What are your interests or crafts?
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Oh trust me Anima, almost all the shepherds I have come in contact with treat their animals with the utmost respect, especially "woolgrowers". Honestly most all farmers treat their animals with respect, its the factory farms you have to be wary of. See the thing is, there is no money in what we do so we have to do it because we love it and love the animals
.Best part of my day is when I get home from work and start doing my farm chores. The friendliest sheep always come to greet me while I'm filling the dog dishes and cleaning out/filling water tanks. They all have a sweet spot on their backs that if I start scratching it, their heads come up and they start licking their lips in shear pleasure, its quite amusing! I have a couple of bottle babies (no longer babies) that would climb into my lap if I let them.
My current favorite sweater is one I made out of the fiber from one of these hand raised lambs named Evie. She's a natural colored (dark chocolate brown) bluefaced leicester/cotswold/rambouillet cross and oh my is her wool wonderful. I hand sheared her, hand processed the fiber then spun it and knitted it into this beautiful sweater that you darn near couldn't drag me out of last winter lol. I just LOVE that sweater!!
So yes, my sheep are treated well but rest assured it is not a rarity! And how could you deny yourself the luxury of knitting, weaving or spinning with some beautiful, soft wool??
Yes, my whole family thinks I'm nuts lol. I love it though...except in the dead of winter when its 10 below and all the outside faucets are frozen solid and I'm snaking the garden hose thru the bathroom window so I can get water to everyone thru 4 feet of snow. Nope, not lovin it then lol.
Thanks for the warm welcome ladies, much appreciated!
Aww...
... So yes, my sheep are treated well but rest assured it is not a rarity! And how could you deny yourself the luxury of knitting, weaving or spinning with some beautiful, soft wool??
OMG, I know. Any tips on how to make sure you're only getting yarn made of wool from good shepherds? I treat myself to luxury yarn occasionally, but I also use discount yarn (Knitpicks, etc.) for a lot of my knitting.
Usually you can google the brand name you like you can get company info. If they don't talk about where the fiber comes from, then thats not a priority for them. Even if they do talk about where it comes from thats no guarantee but at least you have a better idea.
You can also learn to spin, that way you KNOW where your fiber comes from and you can create the exact yarn you want for each project. Its a much more economical way to get that luxury yarn! Not to mention its FUN!!
Anima -- buy local! Go to your local yarn shop and buy from local producers if you can't/don't want to spin. I go to the local agricultural fair every year and there's about 20 local yarn sellers with their various yarns (everything from bunnies to alpacas and dogs!) I'm sure you have quite a few near you in Texas!
Hi woolgrowers....welcome to the Womens' room
Please post pics......I would love to see some of your knitting!!!
Also post some pics of your sheep in the pets thread
Thanks Fudgey! I have a really hard time taking pics of yarn and knitted things but I'll do my best. As for the pet pics...you have NO idea what you have done LOL. You will be SICK of my "pets" after a while lol!
Thanks Lisa! I always have a hard time picking a picture for an avitar so more than likely I will rotate eventually! This black sheep is Kelly, one of the first round of lambs born on the farm. He is a BFL/Shetland cross and has some of the nicest fleece in the flock! He was just a youngun in that pic, about 6 mos old. He's 4 now, how time flies! If you guys want I can post my website/blog, that has tons of pics on it. Just let me know if thats ok.
Thats a wonderful suggestion rainkeltoia! There is a new website for finding local sources called Local Fibers, you can google it for the addy.
Awesome! Thanks wool! I know quite a few but that's always helpful we have a huge active fiber community up here, lots of llamas and alpaca farms
we have a huge active fiber community up here, lots of llamas and alpaca farms
Welcome Woolgrower! I can't wait to see pics of you menagerie and your knitting.
I've always wanted to learn to spin- even though i don't knit- it just seems like it would be really neat to be able to do. I have felted- and that's a lot of fun.
I've always wanted to learn to spin- even though i don't knit- it just seems like it would be really neat to be able to do. I have felted- and that's a lot of fun.
Hi Ces! I do love to spin, it is very relaxing. I know some people that spin but don't knit, will sell their yarn. Kinda supports the spinning habit .
The only real felting I've done is hats and wow was that a lot of work. I would make a square of felt, about 2' x 2' and then shape it over a form by rubbing it and applying hot water to make it shrink. Very labor intensive process and hard on the arms so I don't do it anymore. I did make felted bags for a while but I would knit them and throw them in the washer to "full" them, way easier than real felting! Tried my hand at needle felting but I was loosing too much blood from the needle ...... to my fingers lol!
.The only real felting I've done is hats and wow was that a lot of work. I would make a square of felt, about 2' x 2' and then shape it over a form by rubbing it and applying hot water to make it shrink. Very labor intensive process and hard on the arms so I don't do it anymore. I did make felted bags for a while but I would knit them and throw them in the washer to "full" them, way easier than real felting
! Tried my hand at needle felting but I was loosing too much blood from the needle ...... to my fingers lol!
It is a lot of work...and I haven't done it much. but there's something about playing with the warm soapy water and seeing the fiber shrink and come together is very cool. Knitting it and washing it does sound like an easier process ( I've certainly "fulled" some sweaters in the wash accidentally)
Is that a craft, or just an indication that I'm cheap? 
When my husband and I built this house (literally - from the ground up) we put temporary fiberboard vanity tops in two bathrooms. They were only supposed to serve their purpose until we could have some vanities cut to fit. Well, we soon discovered that a damp washcloth left on fiberboard will raise the grain substantially. That got my creative juices flowing a bit. I'd never seen or heard of anyone doing what I was about to do, but I figured WTH, the worst that can come of it is a messed up piece of fiberboard.
Here's what I did:
#1 I wetted bath towels and covered the whole surface of the fiberboard to raise the grain overnight.
#2 After wiping off the excess moisture, I painted the fiberboard with aqua latex paint and allowed it to dry completely.
#3 Then I rubbed a dark blue latex paint on with a rag and immediately wiped it off of the surface. Now the dark blue only remained in the deepest areas. Allowed that to dry completely.
#4 Now I painted random squiggles of blue and green stained glass paint, then feathered them out a bit with a soft brush.
#5 By this point, the paint fumes were getting to me a bit (that's my excuse) and I glued some stuff to the surface: a sterling silver trilobite earring (that had lost its mate) with the post cut off, a piece of slab cut malachite, and a big black opal. Allowed the glue time to dry.
#6 My next step was the scariest: I poured EnvirotexLite polyester resin over everything. I had to do this sloooowwwwly to keep it from overflowing the edge of the board and to pop any bubble that arose with hot breath. Give that a day to dry.
#7 Add another layer of resin.
Here's the result:
Close up of area with malachite:
Close up of area with black opal:
I did the exact same treatment to the top of a white cabinet that holds towels. The embedments on that were: sterling silver turtle earrings, more opals, chrysocolla cabochans, a silver button, and a dime. The dime cracks me up because people keep trying to pick it up - lol.
To complete my waterfall bathroom I also installed dark green ceramic tile on the fixture end of the Jacuzzi surround and put up a photomural on the rest of it. Then painted that with 5 layers of polyurethane.
The other bathroom vanity is a whole 'nother story, but done in a similar manner with fossils, ammonites and petrified wood. This is getting too long ...
When my husband and I built this house (literally - from the ground up) we put temporary fiberboard vanity tops in two bathrooms. They were only supposed to serve their purpose until we could have some vanities cut to fit. Well, we soon discovered that a damp washcloth left on fiberboard will raise the grain substantially. That got my creative juices flowing a bit. I'd never seen or heard of anyone doing what I was about to do, but I figured WTH, the worst that can come of it is a messed up piece of fiberboard.
Here's what I did:
#1 I wetted bath towels and covered the whole surface of the fiberboard to raise the grain overnight.
#2 After wiping off the excess moisture, I painted the fiberboard with aqua latex paint and allowed it to dry completely.
#3 Then I rubbed a dark blue latex paint on with a rag and immediately wiped it off of the surface. Now the dark blue only remained in the deepest areas. Allowed that to dry completely.
#4 Now I painted random squiggles of blue and green stained glass paint, then feathered them out a bit with a soft brush.
#5 By this point, the paint fumes were getting to me a bit (that's my excuse) and I glued some stuff to the surface: a sterling silver trilobite earring (that had lost its mate) with the post cut off, a piece of slab cut malachite, and a big black opal. Allowed the glue time to dry.
#6 My next step was the scariest: I poured EnvirotexLite polyester resin over everything. I had to do this sloooowwwwly to keep it from overflowing the edge of the board and to pop any bubble that arose with hot breath. Give that a day to dry.
#7 Add another layer of resin.
Here's the result:
Close up of area with malachite:
Close up of area with black opal:
I did the exact same treatment to the top of a white cabinet that holds towels. The embedments on that were: sterling silver turtle earrings, more opals, chrysocolla cabochans, a silver button, and a dime. The dime cracks me up because people keep trying to pick it up - lol.
To complete my waterfall bathroom I also installed dark green ceramic tile on the fixture end of the Jacuzzi surround and put up a photomural on the rest of it. Then painted that with 5 layers of polyurethane.
The other bathroom vanity is a whole 'nother story, but done in a similar manner with fossils, ammonites and petrified wood. This is getting too long ...
Hi bmeyer ! Did you mean to fall into The Women's Room ?
If you did, then Welcome ! Aren't you glad you got away from those cigars !
If you did, then Welcome ! Aren't you glad you got away from those cigars !
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