It's my birthday, so I made myself a present. (How to make a lavender wand)

And I remembered to take pictures, so you can make one, too!

I read about Lavender Wands years ago - a nifty little sachet made of woven ribbon and stems of lavender - and wanted to try it myself.
There were a few bumps in the road, however...

Year one with the lavender - the plant was too young and didn't put off enough blooms.
Year two with the lavender - I picked the lavender, carefully dried it, then read the instructions. I was supposed to make the wand while the stems were still green and pliable. And unfortunately, I'd picked all the lavender. It's tucked away in my sewing room somewhere. I think.
Year three with the lavender - I forgot to watch for blooms. By the time I remembered to pay attention, it was too late. Blooming over.
Year four with the lavender - a tough winter killed off about half the plant. Not enough blooms.
Year five with the lavender - rain and more rain and even more rain. Not enough blooms.
Year six with the lavender - there'd been some recovery from winterkill, but summer was a repeat of the previous year. Still not enough blooms.
Year seven - hey! That's this year! And look! Lavender!

All you need is stems of lavender and ribbon. I used an inexpensive polyester ribbon, because that's what I had on hand. Silk ribbon would probably be extremely nice for this. Be sure to cut the lavender stems nice and long. (I used 17, because that was almost all I had. Be sure to use an odd number of stems!)

Step 1: Line up the bases of the flowers. Make a slipknot in the end of the ribbon and snug it up tight around the stems, just under the flowers. (Don't cut the ribbon from the spool. There's no way of estimating how much will be needed, and you don't want to run short in the middle of weaving.)


Step 2: Spread the stems out like the spokes of a wheel. The flowers will be pointed down, and the stems will be bent outward. Use your thumb to try to hold them into place.


Step3: Start weaving. For the first row or two, go over and under a couple of stalks at a time, since it's pretty tight going. (Note - you can weave clockwise or counterclockwise - whichever feels more comfortable. Doesn't make the least bit of difference in the final product.)

Step 4: Keep weaving. From here on, go over one, under one, around and around.

Here's what it looks like from the bottom.

Step 5: Start tapering. By pushing down gently on the stems, and pulling the ribbon a little tighter, the weaving will start to enclose the flowers. Keep going.

Basically, you're weaving a cage around the flowers.

Now here's where the camera bit me on the ass. Though it assured me it was diligently recording the pictures of the next steps, it lied.
So, step 6: (not pictured) When the weaving reaches the point shown in the last picture, start gradually pulling the ribbon a bit tighter as you go around. Not drastically, or the ribbon in previous rows will go all wonky and loose - you just want it to start gently tapering.
Step 7: (also not pictured) The last row or two, after you're past the last of the flower tips, will be woven over 2-3 stems at a time and under 2-3 stems. Wind the ribbon around the last row of weaving and then down the stems for an inch or so. Tie it off with a bow, cut the ribbon, and trim the ends of the stems even. Take a sniff or two (it smells divine!) and hang it somewhere airy to dry.


Ta-da!

And only 7 years in the making! Maybe patience really does pay off...

The Kohl's have it

Kohl, it is, then.
(The name works on soooo many levels.)

Last night, as I was cooking supper, I heard raindrops start splashing on the roof. I looked out the window at the sheep and saw Kohl standing out in the middle of the sheep pen. In the rain. Goldie was nearby, but Onyx and Merlin had taken shelter under the tarp we have rigged over one corner of their pasture for a sunshade/umbrella.
Kohl continued to stand in the rain. The sky opened up and the rain poured down. Goldie ran for cover.
Kohl continued to stand in the rain.
Goldie ran back out to fetch him.
Kohl continued to stand in the rain.
Goldie finally nudged him up toward the shelter, but he stopped just short of it.
And continued to stand in the rain.
He finally went under the tarp, but wandered back out again.
And continued to stand in the rain.
Goldie finally lost patience and shoved him until he was under the tarp.
It dawned on me that he was only a week old, and though we've had a few night-time showers, this was the first time he'd seen rain in the daytime.
He was just bewildered by something new.
Either that, or he doesn't have sense enough to come in out of the rain...

New baby pictures

It's hard to take pictures of a black lamb.

It's especially hard to take pictures of a black lamb when the Two Friendliest Sheep in the Entire World are trying to help.
All these pictures were taken while
A. Merlin was trying to crawl into my lap. (Because we all know what a lapsheep he is.)
B. Onyx was alternating between looking over my shoulder and giving me sudden attention-getting nudges. (I got a lot of pictures of sky and dirt from being knocked off balance.)

But, anyway.
Here he is, the little cutie -


And I finally got a shot of the little white spot he has on the top of his head.

And his favorite activity of all:

Picture that little tail flipping at about 900 rpm. It's a wonder he doesn't leave the ground - a little butt-powered helicopter...

The perfect name for Lambie

Our granddaughter came up with it - Coal. Now we're just dithering on the actual spelling.

Coal?
Cole? (Madman thinks this is more a proper sort of name than coal.)
Kohl? (This one was my idea, since he's resisting coal.)

Whaddaya think?

All Goldie, all the time

In spinning news, I've been working on Goldie's fleece. For my Tour de Fleece project, I planned to spin the 2 lbs of fiber that I had washed and carded.
Fail. Epic fail, as a matter of fact. I finally got a 3rd bobbin spun the day the Tour ended, and started plying the day after.

I was aiming for a worsted weight, and for the first time ever, I may have gotten it. It might even be Aran weight, which is heavier than I wanted. Haven't done a wraps-per-inch measurement yet. It's definitely the biggest yarn I've ever spun. Since I usually accidentally end up with either laceweight or fingering, no matter what my goal, I'm happy with this. Now I just need to wash it and thwack it to see how it comes out.

And since it's not really all Goldie all the time, here's some purple beans I picked this morning.

They're really really pretty. But I hear that they turn green when cooked. What's the point of that?

It's a boy.

Oh, well. We love him anyway...

It was hard to get a good picture. Goldie is still a bit skittish around people, and I didn't want to upset her by getting too close. So I stayed outside the fence, stalking around with my camera and moving slowly.
Problem one was trying to take a picture of a black lamb who's lying in the shade.


Then, there was Uncle Merlin, who loves it when the paparazzi appear. Cameras were made for Merlin.
Wait patiently, line up the shot, and...

and...


But patience finally pays off. Merlin went over to see if anything new had appeared in the food dish since the last time he'd looked, little Lambie came out of the shade, and voila!

He's at the cute wobbly stage. All legs and no coordination.
Though he's getting pretty good at that eating thing.

Snacktime over, he set off to explore, with Mama trailing close behind.

He was very puzzled by this pallet. (Later on, while we were watching him through the window, he finally managed to jump up on it. The concept of "slippery" came as a big surprise.)

No name yet. Anything cute enough to fit him now would sound awfully undignified when he's a ram...

One, two, three... FOUR!!!!!

Merlin was the noisy sheep this morning, instead of Goldie. Madman and I joked that maybe he was letting her sleep in.

Then we looked out the window.

And counted sheep.

And ran for the door.

And then ran back to throw some non-jammies on, and ran for the door again, hooking the camera on the way by.



Cover your ears, folks. I'm too old for this, but...

SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!