We had a last blast of winter weather this week, which has a way of throwing the best laid plans out of whack. Wednesday, we cancelled classes at the shop. Thursday, school districts around Minnesota had a snow day and the shop was closed. The snowstorm included snow, sleet, peppered with lightning and thunder. Friday, the weather was a little warmer and snowy. Mary and I were able to adventure out as planned to help while the shearer was at her son and daughter-in-law's farm. They have a small flock of Icelandic sheep. Molly was the first to lamb, so we got to cuddle the twins. They are sporting black and white spots, which will be beautiful fleeces as the lambs mature. The shearer would shear a sheep and our job was to bag the fleece and then sweep the mat for the next sheep. An autumn shearing is typically better than a spring shearing, so it will be fun to see the lambs in a few months. The other ewes were about ready to pop. B and A will be busy with lambing soon.
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| Last to be sheared, Marshmallow, was the largest in the flock. |
After the shearing was finished we had some last cuddles with the twin lambs before heading home.
Speaking of fleeces, Mary has a cardigan (for her son) in progress with last year's fleeces from the flock. After Mary washed the fleeces, Deb Peterson of
Ewespun Fiber Mill at Old Man Wool Farm, processed them into clouds. With her handspinning, Mary mimicked the characteristics of bulky Lopi yarn. She attached some sample Lopi yarn to an index card and then proceeded to spin samples. It took a bit of time and in the end she managed to spin light and lofty singles, which she plied together. The result was just beautiful and she duplicated the same yardage and weight of a skein of Alafoss Lopi (100 g/3.5 oz approximately 100 m/109 yds. The main color is a rich brown and the stranded colorwork is black and white.
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Mary has progressed quite a bit since this photo was taken. She is now ready to knit the sleeves. Instead of a zipper, she will add front bands and buttons.
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