March Update

My favorite month of the year as a shepherd - all anticipation for shearing and lambing.  

Shearer scheduled - Check
Vacation request from work submitted and approved for our 1 week lambing shifts - Done
Buy a bigger plywood slab for the shearing platform to prevent sheared fleece from getting dirty from contact with the barn floor - still need to do this.

I have an article published in the Spring 2019 Spinoff, so that's pretty cool.  

Here are some links supplied by the publisher:

If you promote your work, we ask that you help us support Interweave and Spin Off by linking to our website: http://www.interweave.com/ and Spin Off: http://www.interweave.com/spinning/. For magazine print or digital version purchase: http://www.interweave.com/store/spinning/spinning-magazines

Finished one of the thrum mittens.  Got stuck as usual when it came to having to thread a needle, but braced myself to finish the thumb and sew off the top.  On to mitten two and my very last thrummed item ever.  Hate thrumming - too fiddly for me.  I did want to try it though and have a demo to show people how wonderful our soft shetland wool is for thrum knitting.

Busy today carding neck wool into batts.  

Really nice staple length on this batch, wonder who it came from?

Neck wool from skirting fleeces drying in basement.

I only have 1 fleece left for spinning, Lady Mary, so I am going to post it for sale until I finish all my neck wool, and then will work on her if she doesn't sell.  

I have Reawick's fleece still, but planning to break that down to sell as locks as her lock formation is perfect for dolls hair and Santa beards.

Trying to think of what I will do if I run out of wool to process between today and shearing day.  Perhaps write another article to submit to Spinoff?  

I could do some more needle felt sheep.  

And spin up some of the hundreds of pounds of mill processed fawn katmoget ram wool I have stocked up.

There is always something to do!