May 28, 2013
Lilly
When I opened my eyes this morning I saw yet another grey sky, heavy with rain. The wind was bending the branches on the trees and the air looked damp and cold. We have had a particularly long winter this year, even for us. The spring has been cold, wet and windy. It looked like gardening was out yet again. I made a pot of coffee and took it up to my spinning room. I have been spinning up a roving from one of my sheep. The wooI I am working with is very white with about a five inch staple and a nice crimp. It spins beautifully with an attenuated long draw. I have been spinning singles (28 wpi) that I will ply into a finished yarn. I haven't decided how I want to finish the yarn at this point. I don't know whether or not to dye any of it, or whether I will keep it or sell it. For now, I am just enjoying the act of spinning. This particular type of spinning is very relaxing. I don't have to focus too hard on what I am doing and it leaves my mind free to wander. I found myself thinking about the sheep that bore this coat. Lilly was born on the farm. She was a twin. She was a daughter of Holly and Buddy, my first breeding pair. This makes the wool a mix including Lincoln, Romney, Jacob, Finn and Border Leicester. I found myself thinking about the day I brought Holly, Chris and Buddy home. These were the first sheep I bought for wool. I found an ad in the Farmers section of the local paper, made a call, picked up my friend Susie, who actually knew something about sheep and wool and off we went. When we got to the seller's farm we found that her sheep were direct descendants of a flock that was bred specifically for hand spinning by a friend of Susie's. All three of the sheep we were shown were yearlings. Both ewes had been bred to a Lincoln ram. Holly was a beautiful ewe the color of nickel. She had a soft black face and legs. Chris was a white ewe and Buddy, the ram, was a rich dark brown. There was no way I could leave the farm without them. We visited with the seller a bit, got the breeding records, loaded the sheep into the back of a small pickup with a topper and headed back home. We managed to unload the sheep and get them into the barn. We introduced them to Dolly and Sally, my other sheep and the only milk goat we had left. Then came cleaning the back of the truck. I never dreamed three sheep could make that big a mess in that short a time! The next step was telling my husband about the sheep. I decided to put that off for a while. We had sold our flock of milk goats and he had become accustomed to the quiet. After three days I had to tell him because I had to go out of town for a few days for work. He would have take care of them while I was away. We walked together to the barn the night before I left. I made a point of how mentioning how quiet it was out. That was all it took. He stopped walking and asked, "what is in the barn". Does he know me or what! Luckily, when we got to the barn the sheep all came over to introduced themselves, nuzzled our hands and ate some corn we offered. I still miss having sheep around. They are such wonderful, gentle souls. We sold all our animals a couple years ago when I was gone a lot for work. Since then, our barn burned and it is doubtful we will rebuild. I thought I would include a picture of the finished yarn. (DK weight three ply).