Somerhill Farm

Entry for August 18, 2008

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:35:53 GMT

This is what I was doing all weekend - skirting, sorting, washing wool! there are several pounds of very white BFL on my drying rack now. It will head out to Stonehedge to be made into roving as soon as its dry. I have one more bag of wool to sort through - about 5# of dirty fleeces that should have some usable sections. I've got a couple batches of nice locks to dye this week, too, and will post results here. Not sure of the colors yet - whatever jumps out at me when I look at the dyes. :^)

Entry for August 14, 2008

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:03:23 GMT

I got an email from Lois last night, saying that I do have 2 spaces at A Wool Gathering in September. WOOHOO! So on September 20 & 21, be sure to attend AWG in Yellow Springs at the Young's Dairy (Rt 68 south of Springfield, about 5 minutes off I-70 in western Ohio)

I'll have some BFL roving in white, red, and purple; some wool/alpaca blends in natural colors and dyed fibers; lots of skeins of 100% angora yarns; bags of dyed BFL locks in rainbows of color; bags of natural colored washed kid mohair; and a variety of skeins of my handspun wool yarns.

Entry for August 13, 2008

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:49:32 GMT

Yesterday, the driveband on my Louet S10 broke. Now, this sounds like a mundane fact, except that I've had this wheel for 20 years, and I bought it used. As far as I know, that was the original driveband! My wheel is one of only two S10s I've ever seen that is made from oak, not birch. So my guess is, its pretty old - probably one of the first S10s made. If anyone knows any of the history of the Louets and could give me any clues on it, I'd be interested to learn more.

We never missed a beat, since Chuck had made me order one YEARS ago for just this occasion, so he changed bands for me, and away I went, spinning some blue tort French Angora. :^)

Entry for August 10, 2008

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:20:56 GMT

There are two F2 cross baby does I just got back from my meat buyer. They are so great! Comparing them to my fawn French Angoras, they are definitely deeper, richer red, and you can tell that the color goes deeper into the wool - likely due to the wideband gene. Body-wise, they are big, wide bodies with high arches and round hips. Their wool feels dense and has good texture and is quite long. Of course, they are just 2 months old, so I'm trying to not get too excited, but at this age, there is no way you could tell them(in terms of quality) from my purebred French Angoras from registered stock.

I've decided on Wildhare Ruby Slippers and Red Dawn for their names.

Entry for August 7, 2008

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:53:16 GMT

I got my newest roving back from Stonehedge on Monday. Its a blend of white Corriedale, white alpaca, and blue and green mohair. Each fiber is about 1/3 of the blend by weight.

I spun up a sample last night - I like the results. You can see the blue and green clearly in the finished yarn. I call the roving "Seascape".

Entry for July 31, 2008

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:11:13 GMT

This is Somerhill China, a 4.5 month old Bluefaced Leicester ewe lamb.

Entry for July 29, 2008

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:59:27 GMT

This is Somerhill Jillian, our first ever natural colored BFL ewe born here. We've had several colored ram lambs over the years, but Jill is the first ewe! She is very friendly and curious, but seems to hate the camera.

Entry for July 27, 2008

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 19:54:41 GMT

Here is my very first wooled Red French Angora cross, Wildhare Rubicon. He is from a litter of 8 - the only fuzzy one. I'll be getting another one soon, as my meat buyer kept a couple of the 1st crosses, and his litter has 3 wooled red babies in it. Hopefully there will be a nice doe.

Entry for July 18, 2008

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:07:08 GMT

This is my last sheepskin. Its a deep brown, with wool about 3 inches long. It has a soft, silky texture. The skin is very pliable and white. I have it for sale for $95. Its 23x35.

Entry for July 17, 2008

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:38:21 GMT

This picture shows the difference between red and chocolate agouti Satin Angora wool after its spun. Looking at them, its hard to imagine that people can look at one of my chocolate agoutis and think they are reds. On the rabbit, the chocolate agouti tips tend to blend into the red and make them look like a darker color of red. But something about the twisting of the fiber as its spun into yarn really brings out the chocolate. Both colors are so beautiful; the red is bright and rich, and the chocolate agouti has a more subtle beauty in the play of different colors and shading throughout the yarn. If you notice a difference in texture in the two yarns, the red on top was spun about a year ago and has been handled a lot, which causes it to "bloom" and look fuzzier. The chocolate agouti skein on the bottom was just finished about 10 minutes before I snapped the picture.