Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Shearer Is Coming!



Smokey (BL), and Boaz (Shetland).  Smokey knows he is mama's best boy.  But don't tell Boaz!

That's right boys, the shearer is coming! This time tomorrow, you will be cooler, and, dare I say "nekked"? It is so strange to see my big, bad, rams looking skinny and pitiful when all of that wool comes off! Their heads wind up looking too big for their bodies!





 And here is why I have to take 10 pictures to get one good one - I have spoiled babies who love attention, so they crowd up in my face when I squat down to snap a picture.  When I first started with this shot of Bandit, he was 5 feet away.  I had to wipe sheepy-snot off the camera lens when he was finished.  (Objects in camera are closer than they appear, apparently!)


And here is just a small taste of the fleeces that will be coming off tomorrow!  Somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 fleeces, about half of them from lambs, should be sitting in my craft room floor by dinner time!  Which ones will I be able to part with?


Fleeces will be sold from the Diamond B Sheep Farm website .  I am not taking reserves for particular fleeces from this shearing.  Our summer has been so terribly hot, that I am a little concerned about fleece quality.  Therefore, I do not want to promise a fleece away before I have assessed it.  All will be skirted and sold on a first come, first serve basis, with prices starting at $14 a pound, plus shipping. 

Also, I just updated the pictures of most of the lambs that are still for sale.  Many of them are still waiting for their new homes! 

Great news!  Everyone needs to join the Fiber Indie eXperience Co-op on Ravelry!  Once you have joined (it's free!) and purchase one of Diamond B Sheep Farm's fleeces, go to the September entry thread and post your purchase to earn an entry towards one of this month's prize boxes full of over $155 worth of fibery goodness!
image title

image title

image title

~Lori

Friday, September 2, 2011

Fiber Indie eXperience Co-op Artfire Shop

Exciting news!  The Fiber Indie eXperience Co-op Artfire Shop is now open!  We have our first set of sampler boxes available.

This is the fiber goodie box:
Spinning Goodie Mix: a F.I.X. Co-op Spinning Fiber Sampler


And here is the yarn goodie box:
Yarn Goodie Mix: A F.I.X. Co-op Hand Dyed & Handspun Yarn Sampler

Boxes sell for $18 each (plus shipping), and your purchase is one more way to enter the September FIX drawing.  This month's prize boxes are worth a total of $155 each!

Here is the yarn prize box:
image title




And the fiber prize box:
image title


We are also giving away a special anniversary box to the person who purchases from the most FIX shops this month!

So come join the FIX Ravelry Group, go shopping, and hopefully, win great prizes!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

My First Rectangle Loom Project!


Well, here it is, my first completed project on my new rectangle loom!  The scarf is made from one of my early handspun yarns, with a black ribbon yarn added.  I am really pleased with it!

Now, for how it was made.  This was fun from start to finish!

Early stages on the loom:


After just a few hours, I started to see some real progress:


And finally it was finished!  I added some fringe before I removed it:


Because it is completely bias, it drapes beautifully!  I have a feeling there will be many scarves made on this loom!