Close to Home...Post #11 - Herding-4-Ewe

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Sometimes I wind a warp using a lot of different yarns and then realize that I don't have enough of any one yarn for weft. This usually happens when I'm making a mixed warp to use up odds and ends of yarn that I have around. That happened with a couple of the pieces for Close to Home and I found some yarn left over from other projects that worked just fine.772-1, 772-2 These blankets are not in the show but they use yarn that I had made from Herding-4-Ewe's wool. I happen to still have some on the shelves.  DSC_9090 Story: Herding-4-Ewe is just around the corner from my farm. Debbie Pollard keeps a flock of mixed breed sheep to use in training dogs (and, just as important, dog owners) the art of herding. My Border Collie, Rusty, and I took lessons from Debbie for a few years.  Now most of the sheep Debbie uses are hair sheep, but at the time I was there she had many more woolly sheep and I acquired some of the fleeces. I skirted and washed the wool and had it spun at Yolo Wool Mill in Woodland. I have woven many blankets from this yarn (including one for Debbie in which I incorporated yarn I spun from the hair of her favorite dog) but have some of it left.  DSC_9095

Here are a couple of the projects in which I needed to find some other yarn.Mom's yarnThis blanket uses my Mom's yarn in the warp and Herding-Ewe's yarn, dyed with black walnut, in the weft.Shawl detailThis is a CVM shawl using the same yarn as above for weft.

I don't have any photos taken while herding at Debbie's but here is one of Rusty working at home:DSC_5725