Revised all that's left

I took the big multi-ounce skeins and re-skeined them into smaller more affordable ones.  Each one will make at least a nice pair of wrist warmers, or scarf, cowl, etc.   The purple skeins are still not showing their true color, which is a deep, vibrant, royal purple color.  I tried all different kinds of settings on my camera, and it still isn't showing the true color.   It's so pretty and the yarn is so soft!

I'm still waiting for Wilma to have her kid.  She's showing the signs of eminent kidding, tail is loose, ligaments are soft, udder is full, but nothing.  Tomorrow is John's birthday and I'll bet she will have it then.  He could care less about that, while I've been wanting a kid born on my birthday for 14 years.  The irony of it all.  It won't happen this year, either, none of the does are due anywhere near my birthday. Oh well, such is life....
 
Yesterday I strung out the hose to the water buckets and troughs for the first time.  No more bucket brigades!!  My arms and shoulders can get a rest now. ☺

The first week in April is going to be a busy one.  Most of the does are due to kid that week.  The dairy girls are, too.  Fresh milk again!!  Although since I leave the kids on their mom for 3 months, I won't be getting a lot, but any amount is good.  I usually get quite a bit the first couple of weeks (after the first week when it's still colostrum and her hormones are adjusting and the milk tastes awful) then once the kids start growing well, it drops down a lot.  Since I will have three that I'm milking this year, I'll have plenty of it anyway.  I have found a really good way to freeze the milk, too.  I use a vacuum sealer and those heavy bags for it, to seal the milk in.  I have to put the sealer up on an upside down jelly roll pan to get it higher than the bag, then put a half gallon of milk in the bag, (the amount I use to make kefir with) lay it on it's side, holding the opening up so it all doesn't spill out.  I put it in the sealer, gently push the air out, and seal it.  Then into the freezer.  The milk doesn't separate when thawed like it does when I freeze it in plastic jugs like distilled water jugs.  Plus the bags don't take up nearly as much room as the jugs do.  It's a good thing all the way around.

This coming Saturday is the Log Cabin Spin in over in Couer de' Alene (sp?) Idaho that I really, really want to go to.  But, with three does due this week sometime, two of them are due on the 18th, I doubt I'll get to go again this year.  Maybe next?  I've wanted to go for quite a few years now, and it seems there are always kids being born then.  Next year I am going to make triple sure there aren't any does bred for that time, and everything will be in order so I can finally go!   I'm not totally ruling it out for this year just yet, but it's a small chance that I'll get to go.

I hope everyone that has the daylight savings time set their clocks ahead last night.   I think I'll go take a short power nap to catch up on that lost hour ☺..........  

These are all that's left.

These are the last remaining skeins of PNF Cashmeres hand spun yarn for this last harvest.  Each skein will make anything from a pair of wrist cuffs, to a scarf or cowl.  The two little skeins will each easily make a pair of wrist cuffs.  I'll list the prices and who's fleece they are:
The dark colored skein is from Mandy, it is so soft,  there are 2.3 oz and 214 yards. $96  A nice luxurious scarf or cowl can be made from it.  Mandy is the sweetest goat towards people, but she is quite ornery to other goats!
The off-white skein on top is from Wilma, it has 1.7 oz 160 yards and is $71.  A scarf can be made out of this skein.  Wilma is my little misfit goat.  She is small, and doesn't seem to be friends with anyone in the herd. She is going to have a baby any day, so at least she will have company now.
Below Wilma's is Misty, it's 2.4 oz and 190 yards for $100.  Misty is just one of the crowd it seems.  She doesn't stand out and tries to get along with everyone, although she can be pushy when she wants to.
The skein at an angle to the side of the little skeins is Fiddle at 2 oz 216 yards for $84.  This is Fiddle's kid fleece.  He's a buck, so the only fleece I'll ever get to use off him is this one, he's a mature boy now and stinks to high heaven.  I'll never be able to use another fleece off him.  Hopefully he will throw nice kids with his kind of fleece.  It's soft!  The kids being born this year are his first.  
The little skein on top is Sara at 1.1 oz and 89 yards for $46.  Sara is a dainty goat, and Misty's mom.  She is one of the few true white goats that I have.  Wrist cuffs can easily be made from this skein.  Oh so soft and comfortable!
Cherry and Chocolate are twins, this is their kid fleece, it's really soft!  .7oz and 79 yards for $29,  These two are the biggest pains at feeding time.  They have to be right there in the wheelbarrow as I'm trying to throw the hay out to everyone.  They are cute!
Heather has the biggest skein coming in at 3.4 oz and 274 yards for $142.  She is close to the top of the pecking order in the herd, and if you happened to see Santa's in the Barn on TV this  past holiday season, the goats used were mine.  Heather was the one who looked at the camera when the one Santa said they were ornery. :-)  She can be very pushy at times.  She's nice to people though. Just think of the generous, luxurious scarf you could make out of this, and it's so soft, you'll never want to take it off!
  The prices might seem high, but if you stop to consider the cost of feeding them for a year, the time it takes to care for them every day, plus combing the cashmere off, washing, dehairing and spinning it, this is a bargain!  I do love my goats and I feel so blessed to have the job that I do!

February, Already?

So, wasn't Christmas just last week?  Seriously, this year is already going by faster than last.

I'm getting more cashmere off the goats.  I'm about a third of the way through.  We had a cold spell for a week or so and now it's back up in the 40's.  The snow is melting.  The road is getting a little icy, but not bad yet.  It's nice and wide this year for a change.  Not much snow, and it's being plowed a little better than the last couple of years.  We have a nice teamwork effort between the neighbors to keep the road in good shape, and it's working pretty good.

I'm needle felting, spinning and crocheting quite a bit now.  The cashmere coming off the goats is looking really nice this year.  Not sure if that is because of what they've been eating over the last year, the weather, or what, but it's lookin' good!  But, since I don't have the machine anymore, I'll be sending it off to one of the mills to get dehaired.  I won't have the individual fleeces this year.  I'll be like everyone else and combining the fleeces.  I'll match up the colors as close as I can, and also the style of the fleece.  I'll keep family lines together, since most of the time, their fleeces are quite similar.

I am rather bummed.  I had planned on going to the Log Cabin Spin in the week-end of March 19th, but now it's looking like that probably isn't going to happen.  When I was combing Miss Kitty, I got to thinking about when she was due to kid.  She wasn't supposed to be bred this time, but the bucks got out and got 4 does, two of which took.  So she is due that week-end!  So is Mandy, who I wasn't wanting to breed anymore at all.  So unless they surprise me and have the kids a few days early, which looking at their records hasn't happened, I won't be going.  I was really looking forward to that!  Everyone send out positive thoughts for them to kid a bit early please! :-)  I really really need a change of scenery for a week-end and to be with other spinners sitting around chatting and spinning would be a wonderful change of scenery indeed!

The other day I was outside with the goats and had my phone with me so I could take some pictures and a video or two.  I lucked out and got a great video of Bart getting nailed by Miss Kitty as he was butting heads with Zindy Lou and he got it good!  He did a complete somersault, got up, and him and Miss Kitty had a brief exchange.  It's on my Instagram page.  He didn't get hurt at all, and it didn't slow him down any.  He has quite the attitude these days.  Today I separated him and three other 2 year old wethers into their own pen.  The other three get along fine, share food piles and everything, but mister Bart is aloof.  I had him in with a couple of the bottle babies from the same year as him, and some others, but he was getting too aggressive with the pregnant ones.  The other wethers were getting a bit too rambunctious, too.  They were in the main pen where most of the pregnant does are this year.  So now I'm rearranging most of the goats and getting the pregnant ones in a pen by themselves so I can up their feed intake a bit, without letting the rest of the herd get fat.

I'm done milking now till after the kids are born.  A nice break for the first time in two years.  I ran the dairy girls through, as it's called when they only get bred every two years and get milked for two years straight.  Hope I froze enough milk to get me through the dry period!  I mostly make kefir with it now, so I'm hoping I froze enough.

That's all the news for now.  Spring is just around the corner!

It's Harvest Time!

I am combing goats already!  I've done 5 so far.  I am going to be able to dehair them by hand this year!!  At least these I've done so far.  There are very few guard hairs in it.  It looks like it's been run through the machine about 3 times already.  So with a little time, I can get these dehaired myself.

I am on Instagram now.  Cashmereannie is my name. :-)  Please follow me if you are on there, too.  You can see more pictures of things happening around here, than what I take with my regular camera.  Technology.... My smartphone takes pretty good pictures, and it's easier to just post on Instagram than download the pictures from the camera onto the computer and then put them on here, or my website, etc.  I might be getting lazy in my old age. :-) Not that I'm old or anything, but you know...

I have 16 pregnant does out there!  That's going to be somewhere around 20 to 25 babies!!  What was I thinking?  I'll have some goats for sale come July.  I'm even going to sell some of the moms and babies this year.  Time for a major downsize of the herd.  I'm not going to get rid of all of them, but most of them.  I have some new plans in the works and am not going to have time to take proper care of this many goats.  I'm keeping my very favorite ones, and the rest will go to new homes.  I don't want to take them to the auction, their fleece is too good for that, they need to be in a fiber person's home.  Even though I have this many, they all have names and are my babies. ☺  So if you are thinking about getting into cashmere goats, keep me in mind and come July there will be a good many for sale here.

I've been doing a bunch of needle felting.  That is really fun to do!  I'm spinning more yarn, too.  Between combing the goats, needle felting and spinning, my days are pretty full now.  I'm staying home for the next week or so and really getting a lot done around here.

Happy full moon!

More Needle Felting

The latest bunch of critters made.  These guys are heading for New Zealand in February!  I am really having fun making these little creatures.

I'm also spinning up my cashmere  from last year's harvest.  I was trimming goat hooves a couple of days ago, and noticed they are starting to release their fleece already.  Time to start combing!  I was going to seriously downsize the herd this year, but after seeing how nice the cashmere is looking on most of them, now I'm having second thoughts.....  There are 14 pregnant does out there all together.  Celeste got bred yesterday, so she's going to have the last babies in June.  The first week in April is when the majority of them are going to pop out.  A fun time!  It's always exciting to see what comes out. :-)  

It's snowing again today.  We are supposed to get 2 to 4 inches.  We have about 10 inches on the ground right now, so a couple more won't be too bad.  The road coming up here is looking the best it ever has.  It's plowed nice and wide with plenty of turn-outs, so even if we get a lot of snow, we should be able to get up and down it with no problem the rest of the winter.  Usually we end up with a narrow tunnel the last mile and a half by spring.  The snow line is about that far down the road, so it's always deeper up at this end, and the road is narrower to begin with.  This year it shouldn't get bad at all.  Yay!!!

Well, back to the spinning wheel.  It's a good day to be inside!  

Needle Felting

 Here is some of what I've been doing lately.  I can finally show the alpaca I made!  It was a custom order for Christmas, so I couldn't put it up till she got it.  This was fun to do.  I had a couple of pictures to work from, both showing the same side, so I hope the other side looked the same! :-)  Panda is the alpaca's name.

This dog is my Great Pyrenees Nellie.  She's 10 years old now and still going strong.  She still follows me all the way down the forest service road, which is 4 miles long, when I plow.  When I'm doing the turn-outs she lays down in the middle of the road.  Thank heavens nobody came around the corner!  

 I've done a lot of bears, too.  They seem to be popular.  Bear cubs and the parents are what I've been doing mostly.  I really like this needle felting.  It's fun to create realistic looking animals.  (some are more realistic looking than others)  I'll post more pictures soon.  I hope everyone has the best year yet in 2016!  Happy New Year!!!

A medley

It's hard to believe it's the last month of 2015!  A lot has happened around here this year.  John is finally home for good now.  I don't have to be by myself anymore!

I had a good bunch of helpxers this year.  All were good workers, and all were fun to have here.  I like meeting new people from different walks of life and different countries.  It's fun to compare lifestyles and things.  A lot of projects got completed this time around.  Some got started and are waiting completion.

Rocky is all healed up and back out with the goats.  He is so much calmer and nicer to his sister now.  They still have arguments on a daily basis, but it's not huge fights like it was.  He minds better now, too.

There is a packrat in the dairy barn that must be too big to go in any of the traps I've set.  I'm going to have to resort to a poison bar for this one, I guess.  At least it's not making a big mess in there, but I can smell it, and it does get into things somewhat.  Annoying beasts.

We still have some snow on the ground.  It's warmed back up again from the low teens and single digits, back to above freezing.  I plowed the entire 4 miles of fs road with the ATV on Tuesday before it warmed up and the snow was light and fluffy still.  My fingers on my right hand, running the throttle got quite cold, but the rest of me stayed warm.  One of the neighbors half plowed it, but didn't finish it for some reason.  They left big piles of snow right on the edge that would really cause problems by spring if left.  So I got rid of those, widened the road clear out to the very edge and made all the turn-outs.  Now it's good for the other neighbor to continue on with for the rest of the winter.  It's shaping up to be another winter like last, a cold spell, then a warm spell, then back to cold. etc.. We got the studded snow tires on the truck this week, so we're ready now.

The goats are doing well.  There are 10 does bred now, with two left to get bred.  Lots of kids next spring!


The turkeys are going in the freezer slowly but surely.  The one we had for T-day sure was good!  Tender and juicy.  I don't think I'll ever eat a store bought one again.  They just don't taste nearly as good.  Even the organic ones.  Ours are fed organic feed with no corn/soy/ or canola in it.  Good stuff!  The only downside to raising them is they eat a lot!!  Even free ranging, they still ate a lot.  The chickens are laying quite a few eggs.  The cold spell slowed them down, but they are picking up again now that it's warmed up.

Well, it's time to get back to spinning up the cashmere.  I just sold all the natural colored yarn I had spun, so now I'm spinning the last of the fleeces up.  Then it will be back to needle felting.

Happy Holidays!!