Necessity is the mother of invention!

With one craft show behind me I need to concentrate on the next one in the fall. Now I am in production mode. Yesterday I warped the Lervad loom for with a scarf warp. One problem I have had since the first time I warped this loom was where to put the raddle. Because of the curving lines of the loom there is no good place to set it. I have three raddles but none of them will sit on the beater bar. I walked around the studio looking for some inspiration. Then I saw it! A walker! It worked just fine.

In this picture you can see the curving lines of the loom. I like to put the raddle in front of the loom but there just isn't a good spot for one.

It may be hard to see but the raddle is between the loom and the walker. It was easy to tie the raddle to the walker because of a horizontal bar to rest the raddle one. When the warp was in place I took the wooden top piece of the beater bar and placed it on top of the raddle to keep the warp from lifting out. This set up worked very well. I was undecided as to what to do with the walker now that I don't need it any more. Guess I will keep it handy for the next warp.

Until next time,
Linda

Scary!

When Fiona first came she was afraid of me. She was brave enough to come close to sniff me but if she saw my hand she would run away. I started giving her a couple of horse treats. She loves them and she lost all fear of me. I would actually say she became a big pest. She nibbles on my clothes and sniffs my pocket for treats. She wouldn't leave me alone! What a contrast in just a few days of her being here. She is now so fearless that she is not afraid of the leaf blower when it is on and will try to nibble on it.

The other day I gave her a treat and she made a funny noise. She immediately went down and rolled over. She was not breathing! I rolled her back on her tummy and I massaged her throat and whacked her on her back several times. I even briskly rubbed her sides.After a couple of minutes I stopped and watched her. She stayed in the position I had put her but she was still making a few weird sounds. I offered her water but she didn't want any. She then stood up and walked around. Whew! I was sure she was going to die right before my eyes! I kept going back to the farm to check on her and she seemed fine. She was even eating hay. Whew! Life on the farm is never dull!

Until next time,
Linda

Meet Fiona

Recently I had the opportunity to buy a Leichester Longwool sheep. I tried to talk myself out of it. I had a few reasons to say no. I did find a couple who were interested in buying one. On the way they asked why I was not getting one so I told them. Around here no one wants to shear one sheep. They want a minimum of 25 sheep. I will never own more than one! They had a solution for that problem. I can take the sheep to their farm when they get their sheep sheared. Hmmm. I still thought, no, but when I got to the place that was selling them I was asked, are you sure you don't want one? Okay I caved in and told the owners to catch me one too.

Meet Fiona. She is nine weeks old. Isn't she sweet? Introducing her to my livestock guarding dog sure wasn't fun but they became friends in short order.

Until next time,
Linda