When Knitting Was a Manly Art

Finished shearing this afternoon. We decided to do all the adults which meant a total of 12 animals total. Finished 7 ewes yesterday and that left 2 ewes and 3 rams for today. Ewes are easy, but rams have extra parts. Both little and big and that creates problems that slow down the process. Add to that about an extra 50 pounds, more muscle and larger horns and you end up with a *lot* more work and a few more bruises. Then to top it off, the last ram we sheared has lost the outer portions of his horns leaving only the cores. He managed to hook one on the horns on the shearing stand, broke of the tip which produced a bit of blood. There aren’t major blood vessels in the horns and we were able to quickly control what there was, but it just added to the mess. He’s looking all right tonight so we expect no problems. Trying to decide if we want to take the lamb fleeces now or wait for spring.

Gansey is finally complete…

Finished weaving in the last of the loose strands, washed and have it laid out this morning. I was really suprised how dirty it’s gotten over the past 4 months. Used Orvus paste which is really a mild, unscented shampoo, and easy to rinse out. Looks very good and I hope to have pictures sometime next week.

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