a yarny sort of day....

one day last week, i forget which, we had our sheep sheared..

those few that had not self shed after lambing or had started to shed but had seemingly given up when they reached their back ends...

previous years have seen me so worried the days before shearing as truly it is not a nice sight to behold, given a choice i am certain all our sheep would prefer to not be man handled...

as it turns out i need not have worried and hopefully will never worry again because we were so very blessed when this particular shearer arrived..

philip fisher godsend to all sheep and over paranoid sheep owners....

seriously..

never have our sheep been so expertly sheared and with such warmth and kindness..

it makes me want to weep with relief when i think about it!

you can read all about him over on his website - www.singingshearer.co.uk

the singing shearer... what a super cool name...

unlike so many other shearers Philip is more than happy to turn up and shear just one pet sheep... hallelujah!

now we have a stash of fleeces in coffee sacks tied and labelled with the name of the sheep that kindly gifted them to us...

tucked away in the hay loft...

 now

clearly we would have been more than happy to have just had Philip join us for the day, but joy of joys he arrived with other members of his amazing family ..

and by golly what a kind hearted, funny, and super talented group they are...

i was so so lucky to be given spinning lessons by Diane fisher, Philip's sister..

now, i have had a go at spinning before and do in fact own two wheels but i had come to the conclusion that i was destined to be the person who just could not spin..

i think part of my problem was that i am an instant crafter, i like a project to be in my head and fully completed as quickly as possible so that i can swiftly move on to something else..

previous spinning lessons made my head hurt by the time it had absorbed all the things you have to do to the fleece before you can even sit at the wheel..

to be frank with you the process bored me rigid, i just could not spend my time carding fleece..

photo courtesy of the murmuring wheel

 

but the arrival of Diane has made me want to do nothing but spin!

she taught me to just take it straight from the fleece and get spinning..

this is exactly what we did, the sheep was sheared in the barn and within minutes it was running through my fingers..

*utter bliss*

to be told that you can break the so called rules, and lets face it we ALL want to to that, and still achieve good results was music to my ears..

photo courtesy of the murmuring wheel

photo courtesy of the murmuring wheel

take a look at Diane's website and if you are thinking of starting out in spinning i can think of no better teacher than Diane..

www.murmuringwheel.co.uk

if she can get me to spin and love it than there is hope for you!

but, if by some chance you find that Diane's teaching techniques just do not feel right then look no further than her mum and dad who are also sheep, yarn, spinning experts..

i was so lucky to be able to absorb snippets of information from all of them whilst having the best sort of yarny day.. 

and the icing on the cake?

a gift of a crochet hook made by father fisher..

and a ball of hand spun yarn from a portland ....

 now tell me..

could anything be nicer?

this hook will be used and treasured always and will be a reminder of the day i met the nicest family :)

happy sheep

and happy, happy me!

t x