NITTY GRITTY GOODS - WOOL CSA

Second Monthly Fiber Arts at the Farm

2012-02-21T17:40:00.000-06:00

Nitty Gritty Goods Wool CSA NEW!!!
Fiber Arts at the Farm

Open Wool Studio - the Last Saturday of every Month

This month the Open Studio time will be in the evening.
Join us on Saturday

February 25th from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm

You will have access to all our wool processing equipment - to work on your own clean wool - or learn with some of ours. The teasing box, drum carder, spinning wheels, skein winders and yarn winders will all be availble to use. Also crochet hooks and knitting needles, books and pattern ideas. I will also be available for troubleshooting and advice. Bring your projects and ideas and we'll spend the time messing with wool. If you have any of your own equipment like wool cards, spinning wheel, drop spindle, ??, bring them along to use or learn how to use.

I will provide an evening snack. Please bring your own beverage and if you need specialtly foods, please bring your own. Let us know if you plan to come.

Email Robin at nittygrittygoodswool@gmail.com

2012-01-20T12:03:00.001-06:00

Nitty Gritty Goods Wool CSA NEW!!! Fiber Arts at the Farm

Open Wool Studio - the Last Saturday of every Month - 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

beginning JANUARY 28, 10 - 4

You will have access to all our wool processing equipment - to work on your own clean wool - or learn with some of ours. The teasing box, drum carder, spinning wheels, skein winders and yarn winders will all be availble to use. Also crochet hooks and knitting needles, books and pattern ideas. I will also be available for troubleshooting and advice. Bring your projects and ideas and we'll spend the day messing with wool. If you have any of your own equipement like wool cards, spinning wheel, drop spindle, ??, bring them along to use or learn how to use.

I will provide a vegetarian soup and bread for lunch. Please bring your own beverage and if you need specialtly foods, please bring your own. Please let us know if you plan to come.

Email Robin at nmailto:nittygrittygoodswool@gmail.com

Nitty Gritty Goods

2011-09-20T21:16:00.000-05:00

This Saturday, September 24th from 10:00 to 4:00 will be the

Nitty Gritty Goods Wool CSA Fiber Arts at the Farm Day. You'll meet the sheep and learn about preparing a fleece; cleaning, skirting, dying with natural dyes, teasing wool by hand and with a teasing box, carding by using hand cards and a drum carder. Bring your own spinning wheel if you have one of you can share one of ours. We'll cover basic techniques to get you started as well as time to answer questions. Wool CSA members will take home two fleeces.

A lunch from farm foods will be provided. Please let us know if you plan to come. Email Robin at nittygrittygoodswool@gmail.com.

Nitty Gritty Goods nEwes

2011-07-13T22:00:00.000-05:00

What are you waiting for? The class is starting!!!

This Saturday, July 16th from 10:30 to 1:00 will be the Nitty Gritty Goods Wool CSA Beginning Spinning Class. Rain is predicted but it won't put a damper on the activities of the day, as we'll gather in the farmhouse. You'll learn to prepare a fleece for spinning by using hand cards and a drum carder. Bring your own spinning wheel if you have one of you can share one of ours. We'll cover basic techniques to get you started spinning as well as time to answer questions. A lunch from farm foods will be provided. Please let us know if you plan to come.

Nitty Gritty Goods

2011-03-25T15:35:00.000-05:00

The calendar says it is spring – but the return of two and three foot drifts of snow mid- week clearly remind me that it is still winter. We are nearly finished with lambing – only three yearling ewes yet to give birth – and they may be several weeks off. The 24 baby lambs are learning to negotiate the snow, picking their feet up carefully and baaing plaintively when mom goes farther beyond the snow drifts than the babies want to go or want their moms to go. I just turned the last two ewes – Lyric with her twin white ewe lambs and Isabella with her triplets out into the group pen.

Yesterday, with the sun shining brightly, even with the temperatures just barely above freezing, we brought out a couple of the newly shorn fleeces and began skirting. Skirting refers to the process of removing the short belly wool, felted and dirty neck wool, dung and lanolin tags from the rear and then carefully inch by inch removing sand burrs, bits of hay and second cuts. The skirted fleece is then carefully folded and rolled and boxed or bagged for shipping or further processing. Our hands got cold but the lanolin in the wool did wonders for late winter hand chapping.

I’ve been recuperating from a fairly bad case of spring fever these last few weeks and one of the ways I self-treat is by spinning wool. I’ve been working on an oatmeal colored fleece – all hand teased and drum carded – then spun and two-plied. I’m down to six rolags of roving left to spin – with 6 skeins of finished yarn so far. Hopefully I’ll finish the yarn by the next weekend – and then I will rinse and block the skeins and when they are dried, I’ll wind them into knitting balls. My plan is to knit a gansey style sweater with a pine tree motif for myself from the yarn.

Just a reminder to potential Wool CSA Members – if you buy a share this year – you get your choice of fleece (remember I can help you choose) and also your choice of two classes free. The classes will be held at Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm and will include a delicious farm lunch. Watch the blog for class additions as the season progresses.

The Nitty Gritty Goods March 23rd 2011

2011-03-25T14:24:00.000-05:00

After a couple postponements due to snow - we finally solidified a date for sheep shearing. The ewes came rather happily into the enclosed area ready for the shearer. The temperature stayed in the mid-teens throughout the afternoon - a little chilly for shearing - but with lambs due in days - we simply couldn't wait any longer.

Our shearer, Jim arrived right at 2:00 pm. on Wedesday afternoon. Ooops - one of the ewes had already given birth to twin black lambs!!! Thank goodness we had not waited until Friday to shear. We tucked her into a jug (a small pen for the mom and babies to bond). The reason we shear before lambing regardless of the temperature is for three reasons: 1) the shorn moms will never give birth in a snow bank like an unshorn mom is likely to do 2) the babies can find the teats on a shorn mom and not suck on lanolin or dung tags and 3) the ewes will eat like crazy and all fit into a much smaller space -both good in the final days of pregnancy.

Jim set up quickly and the shearing began. Off comes the first fleece in about five minutes total.

Very quickly a pen full of shorn ewes is sniffing and re-identifying each other. We shear all the white ewes first, then the white ram, then the black ewes and last the black ram. The whole process takes just about 1 1/2 hours for our 21 sheep. As Jim drives away, we cut the twines on six bales of straw and shake and pile the bedding - making a deep, deep nest for the ewes to settle in - to stay warm and to create a soft, clean next for birthing.

The newly shorn fleecesa are quickly gathered off the shearing floor, and tucked in a big bag with a tag identifying the name and number of the sheep. Each of these fleeces will need to be tossed out on a skirting table, skirted, rolled and prepped for further processing.

Just as we finished shearing, the second set of lambs were born. Within the next four days, a total of twelve lambs to seven mothers had been born. Whew - shearing just in time!

Nitty Gritty Goods nEWES

2011-02-16T09:28:00.000-06:00

About our flock: We maintain a flock of about 20 Coopworth ewes and 2 Purebred Coopworth rams. As we only maintain a relatively small flock, we are rigorous about only keeping in our flock those ewes (or lambs from those ewes) that consistently produce gorgeous, uniform, lustrous fleeces along with excellent mothering ability, and fast growing lambs. In addition to selling the hand spinning wool from our flock, we do sell a limited number of older ewes and lambs as breeding stock and lambs for the freezer.