Who's Next to Shear?

Here are a couple of the goats that are in need of shearing. First is Roger.  Roger is my only true Pygora.  He is older and his fleece is not as nice as his younger years.  Roger is the sire to most of my goats.

Roger 2013

Roger (left side) 2013

 Next is Little Buck.  He is Roger's first son.  He was wethered at about 9 months old.  He is the sweetest of all the male goats.  Wethering him has stunted his horn growth and I think his height as well. He is an adult goat, so his fleece is considered adult mohair.  His Dam is Silver, a full Angora Goat.  Buck is 3/4 Angora and 1/4 Pygmy.

Little Buck 2013

Little Buck (left side) 2013

Another soon to shear is Miracle.  Her Dam is Grace, and Sire is Pete, 2nd son to Roger.  Pete is the only intact male I have left.  He is a badger face, like Roger, and Little Buck but has blue in his eyes. She would be 1/2 Angora and 1/4 Alpine/Domestic? and 1/4 Pygmy. She is a timid little doe, and this will be her last shearing as a Kid Mohair.  She has a lot of vegetable matter in her fleece....YUCK!

Miracle 2013

Miracle (right side) 2013

What do you call this Fleece type?

Some shearing accomplished today.  I sheared Grace.  Grace is a mix breed goat.  My guess is either an Alpine/Angora cross or a Domestic/Angora cross.  Her horns are straight back.  One was broken over Winter. I was able to trim her hooves as well, and it looks like she is pregnant.  Her udders are starting to bag up.  Soon we'll have at least one new kid on the block.

Grace 2013

What kind of fiber is this.  There is lots of guard hairs

Jeans and a T-Shirt Sock

Jeans and a T-Shirt finished April 21, 2013

Finally, a pair of socks for Me!   I purchased this fiber from one of the Lady's at my Guild's Winter Retreat.  She owns Greenwood Fiberworks.  It's 60% Superwash Merino and 30% Bamboo and 10% Nylon.  The colorway is called Copper Hills, but when I first saw it......I called it Jeans and a T-shirt.  That's the color it reminds me of.

Another new concept about these socks is the Cat's Sweet Tomato Heel.  This is the first time I've tried this new heel. I doubled the yarn for the heel and I'm not sure I like that.  I want to try her slip 1, knit 1 stitch with the next pair. There seems to be some difficulty with the fit across the instep for some folks.  I'm not experiencing that on these socks because I normally do a 64 stitch sock and these are 72.  With the patterned body of the sock it hasn't made a difference for me. 

One Sock Completed, 1 Sock partially done - Started in March 2013

Wish our weather would cooperate with my shearing schedule - Rose

  I've only been able to complete 1 animal.  Rose is done except for trimming her hooves. Our weather just won't settle down into Spring.  I hoped to come home from work today and shear Grace.  The wind is just howling and cold.  I hate to shear them in that kind of weather.  Here is a picture of the sheared Rose.  As I've said she is the whitest of my does and very sweet.  I wanted to get a before picture, but the camera was not charged.  Maybe the next one.  I can take a picture of Grace, but she is.....I believe.....more cashmere in fiber content.  There is lots of guard hairs in her fiber and I'm not going to process it. I don't have the right equipment, nor the patience to get all those guard hairs out. I have last years fiber saved and hoped to send both years off to the mill in May.