New Born Lamb

This is our most recent arrival immediately after being born.   A Wensleydale Cross lamb and it was far too big for an easy birth.  The yellow colouring shows that the lamb was stressed while being born.  Mind you so were we,  luckily it was in the correct position and my husband Charles is strong when it comes to pulling lambs.  All seems well now, the lamb is strong and the ewe is back on her feet but it took her a little time to recover

Twist and Shout A new Yarn

A new type of yarn for me.  Using my Spin-O-Lution wheel.  It is so versatile I can spin this yarn without changing anything except the ratio.  A slow process.  I started with a fine yarn spun in S twist,   trying to have as little spin as possible.  I then spun the second yarn in Z twist making plenty of slubs as I was spinning.
 Last stage of spinning I core spun the slub yarn onto the fine yarn using S twist and  using different methods when I spun on  the slubs.    I ended up with a rather over spun effect.   This I then gave a sharp shock to plunging it from hot to cold water and gave it a slow spin in the washing machine.  I then weighted it to set the spin but if you want it to be really springy just dry it the way it is and it will be as if spun on elastic.   

Dyeing with Lichen 5

This is the next stage of the lichen that I have soaked in ammonia in a jar for a few months.  It has sat in the window in the kitchen and I have given it regular stirs and left the top off the jar to let it breath.  It has now become a black slop.    It is out in the garden, weather permitting,  drying.  When it is totally dry I will then boil it with soft water and see what happens.   I really have no idea if this is the correct way to treat it  but I am following instructions from a friend but I am not sure if she had the same lichen.  Really difficult to find information on how to treat lichen for dyeing and even harder to work out which lichen that you have collected.
All adds to the fun!!

Lambing 2014. Pure Wensleydale Lambs

One of this year's triplets.  A lovely set of pedigree Wensleydale lambs with their Mum.   Not much chance of getting any decent wool off this lady as her lambs will have ruined it!
 So far so good Mum is managing to feed them all,  she is a sensible ewe and feeds from a hand held scoop so she can get extra nuts.   Here she is waiting in the evening for the yard gate to be opened  so she can come into the safety and warmth of the yard for the night.  I only wish all the ewes were as easy as she is.
We number all the ewes the day after they lamb and for ease of identification the twins and triplets are marked red and the singles blue