Family Christmas 2011

My dad and the sign we gave him for Christmas.  The sign was made by my good friends at Bell Signs and the frame was made by my extremely talented hubby, Mike.   

My niece, Lisa on the left, I'm in the center and my son, Tyler is on the right

Adult nieces and children make a person feel old!!!!  But what a nice time we have when we are all together.

That which angers us, controls us.

Very deserving man

Every year......for several years, my incredibly generous hubby doesn't get the power washer he really wants.  Funny thing is, he doesn't ever mind or complain in any way.  And every year, I swear I'm going to find a way to save the money to get one for him.  Well folks, this year, I made it happen!!  I'm not sure who is more thrilled by this purchase, me or Mike.  I was blessed to have some great sheep sales this year and could squirrel away a few funds that allowed me to make the purchase and now my overworked man can stop spending countless hours trying to get equipment clean with a lousy garden hose.  

This is the man that tirelessly works to make sure I can do what I love, raising Shetland sheep.  Every purchase that we consider is centered around what we can do to improve housing for the sheep, fence, hay, bedding, feeders.......you get the idea.  I'm grateful for such selfless devotion to my hobby and I thanked him with a internal combustion engine on a glorified water hose.  (grin) 

That which angers us, controls us.

When is a mitten, not a mitten?

My son never ceases to amaze me with the things that he prefers to wear or own.  Never in a million years would I have thought he'd want a pair of fingerless gloves that convert to mittens.  So, here they are........

I know what these poor things will be subjected to in terms of abuse, I had to keep that in mind when I decided if I wanted to use really fine fleece or something less fine that would be more durable.  I opted for the less fine, more durable fiber, this yarn came from one of my coarser Shetland ewes that is no longer with us at OK Acres, my beloved first lamb, Abby.  Abby was not as soft and silky as I'd like, but she sure made up for that lack of fineness in shear volume.  Although theses mittens are super silky, they are still soft and the rest of her fleece will make great chair pads and another pair of these gloves/mittens.  She was musket in color, so that makes for a heathery look to the yarn.   Just finished the pinkie finger on the second glove/mitten and only have to add the flap and I'm done.

That which angers us, controls us.

3 Wise "Men" (Corgis)

Merry Christmas to all my blogland friends!!!
May this holidy fill you with love and remind you of  reason we celebrate Christmas.

Garrett was at our place last weekend and brought 3 lovely Corgis with him.  My dog loved them and so did I.
It didn't take them long to figure out that I'm a sucker for cuteness.
Cuteness = treats at the Bartels household.

That which angers us, controls us.

Rambalambadingdong

Crosswinds Thor~There are several things that I really like about his ram.  He's black, spotted, and has  dense fleece that has a lot of consistent crimp throughout. (psst.  it's very soft & silky too.....plus he's from a poll carrier)  

above britch

mid side

front shoulder

~~Thor is modified, and a sokket, flecket, smirslet ~~

Sheltering Pines Tel~Say Camden~This is a ram that Garrett and I own together and we both felt that he was pretty awesome. As you can see, loads of crimp, good length, Shetland tips and very consistent fleece front to back.  He's a smirslet, sokket, flecket gulmoget.  (ps~poll carrier too)  

Just about the britch

Front~midway up shoulder

Mid side

Sheltering Pines Tel~Say Camden
He's pulling back a bit, so not the greatest picture in the world.  

Camden~once again, pulling back a bit. 

That which angers us, controls us.

Sheep in the snow

Here is a few of my girls.  I am pretty pleased with the girls I have this year, slightly more so than last year.  I have retained 8 ewe lambs and have 13 adult girls bred for 2012, 2 of these gals are leased. Bug got the bulk of the girls, Thor got 6 and Camden got 3 gals, one purebred and one crossbred.  (I had 3 ewes that I bred for a new breeder and 3 of my girls were sold as bred too)  I've never had 3 breeding groups, but Camden flew into my radar at the 11th hour and I decided to give him some ladies of his own.  Stay tuned for ram photos.  

Salicional (adult) Bred to Bug for 2012
I simply adore this ewe~she has this smoky blue color to her fleece that I love.

Velma (adult) bred to Thor for 2012
This girl gives me superior lambs, and her fleece is dense and soft. 

Catherine, bred to Thor ~Alexandria(ewe lamb) and Maura~bred to  Thor
Maura and Catherine are new here, so I'm pretty anxious to see their lambs.

I'd like to point out that prior to the fresh snow that is in this picture, mud was everywhere, hence, Catherine is white (ish) instead of the nice white we get to see mid winter.   Alexandria is a ewe lamb, and you can see she's much smaller standing between the two mature gals.

Ceylon (adult)~bred to Bug  and Alabama (ewe lamb)
Ceylon gave me 2 superior rams this year, so it was a no brainer to repeat the breeding with Bug.

Leased from Lori: Challis (love this gal) ~bred to Bug
This exceptional ewe just HAD to be bred to my best ram. 

Disco (ewe lamb)

Disco, Seneca,  Alexandria (all ewe lambs) and Maura (adult)

Garnet (adult) Bred to Bug for 2012
Garnet lost a beautiful yuglet lamb this spring to hypothermia, so she is bred back to Bug for 2012

more ladies in the snow...mixed bag of ages here.  Far right is Dot, she's bred to Thor for 2012
Dot has some interesting bloodlines that I'm trying to utilize.

That which angers us, controls us.

Winter visit to Indiana

If I get a chance to visit a Shetland herd, I don't ask a bunch of questions, I just go.  I got a chance to do just that a couple weeks ago when we went to Indiana to pick up 2 LDG's from Gail Former and spend some time at Jeff and Theresa Gygi's house.  The guys wandered off to do guy stuff, hauling hay, cutting/splitting wood (el yucko) and that left Theresa, Tori and I free to play with the sheep.  What a great way to spend a day,.....catching sheep, picking out favorites, and discussing all things fiber.  I was properly impressed by the set up that Theresa has for processing, dyeing, carding, felting, weaving, and spinning fleece.  I was green with envy over the talent that she has to have in order to produce such fabulous finished projects. I got a few shots of the Gygi girls (adult ewes), so here they are..........

That which angers us, controls us.