Prize - Our newly released Cooke Creek Sheep Co. knit pattern kit (includes the yarn and the pattern) for a beautiful lacy, Coopworth scarf designed by Janelle! Check out her beautiful design work. Janelle did us proud. See the picture at right or in the previous post.
And on our farm website you can check out the beautiful Coopworth yarn for this new pattern. Coopworth is a dual purpose breed of sheep with great mothering attributes and known for having twins although I have a couple of ewes that have triplets every year. They are derived from Romney and Border Leicester breeds originally and so their wool has the luster of the BL and the crimp and length of the Romney. It's a nice yarn and easy on the hands. It's a natural color although it loves to be dyed if you're up to that. But I digress....back to the contest.
Rules - The name of the scarf can be anything that represents it well but it MUST include the word Coopworth...or Coop....or Coopy (if you're thinking along the lines of rhyming with Loopy, for instance) as we want to share with the knitter that this came from a certain kind of sheep that lives here on our farm. I don't care how long the name is, as long as it's catchy and to repeat, represents your impression of the scarf design. Please enter your choices in the comments section below this post. You can enter as many times as you like but please keep the comments short and sweet for this contest. You can write a novel any other time!
The winner will be announced on August 15th so please check back and don't forget if you're an anonymous commenter/entrant I will need your email somehow. This is not a draw-a-name-out-of-the-hat kind of contest but rather what name I like best from your entries. If it's a combination of 2 suggestions, both contributors will win the pattern.
Have fun, be creative and thanks for participating! The winner will be the first person to see the new pattern besides Janelle and myself. Can't wait to see what kind of creative minds we have out there.
Jami
Friday, August 7, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Drumroll please.......
It's here...the sneak peak into Cooke Creek Sheep Company's first two knit designs! These lovely patterns were concocted by Janelle. She did an awesome job and I look forward to working with Janelle again on more designs from our yarn. This is a TOTALLY LOCAL product, designed in Ellensburg and the yarn comes from our very own ewes here in Ellensburg too! I am very excited to venture into this new venue with our wool.
Mercy, my friends, it's been a busy week. First off, my mom had an appointment with her surgeon in Portland, so yesterday took her to the appointment. It went well considering the "C" word was brought up...yup, cancer. It's a watch and see kind of thing but hopefully it all came out with the gallbladder. We'll see with forthcoming CT scans.
Okay, so it's time to market lambs, the rest of the bunch. Took 21 last month. So, we weighed the remaining lambs and and they all made weight except for one little Rosebud, the bummer of the bunch. I'll just keep her for now. She'll grow out just fine once she catches up. But, this week the phone began ringing for ewe lambs. Now, keep in mind, I am happy for the sales but folks are calling the week I have to promise how many lambs we're bringing to the buy day on Saturday so it's a rush-rush type of thing. We can't take more than we reserve truck space for. I am hoping it all works out. I don't want to be stuck with lambs and there isn't time to do deposits and so forth like normal. So, Saturday we truck to Moxee to take market lambs and then have have 2 buyers coming for ewe lambs and a ram. Monday brings in another person for aged ewes. We'll separate the ram lambs out of the group and put the keeper replacement ewe lambs in with the older ewes and start thinking of breeding time in the fall. It's time to do the sheep shuffle!
Today kind of feels like a fall day. After the incredible heat we've had over the past 3 weeks, it is actually cool and sprinkling a few drops of rain, cloudy, breezy. I am wearing a long-sleeved shirt! Mercy, it feels great. Just a reprieve probably, nothing permanent I'm sure.
Well, here is the unveiling of the new Cooke Creek knit design patterns. I want help naming these patterns and we're going to have a contest soon to do this. For now, here are the pictures. The first is a lacy scarf made from our Coopworth light sport weight yarn. Yarn doesn't have to be lace weight to make a pretty holey scarf.
Here are the boot socks from our Texel yarn. It's a heavier DK weight. I like the name Boot Scootin' Texel Socks. What do you think?
I am working on a Cooke Creek Facebook page. Any of you doing FB? Have you done a business/fan page? It's not as easy as I would have thought.
Oh...I did figure out the Ipod downloads. I downloaded a country "album" of remade songs to a specific beat for exercise. It's really pretty hilarious as they sped up songs and had different artists do the singing to songs we all know from the radio. Cheesy but it's better than techno music I downloaded at first. I was about ready to throw the stupid thing in the canal by the time I got to the end of my walk.
I am finishing up a wedding gift today, got to make a wool pillow insert for the cotton cover I whipped up Tuesday and get this puppy in the mail. DH is going on a pack trip up in the hills next week and I'm looking forward to not only taking care of things around here (it's fun once in a while to do things MY WAY) and to crafting the nights away without feeling guilty about leaving him alone in front of the tube.
Signing off for now.
Jami
Mercy, my friends, it's been a busy week. First off, my mom had an appointment with her surgeon in Portland, so yesterday took her to the appointment. It went well considering the "C" word was brought up...yup, cancer. It's a watch and see kind of thing but hopefully it all came out with the gallbladder. We'll see with forthcoming CT scans.
Okay, so it's time to market lambs, the rest of the bunch. Took 21 last month. So, we weighed the remaining lambs and and they all made weight except for one little Rosebud, the bummer of the bunch. I'll just keep her for now. She'll grow out just fine once she catches up. But, this week the phone began ringing for ewe lambs. Now, keep in mind, I am happy for the sales but folks are calling the week I have to promise how many lambs we're bringing to the buy day on Saturday so it's a rush-rush type of thing. We can't take more than we reserve truck space for. I am hoping it all works out. I don't want to be stuck with lambs and there isn't time to do deposits and so forth like normal. So, Saturday we truck to Moxee to take market lambs and then have have 2 buyers coming for ewe lambs and a ram. Monday brings in another person for aged ewes. We'll separate the ram lambs out of the group and put the keeper replacement ewe lambs in with the older ewes and start thinking of breeding time in the fall. It's time to do the sheep shuffle!
Today kind of feels like a fall day. After the incredible heat we've had over the past 3 weeks, it is actually cool and sprinkling a few drops of rain, cloudy, breezy. I am wearing a long-sleeved shirt! Mercy, it feels great. Just a reprieve probably, nothing permanent I'm sure.
Well, here is the unveiling of the new Cooke Creek knit design patterns. I want help naming these patterns and we're going to have a contest soon to do this. For now, here are the pictures. The first is a lacy scarf made from our Coopworth light sport weight yarn. Yarn doesn't have to be lace weight to make a pretty holey scarf.
Here are the boot socks from our Texel yarn. It's a heavier DK weight. I like the name Boot Scootin' Texel Socks. What do you think?
I am working on a Cooke Creek Facebook page. Any of you doing FB? Have you done a business/fan page? It's not as easy as I would have thought.
Oh...I did figure out the Ipod downloads. I downloaded a country "album" of remade songs to a specific beat for exercise. It's really pretty hilarious as they sped up songs and had different artists do the singing to songs we all know from the radio. Cheesy but it's better than techno music I downloaded at first. I was about ready to throw the stupid thing in the canal by the time I got to the end of my walk.
I am finishing up a wedding gift today, got to make a wool pillow insert for the cotton cover I whipped up Tuesday and get this puppy in the mail. DH is going on a pack trip up in the hills next week and I'm looking forward to not only taking care of things around here (it's fun once in a while to do things MY WAY) and to crafting the nights away without feeling guilty about leaving him alone in front of the tube.
Signing off for now.
Jami
Monday, July 27, 2009
I'm so excited...and I just can't hide it....I know, I know....
Gosh, what brought that on? 80's disco fever? You should all know that's not me but today it just fits the bill.
For starters, I got up and took my 3.5 mile walk/run this morning and decided the run part wasn't going to happen today after my knee felt stiff. Think I overdid it over the previous 5 days. But, Tess, the border collie, loves the walk and so do I. This morning's 75 degrees at 7:45 am was not very welcome but a cool shower did the trick to stop the sweat.
So, then on this Monday's agenda was a stop in town to my friend, Janelle's. Janelle is a knit designer and she has come up with 2 "ewenique" designs utilizing Cooke Creek Sheep Company yarns from our girls here on the farm, both our Texel yarn and the Coopworth. I am not by any means a knit designer. I am a knitter and a shepherdess, so I felt Janelle was best suited for this idea of mine. She was and is and I plan to see what else we can come up with down the road but for now....the unveiling of the patterns and yarns will be very soon. I'm still doing the tech-y stuff to get pictures and what-not. I'll keep you posted!
Another thing I did this morning was purchase an IPod Shuffle to take on my walk/runs. It is not as intuitive as I had hoped and so far I have nary a download on the little neon green stinker. I need a teenager to help me I guess. Clearly technology is in the passing lane and I thought I could always keep up. Not so. I will have my daughter-in-law help me. Think she's a whiz at this stuff. Son is out of town.
Well, just wanted to check in, say it's hotter than hades here in Eburg and that I will be traveling to see my mom and dad for a couple of days but hopefully I'll have some pics tomorrow of the new and EXCLUSIVE Cooke Creek Sheep Co. knit designs by Janelleknits! Woo hoo. Thanks again Janelle. Great job on the designs and the beautiful samples which I will show off soon. More later.
Jami
For starters, I got up and took my 3.5 mile walk/run this morning and decided the run part wasn't going to happen today after my knee felt stiff. Think I overdid it over the previous 5 days. But, Tess, the border collie, loves the walk and so do I. This morning's 75 degrees at 7:45 am was not very welcome but a cool shower did the trick to stop the sweat.
So, then on this Monday's agenda was a stop in town to my friend, Janelle's. Janelle is a knit designer and she has come up with 2 "ewenique" designs utilizing Cooke Creek Sheep Company yarns from our girls here on the farm, both our Texel yarn and the Coopworth. I am not by any means a knit designer. I am a knitter and a shepherdess, so I felt Janelle was best suited for this idea of mine. She was and is and I plan to see what else we can come up with down the road but for now....the unveiling of the patterns and yarns will be very soon. I'm still doing the tech-y stuff to get pictures and what-not. I'll keep you posted!
Another thing I did this morning was purchase an IPod Shuffle to take on my walk/runs. It is not as intuitive as I had hoped and so far I have nary a download on the little neon green stinker. I need a teenager to help me I guess. Clearly technology is in the passing lane and I thought I could always keep up. Not so. I will have my daughter-in-law help me. Think she's a whiz at this stuff. Son is out of town.
Well, just wanted to check in, say it's hotter than hades here in Eburg and that I will be traveling to see my mom and dad for a couple of days but hopefully I'll have some pics tomorrow of the new and EXCLUSIVE Cooke Creek Sheep Co. knit designs by Janelleknits! Woo hoo. Thanks again Janelle. Great job on the designs and the beautiful samples which I will show off soon. More later.
Jami
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Moses
Got a new boy on the farm, "Moses" who is named for the WSSP sale we bought him from in Moses Lake. He's a real dandy and hopefully will put some frame size onto lambs from our Texel ewes. We are going strictly crossbred this coming year and will do a purebred breeding fall of 2010.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Mid July
Hi Guys:
Hope you're all having a great summer. Summer weather has waxed and waned here. Hot day, cool day, etc. Kind of breaks up any boredom, that's for sure!
Marketed 21 lambs last Saturday with 23 hopefully going next month if they make weight. So far the grass is holding out rather nicely, probably helped by the cool weather. Marketed wool to the pool on Monday so now we get to park back in the garage! Woo hoo!
Hey, I got a new horse a couple of weekends ago. Her name is Molly. She's a 3-year old Quarter Horse mare. Black with a white star and a "skunk tail" or think of Lillian Munster's hair. That's what her tail looks like. I'll get pics soon.
Gardening - raspberries are ripening nicely. Mmmm but I do love raspberries! Made a chocolate fudge zuchinni (spelling) cake last night. Nummmy.
I am trying to keep track of everyone through your blogs but it seems you're all as busy as I have been. This weekend is the ram sale in Moses Lake. If you're around there, stop in and say howdy and see a lot of sheep!
Jami
Hope you're all having a great summer. Summer weather has waxed and waned here. Hot day, cool day, etc. Kind of breaks up any boredom, that's for sure!
Marketed 21 lambs last Saturday with 23 hopefully going next month if they make weight. So far the grass is holding out rather nicely, probably helped by the cool weather. Marketed wool to the pool on Monday so now we get to park back in the garage! Woo hoo!
Hey, I got a new horse a couple of weekends ago. Her name is Molly. She's a 3-year old Quarter Horse mare. Black with a white star and a "skunk tail" or think of Lillian Munster's hair. That's what her tail looks like. I'll get pics soon.
Gardening - raspberries are ripening nicely. Mmmm but I do love raspberries! Made a chocolate fudge zuchinni (spelling) cake last night. Nummmy.
I am trying to keep track of everyone through your blogs but it seems you're all as busy as I have been. This weekend is the ram sale in Moses Lake. If you're around there, stop in and say howdy and see a lot of sheep!
Jami
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Making hay while the sun shines
Hello out there!!!! I hear an echo and I don't blame you for not tuning it because I haven't been into posting much lately. Life has been busy and duty calls so been taking care of business.
We're baling today...yeah! Always good to get to that point. Rain threatened to postpone us some and did but not too badly with the nice breeze (LOL...Ellensburg and a nice breeze, go figure!)
Weaning lambs tomorrow. Hasn't time just flown? Here we were lambing and now we're weaning. Off to market for half of them in July.
On the fun front - I've been sewing a heckuva lot and having fun. I even have been spinning some too! Took a road trip to Wyoming...I'll have pics on my Flickr soon.
On the working front - about ready for the ram sale in July. This is my last project as WSSP secretary. The new gal is getting up to speed and she'll do just fine.
Oh, joy...I've gotten into Facebook. Any of you in FB? It's a bit too much fun because I've hooked up with people I truly have known face-to-face in my life but lost touch with. There's just something about that. Even some relatives I've never met have found me and we're keeping in touch. So my profile is in the sidebar if you want to find me there. Well, I gotta go hang out some more laundry on the line and let this slight breeze do it's work!
We're baling today...yeah! Always good to get to that point. Rain threatened to postpone us some and did but not too badly with the nice breeze (LOL...Ellensburg and a nice breeze, go figure!)
Weaning lambs tomorrow. Hasn't time just flown? Here we were lambing and now we're weaning. Off to market for half of them in July.
On the fun front - I've been sewing a heckuva lot and having fun. I even have been spinning some too! Took a road trip to Wyoming...I'll have pics on my Flickr soon.
On the working front - about ready for the ram sale in July. This is my last project as WSSP secretary. The new gal is getting up to speed and she'll do just fine.
Oh, joy...I've gotten into Facebook. Any of you in FB? It's a bit too much fun because I've hooked up with people I truly have known face-to-face in my life but lost touch with. There's just something about that. Even some relatives I've never met have found me and we're keeping in touch. So my profile is in the sidebar if you want to find me there. Well, I gotta go hang out some more laundry on the line and let this slight breeze do it's work!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Third time's a charm
Okay, I've written 3 posts and once the ISP kicked me off and another time my pic wouldn't load. I spent so much time messing with my new camera software and then it hung up my computer when I tried to close it...I just gave up!
Been sewing and knitting and working and watching lambs grow. Here's a purse I just finished from Uncommon Crochet. So I haven't been really knitting but rather crocheting. Duh. Anyhow, let's try the picture and see if I can seize up the computer again.
Hey, wa-la! It worked. This new software on my new digital camera doesn't make it easy to shrink the picture sizes for online use and quicker loading. That was the problem.
So okay, this is a bamboo yarn...pretty eco-friendly I guess. Then the handles are 100% wool washed in my Wonder Wash table-top hand crank machine. I had to crank it for a while but it worked well. Good exercise, right? Then there is sewing on a crocheted bag. Guess this is where the uncommon comes in...mixed media! I made a lining with pockets and a clasp for keys, etc. It turned out pretty big though and the handle is too wide and too long for a sling type of use so it's a mailbag type of purse...over one shoulder and bag hangs on the other side of the body.
The lambs are growing like weeds. Here's a funny story - the yearling ewes run and play with the lambs in the evenings. The lambs have races from hill to hill every evening and they play king of the mountain. Butt heads and buck and act really silly and race around like gyroscopes. Well, the yearling ewes are as big as the mother ewes almost and they are running with the lambs. It makes me think of a study in sheep psychology...have to wonder if the maturity of sheep would be slower if they were allowed to be kids for a while longer. Usually they get bred and have kids around now but this year we didn't breed up the youngsters. Just something to ponder.
Been outside a lot gardening, mowing, planting bedding plants in my new flower beds around the house. One of the dogs has been digging and I have a feeling it's the Boston Terrier, Daisy. Of course, I can't catch her so I can scold her. After years of chickens digging in everything, I am not going to let the dogs destroy my new beds so "it's on, baby...just let me catch you!"
Later. Jami
Been sewing and knitting and working and watching lambs grow. Here's a purse I just finished from Uncommon Crochet. So I haven't been really knitting but rather crocheting. Duh. Anyhow, let's try the picture and see if I can seize up the computer again.
Hey, wa-la! It worked. This new software on my new digital camera doesn't make it easy to shrink the picture sizes for online use and quicker loading. That was the problem.
So okay, this is a bamboo yarn...pretty eco-friendly I guess. Then the handles are 100% wool washed in my Wonder Wash table-top hand crank machine. I had to crank it for a while but it worked well. Good exercise, right? Then there is sewing on a crocheted bag. Guess this is where the uncommon comes in...mixed media! I made a lining with pockets and a clasp for keys, etc. It turned out pretty big though and the handle is too wide and too long for a sling type of use so it's a mailbag type of purse...over one shoulder and bag hangs on the other side of the body.
The lambs are growing like weeds. Here's a funny story - the yearling ewes run and play with the lambs in the evenings. The lambs have races from hill to hill every evening and they play king of the mountain. Butt heads and buck and act really silly and race around like gyroscopes. Well, the yearling ewes are as big as the mother ewes almost and they are running with the lambs. It makes me think of a study in sheep psychology...have to wonder if the maturity of sheep would be slower if they were allowed to be kids for a while longer. Usually they get bred and have kids around now but this year we didn't breed up the youngsters. Just something to ponder.
Been outside a lot gardening, mowing, planting bedding plants in my new flower beds around the house. One of the dogs has been digging and I have a feeling it's the Boston Terrier, Daisy. Of course, I can't catch her so I can scold her. After years of chickens digging in everything, I am not going to let the dogs destroy my new beds so "it's on, baby...just let me catch you!"
Later. Jami
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