![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiber weekend
Jun. 16th, 2024 07:28 pmsaturday was the weavers guild picnic, which was held in the barn of a member and was an absolutely lovely time. It was really a chance to talk to people instead of trying to awkwardly have a conversation in ten minute breaks. I definitely ate something I shouldn't have but also mostly ate fruit. Threr was also people there who don't normally make the meetings, so it was nice to meet them. I brought my knitting and multiple people expressed how they wished they'd brought theirs.
I brought brownies that weren't quite baked, we need to check our oven temps. Lots of people ooh'd and aah'd over the mohair fabric I brought and several people were appalled that I was going to cut it for clothes. it's not usable as anything else really.
After, I ran north and sheared a pet sheep for someone. I brought my shearing gear and headed it. It went really well, the sheep was well behaved and the 4-h kid was there so I talked through what I was doing a bit. wrapped up everything included sheep catching and talking in 30 mins.
Then today I goofed around in the morning and then headed up to do some shearing with J. It was not a good day. Every stop just didn't go well. The first stop had Tunis that were so sticky. The problem with the lanolin is that it will solidify if the sheep try and shed but can't really, and then there's just this impossibly thick gunk that the clippers can't get through easily. And it happens most on the legs, belly and neck, all the most sensitive areas that take longer anyway and then the clippers won't go through them. incredibly annoying. I did three sheep of twelve there and it took me probably 3x as long as it should have.
Next stop, the owners were very nice and responsive, they caught the sheep. I started on the first sheep, she managed to kick me in the face and then I promptly cut my middle finger with my clippers and immediately started bleeding everywhere. Same finger as the one I wacked last year, just a bit further up on the tip and just a whole little chunk removed. Like a quarter inch long and decently deep but no skin flap so easy to clean out. I held my finger out and up and handed the sheep to J when he finished his up and held my sweat towel wrapped around it. The owner's mom was there, went to the house, got medical supplies (hydrogen peroxide rinse, neosporin and two types of bandaids) and patched me up with extra wrapping so the bandaids would apply good pressure on it and I could get back to shearing.
I was able to do another sheep, maybe two? Can't remember now. There was only six but J did the big rams. The others weren't bad to shear and the owners were really good about catching sheep and getting them to us, really helpful and overtipped by a lot. She really appreciated us coming out and made it clear. She had tried to shear one sheep with help and it took an hour and a half and she was happy to pay us to do six in less that that time. My finger had mostly stopped bleeding by the time I finished up shearing, so I'm not going to get stitches.
Final stop I was originally going to do on my own, but asked J to come along given everything. I did two of the five sheep there, just pets. Went fine and the shearing was easy, just one million bugs and also my back was sore by that point.
I guess getting seven sheep done is still good but it didn't feel good. typing is hard with my bunged up finger. It really hurt in the shower after getting home, stung really bad. It is very clean though, I double checked it and pulled one little sheep wool out, otherwise good. It's going to take a bit to heal up I think and it'll be a good thing to show the doctor to get an updated tetanus shot next week at my physical. I'm six years out from my last but I'd rather not wait given how many cuts I get shearing sheep.
This week looks fucking miserable for work given the weather (95F for at least 3 days in a row, overnight only getting down to 70F), but I have wed off and probably I can get the worst stuff done earlier in the morning. I gotta pull the AC out for the living room/kitchen. bleh, crappy start to what will probably be a shitty week
I brought brownies that weren't quite baked, we need to check our oven temps. Lots of people ooh'd and aah'd over the mohair fabric I brought and several people were appalled that I was going to cut it for clothes. it's not usable as anything else really.
After, I ran north and sheared a pet sheep for someone. I brought my shearing gear and headed it. It went really well, the sheep was well behaved and the 4-h kid was there so I talked through what I was doing a bit. wrapped up everything included sheep catching and talking in 30 mins.
Then today I goofed around in the morning and then headed up to do some shearing with J. It was not a good day. Every stop just didn't go well. The first stop had Tunis that were so sticky. The problem with the lanolin is that it will solidify if the sheep try and shed but can't really, and then there's just this impossibly thick gunk that the clippers can't get through easily. And it happens most on the legs, belly and neck, all the most sensitive areas that take longer anyway and then the clippers won't go through them. incredibly annoying. I did three sheep of twelve there and it took me probably 3x as long as it should have.
Next stop, the owners were very nice and responsive, they caught the sheep. I started on the first sheep, she managed to kick me in the face and then I promptly cut my middle finger with my clippers and immediately started bleeding everywhere. Same finger as the one I wacked last year, just a bit further up on the tip and just a whole little chunk removed. Like a quarter inch long and decently deep but no skin flap so easy to clean out. I held my finger out and up and handed the sheep to J when he finished his up and held my sweat towel wrapped around it. The owner's mom was there, went to the house, got medical supplies (hydrogen peroxide rinse, neosporin and two types of bandaids) and patched me up with extra wrapping so the bandaids would apply good pressure on it and I could get back to shearing.
I was able to do another sheep, maybe two? Can't remember now. There was only six but J did the big rams. The others weren't bad to shear and the owners were really good about catching sheep and getting them to us, really helpful and overtipped by a lot. She really appreciated us coming out and made it clear. She had tried to shear one sheep with help and it took an hour and a half and she was happy to pay us to do six in less that that time. My finger had mostly stopped bleeding by the time I finished up shearing, so I'm not going to get stitches.
Final stop I was originally going to do on my own, but asked J to come along given everything. I did two of the five sheep there, just pets. Went fine and the shearing was easy, just one million bugs and also my back was sore by that point.
I guess getting seven sheep done is still good but it didn't feel good. typing is hard with my bunged up finger. It really hurt in the shower after getting home, stung really bad. It is very clean though, I double checked it and pulled one little sheep wool out, otherwise good. It's going to take a bit to heal up I think and it'll be a good thing to show the doctor to get an updated tetanus shot next week at my physical. I'm six years out from my last but I'd rather not wait given how many cuts I get shearing sheep.
This week looks fucking miserable for work given the weather (95F for at least 3 days in a row, overnight only getting down to 70F), but I have wed off and probably I can get the worst stuff done earlier in the morning. I gotta pull the AC out for the living room/kitchen. bleh, crappy start to what will probably be a shitty week
