New Majacraft Category - "Discounted Items"

 I have created a new category on the website under the Majacraft section, it is called "Discounted Items".  So I thought I would explain what that is about in this blog post.

The items on this page all have minor damage that doesn't impact the performance of the wheels.  In most cases, they were gently preowned wheels which were returned to me for various reasons.  During the time (usually fairly short) of their pre-ownership, they sustained damage such as dents or minor dings in the wood.  I have stockpiled these over the last year or so with the intention of unpacking, assembling, documenting damage, repairing if needed, repacking and listing them on my website.  As you can imagine, this is pretty time consuming effort. 

So as it happens, January and February are very quiet months on the farm, and this was the perfect time for me to tackle this project. 

Other months are very busy with aspects of the farm:

March we spend getting ready for shearing and lambing

April is lambing and shearing

May is caring for lambies, skirting and evaluating fleeces.

June is the fleece auction

July is selecting sheep for sale and getting their information published on our sales page on the blog

August is getting product ready to sell for fiber festival season

September and October are peak fiber festival season

November is breeding

December is family!

So there you go!  The months of January and February, I take a breath, read a book, do a jigsaw puzzle

and work on projects like going through all the returned products and getting them up on the website for you to peruse!

Here is the link to the entire collection of "Scratch and Dents" as I call them. Each listing has very detailed information on the damage as well as a video of me spinning on that exact wheel so you can hear what it sounds like.  The wheels are all packed up now, no longer assembled - but are ready to ship right away.

They are no longer under official warranty, but if you need any troubleshooting support on them, I am always happy to help you figure out how to optimize your wheel's performance.  Also, I won't offer the free return on these like I do with the brand new wheels.  If you aren't happy with the Scratch and Dent wheel, just contact me and we can discuss a fair and equitable arrangement (probably some sort of restocking fee).

So as always, any questions just pop me an email jen6265@gmail.com,  or use the chat feature on my website or give me a call 7165253347 and I will be happy to provide any additional information you may need.

 

Tina Turner Knits Fiber Festival 2/19/2023

 Tina's annual event is coming up.  I have a booth here every year, it is a nice little festival, not too overwhelming - you can get through it in a few hours and get a very nice sampling of what you would expect from a larger event.

It is a one day show, Sunday February 19th from 10 to 4.  There is a $5 admission fee, and it is in a hotel, so there is plenty of parking and handicap access ramp.

Location: RIT Inn and Conference Center - 5257 W Henrietta Rd, Henrietta, NY 14467, USA

Here is a link to her festival page, it has a list of the vendors with links to their sites.

Here is a video from last year's fiber festival that I made for my YouTube Channel:

 Photo from my booth last year:

I will have the entire range of Majacraft Spinning Wheels set up and ready for you to try.  I'm also bringing my demo Fusion Engine Drum Carder as well as other fiber preparation tools for you to try, like the mini combs, flick cards and blending board.

I will have some wool from our sheep there as well!  Hope to see you there!

I hope you can make it, look forward to seeing you there!

2022 Available Sheep

Whispering Pines Farm's 2022 livestock offering is now available for viewing on our blog pages.  I had originally listed them on our website, but have gotten a few warnings and been blocked from a couple services, so decided to shift the information over here to the blog.  There are two tabs for our available sheep, one for rams and one for ewes.

Thanks for looking! 

2021 Breeding Groups

We wrote down our goals for 2022 lambing months before we set up the breeding groups.  Then as we set up the groups in November we used the goals to guide our decisions, and double checked to make sure all the ewes were in with the rams that would get us closer to those goals.

2022 goals were:

• Higher concentration of white/black/grey wool

• Straight legs

• <23 sf at 3 years of age

• Longer fleece length

Harry's breeding group

This was the second year we used Harry. Harry is white, has a very fine, dense fleece, is polled and is very well built. We were able to give him a big group of ewes this year as he proved himself in his first year and produced some very nice lambs for us.

Tovia

Brienne of Tarth

Adelina

Gilly

Arya

Sif

Tovia

Elara

Sebastian's Breeding Group

Sebastian is Itasca's grandson, is built very nicely and is black based.  He is scurred, but because we are breeding him to so many polled ewes, the scurring won't have a big impact on our goal to produce a flock of primarily polled sheep.

Lokola

Eir

Lucretia

Belva

Jon Snow's Breeding Group

Jon Snow is a grey katmoget, with a very fine, dense and long fleece.  We have used him as a breeding ram for a few years, so he has a good amount of influence in the flock and has made a great contribution towards longer staple length while retaining fineness.  He has a very low spinning fineness even at 5 years of age, which is a trait we are selecting for.

Jon Snow

Lakshmi

Ofeibea

Sarin

Duncan

Duncan is out of Yuki and Knightley - Yuki continues to impress us as she matures with a lovely fleece and beautiful appearance - she is a solid ewe.  One of the few ewes that we wish maybe was a ram as she exhibits all the traits we are after at a very high level.  Her lamb Duncan could be that ram, and so we decided to use him to get the body we like and want to get lambs that look more like him and his mother.  Duncan is a spotted fawn katmoget.

Matilda

elinor

Baxter

Fanny

Mabel

Carrie

Sojourner

Susan B

Neda

Loki 

Loki is a solid black ram with a very good fleece and just all around high quality.  He produced well for us last year, so he got another chance to help us build up our numbers of black based sheep to even out the color proportions of our flock.

Loki

Alice Paul

Audie

Yuki

Mrs Hughes

Tye

Elizabeth

Dina

We have been at this for so very long.  Every ewe and ram on the farm is an example of what we love about this breed based on the Traditional 1927 standard.  It is a pleasure to have the luxury to be making small tweaks to achieve the lovely fleeces that our handspinners and knitters have grown to treasure and enjoy.

Where I'm Gonna be in April

 Another busy and exciting month ahead!  In addition to the events I am attending in April, we are going to be shearing on the 17th and should start having lambs on the 23rd!

If you want me to bring anything to try (wheels, fiber, whatever) or want to just meet up while I am out and about, let me know and we can set up a meet.

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April 7 2022 is the Knitting Guild of Buffalo meeting I normally attend, but won't be going this month due to a scheduling conflict.  Its a fun meeting though, if you are a knitter in Buffalo area, you might want to check it out!

St. Leo the Great RC Church
885 Sweet Home Road
Amherst, NY  14226

Doors open at 6:30 PM
Masks optional

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Common Threads Buffalo Spinning Guild meeting - 4/10/2022 from 1 to 4. Common Threads meets the second Sunday of each month, 1:00 - 4pm. Join us at West Seneca Senior Center, 4620 Seneca St, West Seneca, NY.

This month the meeting is all about the Jillian Moreno workshop - recap, rehash and just bask in the fond memory.

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Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild Meeting - 4/16/2022 from 10 to 2. First Presbyterian Church, 70 East Main St, in Victor, NY

This month the guild is having its auction

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4/30/2022

Fiber Flurry
5 North Academy Street
Wyoming, NY
10-4
 I'll be vending at this event this year for the first time!  I'll have all the wheels and fiber prep out for you to try.  Hope to see you there!

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I do a live feed from the barn every Friday at noon est on my YouTube Channel.  Usually runs 45 minutes or until my battery on my phone runs out. If you miss the live feed, the video of the event gets posted on my page for your viewing pleasure. 

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Hope to see you in April!  BTW, I comply with all Covid guidelines, and in the case of a surge, I will likely not attend the scheduled meetings.  

Fleeces from our Soft Shetland Sheep

 

Fleece Selection

Our raw fleeces are carefully selected to offer handspinners a delightful experience when processing soft shetland wool.  I only offer raw fleeces that are clean, low micron and will yield very high amounts of usable fiber after washing and processing.  

Sheep Coats to keep the fleece clean

We coat our sheep to ensure a very clean fleece.  You can read about our coats in this blog post

 

or watch me interview the owner of the company that makes our coats in this video .

 

Micron Test Every Fleece

We micron test samples from every sheep in our flock and I will provide the micron data in the listing and will include it with a data sheet with every fleece that I offer for sale.  Click link to see an example of the data sheet.

Here is a video Rich and I made talking about how to interpret your micron data:

Shearing our Sheep

We use a professional shearer who specializes in shearing for handspinners, so he is very careful to minimize second cuts, and also shears in a way that ensures the entire fleece is intact, rather than taking it off in sections.

Rooing our Sheep

I roo as many sheep as I can which is the way the shetlanders have harvested their wool for hundreds of years.  Here is a playlist of videos featuring me rooing some of my ewes.  I will indicate in the listing if the fleece is roo'd or sheared with clippers.  Roo'd fleeces come in two pieces, as I roo each side separately.

 

And finally, here are some customer reviews from our 2021 fleeces:

 

Where I'm Gonna be in March 2022

 March is going to be a busy month, which is good because April is when we shear and start lambing, so things are going to be pretty hectic after this month.

If you want me to bring anything to try (wheels, fiber, whatever) or want to just meet up while I am out and about, let me know and we can set up a meet.

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March 3 2022 I'll be at the Knitting Guild of Buffalo meeting and will have a vendor table set up with yarns and fiber.

St. Leo the Great RC Church
885 Sweet Home Road
Amherst, NY  14226

Doors open at 6:30 PM
Masks optional

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Common Threads Buffalo Spinning Guild meeting - 3/13/2022 from 1 to 4. Common Threads meets the second Sunday of each month, 1:00 - 4pm. Join us at West Seneca Senior Center, 4620 Seneca St, West Seneca, NY.

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Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild Meeting - 3/19/2022 from 10 to 2. First Presbyterian Church, 70 East Main St, in Victor, NY

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Jillian Moreno Workshop - 3/26 - 3/27 - more to come on this - I don't have locale and times yet.  This is a closed workshop, but if you are going, I'll be there and can bring tools or wool if needed!

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I do a live feed from the barn every Friday at noon est - I post an “event” on my Facebook Farm Page with a link you can click to join the live feed. Usually runs 45 minutes or until my battery on my phone runs out. If you miss the live feed, the video of the event gets posted on my page for your viewing pleasure. Here is a link to the live feed from 12/17/2021 - live feed link

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Hope to see you in March!  BTW, I comply with all Covid guidelines, and in the case of a surge, I will likely not attend the scheduled meetings.