Breeding Groups 2019

Breeding season has come and gone, we (Rich) set the groups up thanksgiving weekend and just broke them down last weekend.  Again we are working towards black based, soft wool, 3" staple length and well conformed bodies.  We used 4 rams this year.

Jon Snow got a nice sized group, I love him as he has great staple length, pretty color, and he roos cleanly which is very cool.

Jon Snow posing.  That is not his thingy, its just a loose piece of wool hanging down from his belly.

Jon's group starting in upper left and going clockwise to center:  Brienne, Blue Sapphire, Elara, Elinor, Susan, Soraya, Ofeibea Soshi and Sarin.  He would have gotten more but he is closely related to many of the ewes in our flock so that limited his usage.

Rush also got a nice sized group.  Rush gives us a fresh genetic pool, flashy spots, plus all the characteristics we are working towards.  He has done well for us over the last few years and we are hoping for more lovely ewes from his group.

Again from top left clockwise to center:  Genoa, Georgianna, Mrs. Hughes, Lakshmi, Baxter, Edith, Sansa, Cersei, and Audi.

Also Arya, Audie and Cokie.

Rush has a very intense stare and a beautiful head

Then we wanted to give one of our ram lambs a chance to try his hand at breeding, so Thor was put in with 3 ewes.  Thor is out of Sansa and Rush.

Full disclosure here - I am not sure which one is Thor, as we have 4 black ram lambs in this pen.  Its either the one in the front, or the head just behind him with the white fleck on his head.  They weren't cooperating for a nice picture and I got cold, so there you go.

So he got Ivy, Pearl and English Garden.  Funny how Ivy and English Garden struck the same exact pose during the photo shoot last summer.  Silly girls...

And finally Mr Knightley was put with Gilly and Korva.  Not quite in line with our goal of increasing the proportion of black based, but he is so very nice and has never had a chance to breed and also he would have been alone in his pen during breeding season which never works out well, so he got to be with our Gilly and Korva, two very nice ewes that we are interested to see what they throw.

And now the wait begins!

What I am working on

Man I got a lot of stuff cooking.

I started working on Marianne to spin yarn for a special request, but discovered much to my dismay her locks were very short and was not going to be a fruitful spinning effort.

So instead of spinning all into yarn, I am using her energetic curly bits to make some felty sheep.

Instead of Marianne for the yarn, will be using Cora, a lovely fawn katmoget ewe who has similar color and feel of Marianne, with a much longer lock which will be very wonderful to spin.

washing her today

Began work on one of the patterns recommended to me by some of my more talented knitter friends with the grey millspun yarn from my skirtings.

On the wheel is Marianne, I think I'll get a skein out of her from some of the long enough locks.

Hallelujah, its a Christmas miracle I finished the stupid thrum mittens.  So they will be used to show how amazing soft shetland wool is for knitting thrum patterns.  Which I will never. ever. do again.

A pretty project from our soft shetland wool (Lady Mary) shared by a fellow sheep fancier - so pretty with a flirty little pom pom on the end.