It's Udder Check Time!

I took a break from inventorying lambing supplies to do some udder checks.   It's always easy to check Elvira, but she's not having a lamb this year.  Her daughters, though, are pretty easy to check.

Molly & Peanut being examined.

I didn't really get a good look at udders (too much wool), but I did manage to feel their bellies.  They're are due about the same time, but Peanut's belly is bigger.  Then again, Molly is a bigger girl.  So, my check gave me no useful information.

Snowball is getting a little less shy--at least with me.

Snowball examined me.  Perhaps he thought I had food in my pocket. 

Tiffany & Peanut

I really wanted to check Tiffany, but I had no luck.  She looks enormous, and I'm really hoping that means twins.

Theresa & Elsie

Elsie usually looks massive this time of year, but this year, she's due about a month later than most everyone else.  (There's a story behind that, and I can't remember if I mentioned it here...)  She's looking slim...for a pregnant Elsie.

Snowball

Not Cooperating

I tried to take some pictures to put on the blog this morning.  The sun was too bright, the sheep were getting a bit too close to the camera, ....

Theresa stays back but is messy.

The llamas are too busy chasing hay to pose.

At least Sandy knows to face the camera.

Henrietta has been nibbling a friend. (See the white fleece?)

Hazel: up close and personal

Czadas is having a bad hair day...but the fleece is what matters.

Snow, Again

It's snowing again.  You can't see it in this photo, but Hazel was eating snowflakes as they fell out of the sky.

Elvira, Hazel, and Sassy

 They don't hate snow, but I think they did get a little bored when stuck in the barn.

Elvira, Sassy, Mimosa, and Hazel

 The boys were bored enough to break down the divider separating them from the ewes.  All the ewes--even the non-pregnant ones--were together at the time as well. The boys were polite enough to do this on the weekends--it's a lot of work putting everyone back where they belong.  (Yeti was even more polite--he never left the boy area.) 

Bucky, Almond, Cypress, Pecan, Timmy, & Yeti

The boys--minus Peat and Mesquite

 As if it weren't bad enough...  On the first occasion, Henrietta was in estrus.  We should be able to make a guess within the next few days if she is bred or not. 

Henrietta, very determined to have lambs

 Since the second breakthrough, Snowball has bedded down right along the divider.  (He stood up quickly this morning...)  He protects his ewes from everything, I guess.

Snowball

In the meantime, I've been working on getting my shyer bred ewes to be a little less shy.  So far, it seems to be working. 

Opal and Theresa

How to Make Yarn: Options, Options, Options

After Pecan's fleece was dry, I flicked it.

Flicking

 I sampled.  I carded a bit of it (more on carding later) and spun it.  I didn't like it, so I tried spinning some directly from the locks.  It's the perfect option for a silky-feeling fleece like Pecan's.  It might seem close to being done, but it's not.  I need to finish spinning, ply it, and give it yet another wash.  (It's clean--the final wash just plumps up the yarn.)  And I actually need to work on it instead of being distracted by Yeti's fleece.

Pecan on a spindle, with some flicked locks

Yeti is very distracting.

I skipped a few steps while prepping Pecan's fleece.  The first is sorting.   I (almost) always sort.  Sometimes I do it before scouring; sometimes I wash a whole fleece, then sort it. Sorting is dividing the fleece into separate, similar parts.  Shetlands usually have variation in their fleeces: spots (like Opal), double coats (like Elvira), or slighter differences in length or crimp.

Recently, I sorted Marble's fleece.  There's very little variation in Marble's fleece: some darker and lighter grey.  Instead of washing it in a big hunk like I did with Pecan's, I washed the fleece in little tulle bundles. (It keeps the locks aligned.)

Marble: sorted, wrapped, and ready to wash

Marble, freshly washed

A little side note: the white on the bottom of Marble's fleece is called "the rise."  Shetlands and a few other North European short-tailed breeds (like Icelandics) naturally shed their fleeces.  It's nice in theory:  you don't have to shear them; you can pluck their fleeces off by hand.  (Of course, when you have thirty-one Shetlands,  it would be difficult to do.)  Marble was sheared when she was "in the rise."  The white part on the bottom of the locks is denser than the rest of the fleece, so it's not easy to pull a flicker or hand cards through--or shears.  When a sheep is in the rise, there are always a lot of second cuts.  The good news is that Marble's locks are long enough that I can cut off the white bits at the bottom.

Next in the "How to Make Yarn" series: carding Marble's fleece.  Unless I get distracted, of course.