Today I went to visit a friend who has been doing a scaled diagram of a sheep shelter for me. Well, it took me about 15 minutes to get the car de-iced before I could go anywhere! This is the first day this winter that we've woken up to so much ice. I heard later in the day that even the gritting lorry went off the road!! Also, a school bus, but thankfully there were no children in it and the driver was unhurt. The half hour drive to my friend's house took a little longer than usual because there were icy spots on the road. I also noticed a thin layer of snow on the highest hills.
Shetland can be very beautiful in the snow. here are a couple of photos to let you see what I mean.......

But getting back to my sheep shelter, I was very pleased with what he came up with. I had bought 14 sheets of corrugated iron and wanted to put them to good use on the shelter. Here is the plan. It's based on how he built the shelter for his own animals.

This diagram © Colin Arnot 2012

Having two openings means I can also have a dividing wall between the two ends if I need to and still have sheep separated, which is a good thing if I perhaps plan to have lambs born on the land in the future. The open end has only been left open to see the internal part of the diagram. This will be closed like the other end when the shelter is built.
I'm very pleased with the plan and can't wait to have it up in the field especially now as the weather is turning wintry. Shetland sheep are very hardy. Soays need more shelter in adverse weather conditions.
Well, that's really my news for today. Tomorrow the sheets should arrive in the field, so hopefully it won't be long til building time begins!!. I'll leave you with a favourite Soay photo of mine.

Hand feeding Yaisah, twin sister of Shulah.

Well, it's been several months now since I updated my blog. The summer seems to have flown by and through one thing and another I've just felt unable to get stuck into writing.
I've been setting up a small business from home called Croft Cottons and have opened an Etsy shop of that name.
I haven't got all the stock listed yet. It's a busy time of year! I am making things from excellent quality cotton such as wedding and baby bunting, pillowcases, cushion covers, hand made fabric covered buttons, toddler to teen clothing, purses, bags...........it's an ongoing project shall we say!
One piece of very good news is that my lace shawl took 1st prize at our local show and I also won 12 other rosettes for various things including photos, jam, pickles and the like.
I was very proud when a photo of my Soay sheep Shulah took 1st prize in the animal photograph section and my lovely cat Magda got 2nd prize in a photo of her. You may have noticed, it's not my photography I'm proud of, it's my sheep and my cats!! And that's just how it should be.

Since last posting on here I have bought two more Soays. They are wethers. One is 2 and a half and the other 1 and a half. here are a couple of photos of them. First is Bram................

And here's little dark faced Brok

And last, but by no means least my 'grey sneedled specky faced' Shetland called Beulah........

Believe it or not, that is the name given to a Shetland yow (ewe) of this colour. She has a beautiful face. Here's a closer one of her face......

My final piece of news is that I have my own piece of land now to put my sheep on. Well, technically it's not mine but I have use of it for the unforeseeable future, so it's much better. I can actually see the sheep out the bedroom window if they're grazing in the middle of the park. When I come out the front door with the food bucket they see me and all start running towards the gate. Most of them can now be hand fed, which is great if you need to get hold of one for any particular reason! Brok is always first at the gate and has now started arriving with a piece of long grass hanging out each side of his mouth. Perhaps his way of saying thanks for the ewe nuts I bring!

Well, it's gone 1.00am and I should be in bed so I'm going to sign off now. I will update you soon. Will be building a sheep shelter very soon before our winter weather sets in. You never know here in Shetland just how good or bad it will be and Soays in particular do not cope well with the wind and rain. Shetland sheep are very hardy and cope much better.

Oh, I almost forgot. I got a new arrival in the field a few weeks ago. A little lamb, which would appear to be last year's lamb, just arrived one day. No ear tags or paint marks. Nothing to tell me where she came from or who she belongs to. So she's still with me and her name is Landiah. Isn't she a little sweetheart...........

The Shawl is Finished and on The Stretcher!

I am happy to tell you I have FINALLY finished knitting the shaded shawl in the natural colours of Shetland fleece and last night me and hubby put it on the stretcher. (We ALMOST fell out at one point, but managed to stay friends!!) I just have one scarf to finish now for the local show at the beginning of August. The other two scarves are done. One is already washed and 'dressed', (I'll post a photo of that as well.) The other just needs that final treatment.
I've got one of 3 jars of different types of chutney made, my strawberry jam which I hope will do well again this year after taking the best in show trophy a couple of years ago. My rhubarb jam is also made, which now just leaves 7 jams and preserves to make.
I am submitting 12 photographs which have been ordered and should arrive soon.
Phew!! I'm exhausted just writing about it!!! lol
So I maybe won't get another post on here til after the show, which is the first Saturday in August. I'm hoping to have something to report back about by then!
In the meantime, thanks for stopping by, please comment or say you've been and where you came from. I love visiting other peoples' blogs too.

And this is the photo I'm submitting in the 'digitally enhanced photo' section of the show........

Stay cool and creative folks!

Two New Soays and an Oyster Catcher

I am thrilled to tell you I collected my two new Soays last night. These two are wethers (castrated rams) and are the same age as my two females Yaisah and Shulah.
I wasn't sure what to call these two as I'd been so used to finding girl's names for the rest of my sheep. I must have looked through most of the boy name sites Google could offer and eventually the decision was made.
Well, I actually used a name my hubby really liked as he had not named any of my other sheep.
So, may I present to you.......



IVAN



and KIPP



As I said, my hubby chose the name Ivan which means "God is gracious". The name Kipp means "dweller on the pointed hill". This is so appropriate for where I have my sheep I couldn't quite believe I'd found it while I was going through every list from A to Z.
It's amazing how important it is to find the right name for a pet, just as it is with our children!
If you scroll back up and look closely at Ivan's photo you will see he has distinctive lines down each side of his face, not unlike a gazelle. It is often said that Soay sheep resemble gazelle and goats more than they do sheep.
Here is a photo of a baby Soay I took the other week and also a photo of a baby gazelle (which I didn't take!). I think you'll agree that, apart from the length of their ears, there is a strong similarity between the facial features and head shape of these two beautiful animals. Have a look.......

Baby Soay


Baby Gazelle


I found it very interesting and also quite amazing!

One difference you may have noticed between Ivan and Kipp is that Ivan has longer and more pointed horns than Kipp. There is nothing wrong with this. Ivan may just be maturing slightly quicker or just naturally have larger horns. Soays are very slow maturing sheep and if you see the difference between one that's a year old and one that two year old there is far more difference than you would see on general sheep types. I look forward to seeing how big my Soays are this time next year. I'll maybe even have had lambs from my two females if I get them mated at the end of this year. That may be a problem because I don't have a separate field to put them in with a ram. I would need to start asking around now so I am well organized before the time comes.

I'm going to finish today with a photo of a very unusual sight. This is an Oyster Catcher (known in Shetland as a Shalder). Believe it or not she has made her nest on top of a fence post, right at the side of a busy, noisy road and about 100 yards from my sheep park! How cool is that? I didn't even realize to begin with that she was nesting there. I thought she was just sitting watching the traffic go by or something! But no, it would seem she is on some eggs, although I've never crossed the road to find out. I'm just assuming she is. I would never disturb nature at any point or for any reason unless to take an animal out of danger. When I went up to the sheep park she was resting with her head under her wing. When I came back just over an hour later she was more alert. So here's Mrs Shalder........




The second photo is not very good. The sun was not in the best place by the time I was leaving the sheep park. My excuse and I use it all the time!!! Ha ha!
OK that's it for today folks. I hope you found something of interest there. Please feel free to comment, tell me what you else you want me to write about, I'll always do my best to keep this little blog interesting.
Until next time, remember joy is found in the simplest of things in this life.

Washing My Soay Fleece

They say there's a first time for everything and for me this was definitely the first time ever for washing fleece, made all the more exciting because it came from one of my own Soay sheep. As I've mentioned before, Soays shed their own fleece so there is no need for clipping, but you have to be vigilant if you want to get as much of the fleece off as possible. My Soay, Yaisah, had shed almost half of her fleece before I got the rest off. I did, however, get most of Shulah's fleece.
So follow me with words and photos as I take you through my first tentative wool wash!
I started at about 12.45 pm and looked out all the things I would need. I wasn't sure whether to use detergent or soap flakes as I'd read that either is acceptable, but in the end I settled on one of my favourite detergents......

Fleece smelling like apples? Hmmm..

Please comment below this post if you have found that one particular soap or detergent works well for you personally. I'd be very interested to hear your views on this.
I weighed the fleece just out of curiosity and this was the result. Remember, this is roughly HALF a fleece from a year old Soay lamb. Next year the sheep will yield a thicker and heavier fleece.

So I filled a small bowl full of lukewarm water and the detergent and gently pressed the fleece down until it sank down into the bowl.....

Soay fleece is VERY greasy but I wanted to keep some of that in the wool to assist with the spinning process so I felt that lukewarm water was the best. Next time I will make the water a little hotter though. This is all a learning process and I'm enjoying the learning as much as the process itself!
As all my sheep are on a heathery hill apportionment with some marshy areas among it, I was not surprised to find that the water soon became very dirty. This photo is actually the second blot. In my excitement I forgot to take a photo of the first!

I was timing these washes carefully because it's important not to let the water temperatures vary, so I didn't keep it in the basin long enough for the water to cool too much.By this time the clock said......

I took three photos of the fleece after the second wash while it was on the draining board. You may be able to see the amount of lanolin in the fleece. When wet it appears almost like a hoard of tiny wet particles of rice. If you squash it between your fingers it is just a greasy mess and quite unpleasant but very good for the skin on your hands! Here are the photos I took......

And then I got distracted and took a couple of random kitchen shots!!!

I love these bull plates. I have five of them and paid only £2 each for them. They measure approx. 11 x 9 inches and I like them very much.

I'd never actually keep pigs ( unless they stayed tiny piglet size!!) but I do love paintings of farm animals. This pig painting isn't very big and is painted onto a block. It looks nice in our kitchen.

Oops no, that was the time after the first wash! Sorry!

Nothing I own is worth a lot of money. If I like it, I buy it, and most of what I love is either presents from much loved family members (those things I DO treasure!) or items picked up at car boots or other sales. After all, we can't take our possessions with us when we leave this earth. Enjoy what you have, even if it cost more in car fuel to bring it home!
Back to the draining board!
The first rinse obviously showed detergent and a little dirty water coming through but after a few rinses it was beginning to look clear and I was satisfied that I'd got enough dirt and lanolin out of the fleece to think about getting it completely rinsed and on the 'screen' for drying. Here you can see the water is clear where I've moved the fleece aside....

The book I was using to direct me in this whole process suggested using a colander to get most of the water out of the fleece and then to get a fluffy towel and lay the fleece in it and squeeze down on it to get more water out. My colander has lots of ideas of what to drain in it but fleece is not one of them!

From the colander to the towel......

Now can I ask you something?
What do you use as a 'rust proof screen' when drying your fleece? I don't really have anything that I would consider totally suitable for this purpose so I actually used a kitchen cutting 'mat' made of reinforced glass. The ones you use for chopping veg and cutting meat. I won't use it again as I wasn't totally happy with it. I found the fleece took too long to dry (but then I did have to dry it indoors). Please let me know what works for you. Just write in the comment box below. I'd be very interested to know.

Well, I hope I haven't bored the fleece off you!!! Please let me know you called by my blog. If you have your own blog I will certainly visit yours too.
Now I'm off to have a roast chicken dinner! Until next time, keep calm and read lots of blogs!

One Sheep and a Few Foals

Hello again,
how is life in your neck of the woods? I'm happy to report that our weather has turned a little cooler! Now I can go out! I am definitely not a hot weather fan.
So today hubby and I went into town. Our usual fortnightly trip to go to the supermarket, library, chip shop (naughty but nice) and a little look in the charity shops. Today I was very excited to find this blue and yellow sunflower tablecloth to match my blue and yellow kitchen. I was even more delighted that it was circular because they seem more hard to come by. It cost only £2.00. Here it is.........

And a close up........

I daresay it won't be long 'til little cat paw prints will be all over it but never mind, I wouldn't want to be without my little kitties and the tablecloth can wash!
If you remember in my last post I told you my sister had given me a £15 gift voucher for a very nice shop in town. Just look what this sheep lover found in the shop......

I've called her "Mayah", as all my sheep's names end in "ah" and she measures 14 x 17 inches. Isn't she just fab?

And now for a cuteness overload! On the way back from town today just see what I spotted. We were able to stop the car in a safe place right where the foals were and I got these lovely shots of them.....

They are so soft and fluffy!
After getting home and having my usual cup of tea and 2 digestive biscuits I went up to feed the sheep and see if I could get any fleece while I was there. I knew my Soay ewe Shulah could probably be 'rooed', (have her fleece plucked off), as I'd rooed Yaisah last week. Soays shed their own fleece so if you want to keep it to spin and knit with you have to be quick once it starts to come off. So I got her fleece off and then decided Leelah's would easily come off too. Leelah is probably my oldest girl. She's a Shetland ewe and has a great personality. She really makes me laugh. When I was trying to get her to lie down so I could roo her she was so determined not to let me I could hardly do it for laughing! It reminded me of when the children were little and didn't want to go in their pushchair. They would stiffen their bodies up and it was really difficult sometimes to get their little legs to bend!
Here's one of my favourite photos of Leelah......

Well, I'm going to leave you with that for today, but I'll be updating soon as I have some fleece to wash and I'll be blogging about that. I'm also doing quite well with the "Arches and Columns" scarf I've previously blogged about so I should have something to show you again in the next two or three days.
Thank you for popping by. Please feel free to follow or leave comments. Tell me where you're from and what you're interested in. If you have a blog I'll make sure to visit you too.
Until next time, keep calm and create!

Spinning Like a Top!

Hi again.
If you are a first time visitor, welcome to my woolly blog! If you have been here before or have become a follower, welcome back! As I always say to people, you're always welcome here!
Here's my latest news.
Yesterday I visited my sister Anne. She lives about 18 miles from me. The first thing we do is sit down with a cup of tea and some McVities Digestive biscuits and proceed to put the world to rights. Actually what we do is share our grumps and gripes, then when that's over we just have a great time together.
As Monday was my birthday, Anne had bought me a present or three. See this.....

2 necklaces and a £15 gift voucher

She told me a little story about the gift voucher.
Initially she had gone to Harbro to get me a gift voucher. Harbro is a store which stocks animal feeds, medicines, equipment etc and also crofting type clothing. It's where I buy my sheep fodder and drench meds etc.
So she'd gone up to the counter and asked the girl there, "Do you have any gift vouchers?"
"Yes, sure", the girl replied. "How many would you like?"
"Oh just the one will be fine", my sister replied.
The girl disappeared into the back office for a few moments, then returned to the counter and said, "No sorry, we haven't got any just now. They should be in at the beginning of the week".
My sister could hardly stop a smile from spreading across her face.It seemed the situation had gone from "How many would you like" to "Sorry we don't have any" in a matter of seconds. But she was a tad irked as well because she knew how much I would have loved "a gift voucher for my sheep"!!
And speaking of sheep, here's a photo......

Agnah

From Anne's house I visited a new friend who kindly said she would show me how to use a drop spindle as I don't have room in my little house for a full size spinning wheel. Well, I could probably squeeze one in somewhere but that might mean getting rid of some piles of books or quilting and photography magazines..........hmmmmm...nope, the magazines have to stay!
My friend's name is Laura and she is great company. Funny, talented, very hospitable and generous. She has a little dog who was very unhappy about having to stay in his crate while I was in but he soon settled down. Laura explained that he is very full of beans and would be at the top of my head before I knew what was happening to me! And she also has 2 budgies and 5 adorable Indian Finches. Oh how I would love a couple of those but I must be content with my fleecy friends and leave the feathers to other people. We just don't have the space.
So I came home last night with a borrowed drop spindle and some Cotswold top to get me started on learning to spin with this unique little device. Here's a couple of photos I took this morning. I love to see the wood and fleece together. There's something very 'earthy and organic' about it..........

And a close up photo of the top of the spindle nestled in the Cotswold fleece.......

Now if you remember in a previous post I mentioned I had sent for two books. One to help me prepare my own sheep's fleece for spinning and one about drop spindles and spinning. So imagine my delight when, after receiving the spindle and fleece last night, I get up to this in the morning.......

So now I have no excuse. I must set aside some time each day to practice this age old art. I did have a go last night at Laura's place. That was a laugh! I found out first hand why it's called a drop spindle! Seriously, I don't actually know why it's called a drop spindle, but mine certainly dropped to the floor on numerous occasions! Am I going to master this? You bet I am, even if I end up spinning like a top!
'Til next time, keep creating and help someone else along the way.