What's Cookin' At The Wool House?

Not much. I wish Saint Tim would get home from his fishing trip. I'm getting tired of eating cereal ;-).

Actually, there is something cooking up there. I'm trying Judith MacKenzie McCuin's wool washing method I read about in the Fall 2008 Spin Off. If I can get my fleeces cleaner, with less water usage and few chemicals, I'm all for it!

I skirted the first fleece, dirty Woolliam. That should be a mighty fine test!



I dumped it from the skirting table into a laundry basket.



Carried the basket around the corner and set it down into a tub of cold water to ferment for several days. Using the laundry basket was my brilliant (I hope) idea, so as to not have to reach down in there to get the wool out later.



Back to the skirting table for two more. I'm not sure what I like better right now, the table or the ceiling fans.



I have a perfect place to set these soon to be really nasty smelling tubs. We'll keep the Woolliam picture handy to compare before and after.



Okay, let's return to the laundry basket shot. Did anyone catch Camouflage Comby up against the back wall?



Brushy is, of course, not far away. He was so zonked that I had to actually wake him up when it started raining.

Somebody just shoot me.

It Just Doesn't Seem Like Home...

...until you've unpacked your books.



It's really not such a gloomy, dark place. I forgot I had the polarizer filter on - working on those Sunday Stills shots early this week ;-).



This cabinet is way too cluttered, but I'm not sure what I want to do to "fix" it. And yes, that is an air conditioner in the window. Summer is finally here. Ugh.



The washroom - complete with a corgi sized sink.



And the drying racks and big work table.

Looks like it's time to get busy!

Another Sneak Peek

Slowly, but surely...



My mom and dad came down over the weekend and we refurbished the 24' garden spot to incorporate plants and flowers good for dyeing and preserving wool. Well, Saint Tim and my dad cleaned out, rebuilt and refilled the garden; my mother and I shopped for plants ;-).



Mostly perennials, but a few annuals just for a little color fix now. Give it a year or two. In the fabulous dirt our neighbors gave us, we should be packed in foliage and color.



The infamous cabinets. There is a 4' cabinet on each side of the couch and a 30" cabinet next to my desk. There were two different woods used - hemlock and birch - and I had a devil of a time figuring out how to finish them. I am happy though with this tinted stain - "winter moss" by Minwax.



While this appears to be a tomato rack, it's actually a skirting table - on the porch. I would show you the really nice matching drying racks Saint Tim built in the wash room, but with all the crazy rain yesterday, the screen door is swollen shut.



And I guess if you snooze, you lose. Looks like some squatters have already moved in (tucked into a tiny corner of the porch). Looks like they've also already stolen some wool.

Glad we could help...

And glad to be at the point where I can start unpacking everything in storage and get to work!

Sky Weaving

Check this out!



Cloud warp and weft, weaving a beautiful sunset over the new wool house the other night.



I wish I were weaving, but I can't even find my loom at this point.



If you look closely you can sort of see some weaving paraphernalia. If I could just get in the door.

Here are a couple pictures I found on my camera card this morning. I had hoped to do a 'sleeping with the sheeps' post, but was never happy with any of my pictures and really, coffee was more important at the time. Now, though, they make me laugh.



Keebs, looking like a little snuggle bunny.



Graham Lamb: "Hey lady! I could use a cup of coffee myself! And some cereal while you're at it! When are ya getting up? Are you getting up now?"

Usually Graham wasn't standing at the foot of my bed. I mostly woke up to those big ears and nose right in my face. Sort of like a cat. Graham is a complete character.

Hank is doing a great job. Keebs and Graham are his favorite sheep, which is good because those two are probably the most vulnerable as they have no fear of anything. Still, I kind of miss sleeping with them.

Sunday Stills...On A Thursday

Two weeks ago the Sunday Stills photography challenge was textures. I was thrilled. How much better could it get for a sheep "shooter". Two weeks ago, at this point, seems like a long, long time ago.

Sitting out with the sheep these last few days though watching Hank figure out his job, has given me some opportunities to capture a little texture...of the curly Cotswold variety.



Rebecca Boone has the coolest 'do and beautiful curls to boot.



Woolliam. I'm not sure if this is his head end or his butt end. Frequently happens in real life as well ;-).



Buddy's foot. I like his pants legs, socks and shoes and the mix of rock and hay underneath.

Headed out to the wool house to treadle away on my Tour de Fleece Challenge. It too is about two weeks behind :-o.

Sneak Peek

Real quick - Jan Baby and City Boy are here and we are all officially on vacation - whew!









Look - there's even some wool in there :-)



We still need to build the drying racks and skirting table and do all the minor touch ups, but we are definitely in the home stretch. Double whew!

And A Hard Place

Have you ever noticed, among your friends with tattoos, that no one has just one tattoo? It seems after you get the first one, you've got to do another and another... If we are not careful, our entire farm will be covered in stone.



It started innocently enough with some "simple" steps.



Made from really cool, but big, rocks.





And then...



It grew.

A Porch With A View

"I guess you can come in. But just for a minute (note tail flicking in annoyance)."



These are the re-engineered trusses. The original ceiling was to be vaulted, with the front of the loft having a 4' clearance, dropping down to a 1' clearance at the back wall. When the trusses were placed, we actually had only 25" in the front. Minor (read major) trauma getting this straightened out, but now we have 3' all the way across the entire storage loft. Much better.



Saint Tim and Iris doing a little building inspecting.



But we all know who the real inspectors are.



This was the view from "Comby's" new porch this morning.

Not too shabby.

Progress

Okay! Okay! Here are some construction pictures. With a corgi picture and some sheepie toes at the end (for those of us more interested in fur and fuzz than 2x4's and plywood ;-).



View walking up to the barn. This is the exact floor plan of the old building (16'x20'). I guess it looks bigger (at least in real life) because the walls are taller.



Looking back towards the house. There is another window behind the ladders. The door on the right hand side will open out onto a screened in 8'x20' porch with a drop down skirting table, plenty of room for spinning wheels, some comfortable chairs and two ceiling fans, because it's freakin' hot here.



View out the front window. I'm planning on placing my work table here so I can see what's happening out back. On second thought, maybe that's not such a great idea...



There is a 4' wide open storage loft covering the two sides and back (towards the house - the two smaller windows).



Today they poured the concrete for the wash room. This too is 8' x 20' and will have built in drying racks so the hammock can be retired to...well, who am I fooling...the only thing that hammock will ever get used for is drying wool.



I had the brilliant idea that all the animals should walk through the concrete on this side as it was drying. Wouldn't it be cute to see all the sheep and dog and cat and chicken and horse shoe tracks throughout the wash room?

Not such a great idea in real life.

I made a couple attempts - that didn't work and would have been awful to live with - that the builders kindly fixed. I really had my heart set on it though, so in the end, I had Keebler and Graham Lamb come over and make their mark right inside the doorway. That way, if it didn't work out we could just cover it with a doormat. It's cute. At least to me. And that's what's important.



The main part of the building (which will be insulated and climate controlled) and the enclosed wash room are going to covered with these boards and battens.

Weaslie's going to be crushed when she finds out these aren't really her own giant chew toys.

Tomorrow they are enclosing the wash room and Thursday the trusses come.

Pretty exciting!