The spinning continues to be an ongoing project but as I do more, I get a little bit more consistency with tension and gauge.
I started spinning Salt’s fleece after it had been washed and carded by a professional wool processing plant here in Canterbury; they did a beautiful job and although I can do this part myself, I decided to get it done because of the finish.
I have knitted up two piece of Salt’s fleece now. Below in the first attempt at both processes; spinning and knitting (have been knitting for many years). The pattern is a simple stocking stitch with a border top and bottom of moss stitch. I used #8 needles, and it is approximately 70 cm x 100 cm. The knitting took approximately 1 month (2 hours daily).
Throw rug 2019
Close up
The second piece of have just completed is a cape. This project has taken about same time as the rug; (2hrs x 7 x 4wks).
The cape came from an online pattern and adjusted to my dimensions of 50 cm length (neck to below the shoulder) and around shoulders to close. This was knitted on #8 needles.
So it was time for us both to have a short break away from the farm, sheep, cats and work. We decided to take a trip down to Lake Tekapo and go to the Mt John Observatory to see the ‘Dark sky’.
The second day we journeyed to Mt Cook – well we hoped to see the mountain, but as you can see by the photos; it was too snowy and cloudy to see that beautiful mountain. Instead we had to be content to know that she was there, somewhere in the misty mountains.
Lake Pukaki, on the way to Mount Cook provided some more stunning scenery.
Although I could not take photos of the dark night sky, we learnt and saw the amazing sky – Alpha Centauri, Saturn, Neptune and other ‘planets and stars’. A great night and I will look at the night sky in a different light.
The winter is nearly over and it feels as if there is the hope and promise of better weather coming soon. It might be cold, there might be snow on the mountains and there may be snow and bad weather forecasted but I am determined to look at the bright side and plan my spring projects.
As for August, for me, it is the month of birthdays; my own, my mothers (1925 – 2002) and my sister’s. So that has to be something to celebrate – (not getting older of course).
We are taking time out this month to go down to Lake Tekapo and view the beautiful sky at the observatory. On my return, I hope to have some amazing photos to share.
The photo below is our sky on a beautiful moonlight night.
Meanwhile back on the farm; we have a sitter to look after the flock, and our one cat Pippin. You won’t know but our lady ‘Lacy’ died in June at the age of 18 years. I hope she had a good life on the farm and with us. She will be remembered.
When is it going to stop raining and being cloudy?
“Oh it’s still winter”, I hear Dorian say. Bother, I’ve had enough doom and gloom. I need some fine weather to do some work around the place, like spraying and tidying, and maybe mowing some paddocks to spread out the sheep manure ready for the spring growth.
“Ha, not happening at present” he says.
But, we did get a few hours of sunshine and I decided to go out and take some photos of the flock and the mountains. Here is what I saw:
We are very lucky to have our grand-daughter visiting us over the holidays. We all had a great time working on the ‘farm’, looking after the sheep and having a big fire at night in the metal firebox.
We have been very busy putting pea straw on the garden (hopefully to stop the weeds from growing), and have also added more straw to the flock’s barn so that they have a nice warm bed to eat and sleep in if it gets cold and snowy.
Tonight we toasted marsh-mellows and had hot milo, coffee and biscuits for supper.
Although it is mid winter we have had some beautiful fine and sunny days. So much so that the heron who visits us in the summer has decided to visit now for ‘fishing rights’. Bother, we have lost a couple of goldfish to him. The frosts though have also taken a couple of fish as they seemed to have frozen when they came to the top of the pond.
I have planted the garlic for 2019 harvest in December. We had a little produce from last year and found it was a very sweet garlic and perfect for spaghetti. The other success last growing season was the lavender plants and the weld plants. I have enough seeds from the lavender to make lots of scent bags, bath bags and potpourri and enough seeds from the weld to dye some material.
We have had the lumberjack in to tidy up the trees and make the place more presentable; well it will be when the cuttings are tidied up. All we need to do now is dry the wood for the fire pit.
Both Dorian and I are better from the terrible cold and cough we had but our energy levels are still low so there is not a lot of work being done outside at present.
These are a few shots taken on a fine sunny July day.
Well that was a fortnight from hell; both Dorian and I came down with a terrible cough and are just well enough now to do some urgent jobs around the farm.
The flock were in need of a trim up (dirty …..) and so our very friendly shearer (Top Gunn) came to our rescue and quick as a wink the girls and boys are now neat and tidy again. We also discussed when the next full shear should be and have decided that a 9 month period in between full shears is best for us with a 4.5 month tidy up in between. So that’s our shearing organised, now I need to organise the breeding season around that. Mmmmm always something to think about.
There has been some good discussion on the Gotland Pelt New Zealand facebook page so I am seriously thinking about the genetics of my flock.
Have to tell you of a funny but serious incident this morning; feeding out nuts to the flock when two of the teens decided to eat out the bucket at the same time. Well one got her head stuck between the bucket and the handle so she ended up wearing the bucket for about half and hour before flinging it off. Was funny and serious at the same time as she kept running away so I couldn’t catch her to take it off. Anyway she finally tossed her head up and it flew off. Note to self – don’t let them put their heads in the bucket !!!!
Pippin the manx saying hello to the teens.Where’s the bucket Oooooo lunch
We were promised a cold blast so we were not surprised when we woke up to find snow; cold and beautiful.
The weather can suddenly turn here as we are close to the Southern Alps; the flock are use to the cold, and don’t mind it, but they certainly prefer to use the barn as shelter when the weather is bad. Who said sheep are dumb.
All the flock have a good coat of wool; and from the research I have done some of the Gotland Pelt sheep sometimes revert back to their ancestors, the Gute, to grow a second layer in winter to keep them warm.
The house and surroundings look lovely in the snowy landscape but I’m just pleased that feeding out is done and I can stay inside now.
The inside projects are still spinning and knitting along with sewing garments for my other hobby.
And keeping my ever helpful husband warm and fed. He who goes above and beyond, especially when the aged cat doesn’t want to go outside to the litter box, he went out in the snow to get the kitty litter from the workshop so there is a box inside (he’s a good man).
The frosty grasses in the morning but beautiful sunny afternoons have encouraged me to start my first project from my flock. Salt has a beautiful silver fleece which I will spin, knit and display to advertise the Gotland Pelt sheep fleece.
Salt and her new lamb – a boySalt’s fleece shorn 1 month prior to lambing – October 2018
First I had it professionally washed and carded (as I explained in the Fleece Section).
Fleece washed and carded – now ready to spin
Then I spun the wool (my first big project) and 3/4 of Salt’s wool.
Small sample of spun wool ready for kniting
I then started knitting up a ‘throw’ to see how a finished garment would look with the Gotland’s wool.
Although I haven’t finished it yet, the garment has a soft feel and is a lovely silver colour.
The throw in the process of knitting
For the rest of this month I will be busy with spraying and tidying up the house grounds ready for winter and looking after the flock – the lambs are now teenagers.
I have been asked to tell some tales about the flock so now that the farm is quieter with the lambs all grown up, the grass not growing as fast and the vegetable growing non-existent, I thought I’d tell you what the flock get up to.
The flock is small so I am getting to know each individual very well . I try to handle them all on a regular basis to look at feet, legs, eyes, ears etc so that I am aware of issues before they become major problems, and it means the sheep are not so skittish. Our shearer says that Gotties are one step away from feral sheep; just plain hard to handle and I have to admit the older ewes are very timid. Suzie, the white ewe is the only one I can handle with ease, and her offspring have similar traits.
Dorian (my long suffering husband, who wanted a house but I wanted a farm) was telling me a story recently about the flock. (He feeds them in the afternoon). He was doing chores in the morning recently – taking out the rubbish bins to the gate – when the flock spied him on the driveway, with a baaaa from the ‘lookout’ sheep the whole flock came running up to the fence thinking he was going to feed them nuts. The flock then followed him all the way back from the gate and continued to baa until he disappeared inside.
Another day when I was out feeding them in the morning, one of the quieter girl lambs came up to me and I gave her a cuddle; she made a little baa noise and when I stopped cuddling her, she put her head under my arm for more cuddles.
There are definite personalities: we have Bob – the wether with white on his head, he is a hog for the nuts; quiet Silver, another wether with a silver circle of curls on his back; big ‘Black’ the other wether who is as big as his mamma and has beautiful tight curls; Nickel in the picture below is one of Suzie’s girl lambs, the other girl is Dime, also delicate, and lastly Sixpence is very reserved, doesn’t like being petted and is a girl lamb of Peppers.
This is Nickel coming towards the camera – she is more interested in me than the nuts. Dorian is being mobbed by the flock who want to eat the nuts from the bucket. Now every time we have that bucket around they think there are nuts in it.
silva kurls 