From the Pastures: A good head start

It is great to see several tractors in the fields around northern Illinois. They are putting fertilizer down and soil finishing the fields. No planting yet, but it will not be too long. Our pasture has turned green and is growing well. Our area has had a good amount of rain so far this spring. The sheep are standing by the gate hoping I will open it so they can get out in the pasture. A couple more weeks and the pasture will have gotten a good head start. Our flock is small now, so we have plenty of pasture. I still like to wait until around May 1 so there isn’t any chance of overgrazing.

In two weeks the sheep are going to be sheared. Then a couple weeks after that the lambs are due. I am hoping for some twins this year. It will be nice if there are some dark-colored Shetland lambs. I have a lot of light-colored ewes. The ram I used again this year is a true black. This usually gives some dark colors. There has been a lot of interest in Shetland roving at the fiber shows and a good variety of colors helps sell more. Shetland sheep can be a variety of colors including white, gray, black and many shades of brown.

Recently, I spun some grey Shetland wool from last year. The yarn is a very nice color. It also overdyes well. I did some indigo dying with gray yarn. Indigo dye comes from a plant and is the same dye used for blue jeans. The blue over the gray is an interesting color. I also dyed a few skeins of gray yarn dark red color. A couple of knitters came into the store and purchased one gray and one red skein to knit together in a project. They were excited about the combination of colors.

There have already been a couple of groups visiting for tours of the mill. It is always enjoyable to show people how yarn is made from a sheep’s wool. Most people have no idea how many steps there are to the process. Wool is such a great fiber. I love to talk about it. They are all amazed at the quality of yarn that wool makes. Education hopefully will help the sheep industry. Have a wonderful Easter.