It's COLD Outside! Sheep, Cobweb Felt Lamp, Skinnfeller class and "Skinnfelt"

We're in for even colder weather next week with forecast highs in the single and double digits below zero. According to our neighbor with a thermometer, the temps here have been down to -25F in the overnight hours for the past two nights. The winds were bad the other day, but with my new snow pants, my sheepskin choppers, my Carhartt jacket, Columbia boots, and my handspun handknit yak/BFL hat, I've been toasty warm doing chores. 

The water line in the barn has froze up again, so I'll be hauling water for at least another week or two. With 33 sheep, 29 chickens, 2 ducks, and 6 turkeys, that's a lot of water.  Sid's got 20+ quail to take care of too.

The sheep are doing well. I have two pens to feed and water (keeping the boys and girls separated so we'll have no lambs this spring). I bought a couple of small bales of straw yesterday so the boys will have some bedding.

I am so glad we switched to feeding big round bales in HayChix nets, but we don't have a lot of wasted hay for bedding anymore. Big round bale prices are up; but pound for pound, they're still a better buy than small squares -- and a lot less work when you have a Bobcat. The best part is that the sheep can self-serve and eat anytime day or night. I feed them a grain mixture in the cold weather in addition to their grass hay.

I got some nice alfalfa grass rounds the other day at the auction in Mora. I can't wait to feed it to the sheep. They will love it. We had a flat tire on the way home though. The cold weather can be hard on mechanical things.

So now I am busy getting some pieces ready for the annual Vasaloppet Art Show coming up in Mora February 8-10. And then I'll be teaching my Cobweb Felt Lampshade class on Feb. 15th at North House Folk School in Grand Marais, MN. There are still a few openings in that class. I will be taking a Skinfeller class on the 16-17th and a felting/wool class with the guest instructor from Norway on the 18th. What fun! I am so excited about learning Skinnfell techniques. I'm signed up to take a Skinfell accessories class at the Vesterheim in Iowa this July also.

In the meantime, I've been applying some of the Skinnfell concepts to my felt pelts and I call "Skinnfelt".