernandfaerie.com/sewing_fitteds.html After trying a few different patterns, this is where I found the pattern for the style of diapers we liked the best.

I used the pattern that is on the above link, but made a few changes regarding materials used, and a few changes to the method of making them.

Since I was using a serger, and the serger would could the material for me as i sewed, I did not cut out the pattern precisely. A pattern was cut out of an old pizza box. I then transferred the pattern onto the liner material using an ink pen. (The line would be cut away by the serger) For the inside of the diaper, i used cotton flannel -one yard made approx 10 diaper liners.


The material here is folded, so once I had all the patterns "drawn" on the right side of the material, I cut them apart and would then turn the material over and then mark the pattern on the other piece of fabric. (by cutting the material while it was folded, it saved cutting each liner individually)
For the "soaker" part of the diaper, I used a washcloth. (purchased in a multi-pack at wal-mart - they look thin at the store, but once washed and dried, they really fluff up) You can tri-fold the washcloth and serge the edges, or just tri-fold and go!
You're now ready to sew it to the diaper liner. Place the soaker under the liner and center it between the sides and position it where you want it front to back. Flip it over and pin in place.


Now sew around all the edges of the soaker.

Now it's time to sew the liner to the outside of the diaper. For the outside of the diaper, I use 2 layers of t-shirt material. Pin the liner to the t-shirt material and serge the side edges only - leaving the top and bottom open. It is not necessary to mark the outer layer with the pattern, I just lay the pattern on the material and cut it out a large square...the pattern is already marked on the liner and that's all we need.

With the sides serged, we're ready to sew in the elastic for the leg openings. (this is marked on the original pattern) You might want to experiment with the length of elastic to use. The first batch of diapers i used 5-1/2". It worked fine, but made the diapers seem a little smaller, so I used 6" and the diaper fit much better.

Place a mark approx 1/2" from end and again at the length you want. Do not cut the elastic until it's sewn in the diaper.

Mark on your liner material with a pencil where the elastic will stop and start. Place the elastic inside the diaper from either the top or the bottom. (this is why we serged only the sides earlier) Pin the end of the elastic (at the mark) to the mark on your liner material. Using the sewing machine now, sew from edge of diaper across elastic to hold it in place. (I reverse over it too) Once you have sewn across the elastic, turn and sew along the elastic to the other mark, being careful to catch the elastic in the stitching. (we're making a "pocket" for the elastic)
When you reach the mark on the liner material, pull the elastic until you see the mark you made indicating the length. Back the elastic up so that the mark on the elastic now matches up with the mark on the liner. Raise the pressure foot, turn and stitch across the elastic to secure in place. Cut the elastic now approx 1/2" from where it is stitched.
Repeat stitching the elastic in the next leg, cut the elastic and you're ready to serge the top and the bottom of the diaper closed. That's it!

I use snappies to fasten the diaper. You could use velcro, pins, etc. I like the snappies because they are simple and easy to use. .

http://www.earthbums.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=173&osCsid=tikj6lajm6qh1f5q13q101d3h4 is the link for the 'snappie' diaper fasteners. (also a great link for purchasing cloth diapers if you prefer to buy your diapers!)

Keep in mind these cloth diapers do need a cover. I haven't had them to "leak" out the sides, but they will soak thru. We have been using a wool cover, and have been pleased with both the diapers and the cover.

A stack of savings...

I love to recycle. Just recently, we went thru our closet again in efforts to make space.

Most of the clothes will hopefully be worn again. However, there were a lot of t-shirts and such that wasn't of quality to give away -most everything i've worn around the house has paint on it! I had been planning to make cloth diapers anyways - so this was a perfect project to use up those old shirts.Just an idea of the savings that can be had with cloth diapers - if you replace just one pamper a day with a cloth one, in a years time, you've saved right at 100 dollars. That's amazing, isn't it? (the diapers we're using now cost 26 cents, but it could be more or less depending on the size and brand and quantity purchased) That 100 dollars might not sound like a huge savings over a years time, but if you multiply that by the number of diapers you use a day, say, 10 a day, you're now looking at a sizable savings! If you keep your kid in diapers long enough, you can probably convince your husband that you have saved enough to buy a large flock of sheep. lol.

Of course, you do have the laundering with the cloth diapers, but it is simple, and much easier than I expected. I just rinse them out in the laundry sink. I have diluted laundry detergent in a pump bottle and if the diaper is dirty, a bar of natural soap gets them sparkly white again. (it's only gross if it's some other kid's diaper..lol) I wring them out and hang them on a hanger to dry, and just throw them in the dryer the next time the dryer is running. (we don't have to deduct any cleaning expenses from the savings now :) it's very minimal)

Buying cloth diapers can require an up front investment. but it will pay off in the long run. Initially, I purchased just 6 cloth diapers at a price of 94.00 - (some were up to 17.00 each) The price of making diapers is pennies on the dollar compared to buying them, especially if you have a stash of old t-shirts that can be used. I bought 100% cotton flannel for the inside of the diaper and cotton wash cloths for the inserts, and spent less than 10 dollars for 14 diapers! These cotton diapers are not waterproof, so do need to be covered. We are using wool covers.

Even if you don't feel comfortable with sewing, you can still use cloth diapers and save big! That is, if you have a use for cloth diapers.

I'll be sharing the link to the pattern i used along with some diaper sewing tips in an upcoming post.

Spring Cleaning..

The weather was beautiful out today! We thought it would be a good time to start some spring cleaning.. in our pastures - not that the house didn't need it, but make hay when the sun shines, right?

We're working on cleaning up the new pasture that was fenced in last fall. There's a lot to do, but we've started with an area that has a lot of trees down. This stump reminded me of a tombstone....

Maybe it's a memorial to all the trees that have died here and are resting in peace. (well, until the chain saws started up today)

We took time out for a family photo.. (put the camera on "auto") Wyatt wasn't ready for his picture to be taken when the light stopped flashing, but we can't expect him to smile for all his pictures. I think this is actually the first picture that i have of him crying! Despite his expression in the picture here, i think he had a fun day. (we all did)

This picture was taken at quitting time, the girls stopped by to see how much we got done. It's hard to tell that we got much of anything done, but it's a good start.