It was neat to watch the shearing, however, I wasn’t prepared for how much sheep bleed when their hoofs are clipped too close. Yuk. lol Jim commented that the barn wall was still stained from a previous year’s trimming. So, if you have a weak stomach where blood is concerned – it’s best to forgo this.

Okay – onto the fleeces.

I purchased 6 fleeces, two of them are from the ‘black’ sheep which are a gorgeous deep brown and gray color.

First I skirted: this mainly consisted of me sitting in the driveway with each fleece on a screen and pulling out all the edges with dried poo and obvious big schtuff.

Second, I began washing the first fleece at 8am yesterday and have been washing Rocky’s fleece for over 20+ washings now – and I tell ya – other than fluffing quite alot, it’s nowhere near clean. The rinse water is still dirty with alot of silt in it.

For the first wash, I put sections of the fleece (from 4 to 8 oz’s) in mesh laundry bags. Washed with 160′ water (added boiling water for hot temp), at least 4 times (using dawn) with an added 8 rinses. After that – the water ‘seemed’ to get clear, so I removed the fleece onto a towel, and lo and behold, the fleece had folded on itself and was just as filthy in the center as when I had started. You can definitely feel the stickiness of the lanolin still in the wool. So fears of removing too much lanolin are gone.

After reading a sheepgrowers’ assoc. letter about soaking it loose with a detgt for 2 hours in very HOT water (read as 160+), I put it back into the wash – washing 3 more times, each with a 1/2 scoop of Gain and 2-3 tbsp. of washing soda. Rinsing only Lord knows how many times…. The rinse water is still dirty. *sigh*

By 2 am, and images of a $300.00 utility bills from boiling water most of the day as the hot water tank ate electricity; Discouraged, I put the wool out on the back porch and was ready to give up…

However, lying in bed, guilt over the original 50.00 cost combined with the wool loss crept in (combined with tenacious tendencies) I pulled it back in at 3 am and commenced rinsing again this morning.

Here are three of the fleeces still waiting to begin the washing process:

and here is Rocky’s fleece after 20+ washes and 2 more rinses this morning:

Notice the fluffy difference? One fleece as opposed to four? It’s the only difference, other than I know it’s lost at least 3 pounds of silt – altho one couldn’t tell. lol Second abatement: fear of felting. This fleece has everything done to it that others say should not be done – and it hasn’t felted – so if it’s not giving up – I guess I won’t either. lol.

Next, I’ll try another New Zealand approach – soaking it in covered plastic bins, outside, for 6+ days. Maybe that will work. Slobo and son are off to Wally world to buy me two plastic garbage bins with lids, which I’ll place a hardware cloth screen in the bottom of before adding the wool. Maybe that will help.

Next up – Plans to build wool combs and lots of hope for at least quilt batting without that farm fresh smell. lol

Suffice it to say – the romance of sheep farming – is coming to an end….. baaahhhhhhh……. Hey – but it WAS a fun, new, experience and they are still very CUTE!

Added May 31, 2010: A very kind fellow fleece flinger sent me a terrific detailed message on how to wash the fleeces. I’ve washed all but the last fleece from Whitman (a chocolate fleece) and will be posting an update soon. A Huge Thank You to the Star Box! Things are going along so much better now!

Clark Gable is going to be part of a photo shoot today and needed to look his best. The plan was to bathe the lambs but with nights so cold, she postponed it. It doesn’t help that her pasture has been drenched again with the recent rains. FEMA was out yesterday to see if they can do anything to control the flooding from the creek. Clark did get a good brushing tho, a shot (afterward baaa’ing for sympathy from the flock and got it), some corn starch dusting (to whiten him up for his pics) and lots of sympathy. I told him all he needed was some milk and he could be a biscuit. I wish I had a picture of him – but he is so cute! After his brushing, he sported a handsome rounded beard – all he needed was an Amish outfit to go with it.

One of the things I’ve been surprised about is how curious and smart the sheep are. Sandra fed them a couple of scoops of food outside, to keep them from bowling us over with hunger. While she put out more food and hay in the barn and went to get water, I offered to shovel out the barn floor. I noticed six pairs of eyes watching me through the plastic drape on the barn door and as soon as I had cleared a path about two feet wide, they came hurdling in to get to the food and hay. Just like kids, they waited for me to clear a path so they could run in on the newly cleaned floor. Not a job for someone OCD. lol

I had a wonderful time and cannot wait to go back and learn how to clean their hooves and bob the lambs tails. + Sheep shearing time should be here v-e-r-y soon!

Even tho it’s not a pattern, I thought ya’ll might like having the Vintage Crochet Stitches.txt reference, as much as I have. It’s in date order, so if you are working on a vintage pattern and it’s not looking like the original – the actual stitch formation may be different.

It never occurred to me to look for instructions on what attachments are inside my box at the patent office. The request contains accurate (many times numbingly accurate), details on the use of particular items.

You too can check them out at the friendly, neighborhood
U.S. Patent Office

addendum: I found this image on Redwork’s site… one of my favorite design groups, which we use over at the mercantile. Ann the Gran’s design exchange is infamous among embroiderists.
Her website states:

The Design Exchange now offers more than 6,000 designs contributed by many talented digitizers from all over the world, all available absolutely free for inspiration and use by what has become hundreds of thousands of passionate embroiderers.

del datetime=”2006-06-25T14:31:01+00:00″
Image Removed At The Request of Redwork in Germany

This brings to point one of the questions I have about Flickr, how is crediting done? Not being a flickr user, I don’t know if it’s even possible. Anyone?

The legs have nylon levelers, that swivel. The levelers have a hexagonal bolt that can be turned with pliers to level the table once it’s set up. The levelers screw into threaded nuts which are designed to be hammered into a pre-drilled hole.

Click thumb for a drawing of the parts.

Picture of cross braces for the top:

Glimpse of how bracing from legs go up into the bottom of the top where spacers were left open for the purpose:

Leg panels connected to the top with “L” brackets:

Levelers:

This shows where sectional piece (2ft long) is connected between the two tables with lag bolts (The kind used to hold porches to house joists, screws into wood of table with ratchet wrench):

One 5′ table section: