SPRING 2018
Dear Friends,
The Baize Shetland ewes have lambed and been shorn or rooed, true evidence of spring! Our last measurable amount of moisture came in the form of a blizzard in early December so sprigs of green are sparse, but these West Texas Shetland lambs are all looking great!
My sheep have led me to one amazing experience after another. I met old and new friends at the Marathon Basin Wool Mill for a spinning day. How wonderful to have a local mill that can process fiber! The Warnock Family is doing an excellent job of getting the mill up and running. Then my husband, Wayne, agreed to take me to my first fiber festival as a vendor in Bandera, Texas, where I met amazing fiber artists. My new friend, Pam Lott, came to help me and we had a wonderful day!
The new lambs proved to be a big hit for over forty visitors who came to our house in April including the Bluebonnets of Texas Ladies Garden Club and members of the Cowboy Artists of America. One artist, Loren Entz even used a lamb as a subject in his paint workshop! Kraig Chandler came all the way from San Angelo, Texas to shear my sheep. He did an excellent job with the help of his dad, my husband, our son and family, and my new friends the Karleen Family as helpers. I am so honored; what more can be said!
More sheep related tasks loom ahead as I advertise fleeces for sale, skirt fleeces, and sort wool to be sent to at least four different mills for processing into roving, knitting yarn, and rug yarn. Spinning, knitting, and weaving projects fill my head inspired by getting my hands on all these lovely fleeces.
May your days be filled with good friends, and great experiences, Ellen Baize
The Baize Shetland ewes have lambed and been shorn or rooed, true evidence of spring! Our last measurable amount of moisture came in the form of a blizzard in early December so sprigs of green are sparse, but these West Texas Shetland lambs are all looking great!
My sheep have led me to one amazing experience after another. I met old and new friends at the Marathon Basin Wool Mill for a spinning day. How wonderful to have a local mill that can process fiber! The Warnock Family is doing an excellent job of getting the mill up and running. Then my husband, Wayne, agreed to take me to my first fiber festival as a vendor in Bandera, Texas, where I met amazing fiber artists. My new friend, Pam Lott, came to help me and we had a wonderful day!
The new lambs proved to be a big hit for over forty visitors who came to our house in April including the Bluebonnets of Texas Ladies Garden Club and members of the Cowboy Artists of America. One artist, Loren Entz even used a lamb as a subject in his paint workshop! Kraig Chandler came all the way from San Angelo, Texas to shear my sheep. He did an excellent job with the help of his dad, my husband, our son and family, and my new friends the Karleen Family as helpers. I am so honored; what more can be said!
More sheep related tasks loom ahead as I advertise fleeces for sale, skirt fleeces, and sort wool to be sent to at least four different mills for processing into roving, knitting yarn, and rug yarn. Spinning, knitting, and weaving projects fill my head inspired by getting my hands on all these lovely fleeces.
May your days be filled with good friends, and great experiences, Ellen Baize
Patterns in Shetlands
For over three years now I have become more and more enamored with a study of the colors and patterns in Shetland sheep. Shetland sheep can have eleven official colors (white, light gray, gray, emsket, shaela, black, dark brown, moorit, mioget, fawn, and musket). They come in five distinct patterns (white, Ag fading, katmoget, gulmoget, and solid). I enjoy seeing the lovely patterns and colors in NASSA News and on the Heritage Shetland Sheep Facebook page, but have noticed that many flocks lack white and solid color patterns. This is significant because with the lack of these patterns, the genetics for most of the lovely colors can be easily lost.
Almost half of the Shetlands brought to North America along with their prodigies born here were white. Breeders worked hard to bring out the other colors so desired by hand spinners. The pendulum swung the other way until few flocks include white sheep. White wool in general is softest and most desirable for dyeing. It is essential in stranded knitting along with black to bring out the beauty of the other lovely colors. White is the dominant pattern in sheep and can only be bred into lambs with a parent whose pattern is white.
Much information about patterns, colors, and markings in Shetland sheep remains yet to be discovered. But Shetland sheep breeders have made great strides in gaining information that can help us preserve the genetics that give us the celebrated Shetland patterns and colors. It is my hope that if I can develop the most recessive gene for pattern, the solid pattern, that I will be able to breed sheep with the less common colors of emsket, shela, mioget, dark brown and fawn.
Every parent has two genes for every characteristic, one of which will be passed on to each offspring. Every offspring receives one gene from each parent giving that offspring a new pair of genes. For a given characteristic there is a gene that is dominant and a gene that is recessive unless the offspring gets identical genes for a trait. The dominant gene will be evident and the recessive gene hidden.
The white pattern, Awt, is predominant in my flock along with the Ag fading pattern. Because my goal is to develop all of the eleven colors in the flock, I have bred a black and a moorit ram to my ewes. The configuration for the rams’ pattern is Aa/Aa. Since these rams have the solid pattern, Aa, exclusively, the gene for that pattern is all that these rams can pass on to their off-springs. All of the lambs from these breedings with white and Ag ewes are Awt/Aa or Ag/Aa in pattern. When I breed these off-springs to an Aa/Aa sheep, 50% of the lambs will have the potential of being solid, Aa/Aa, in pattern and will have nonfading color. This can be easily seen with the genetic punnet square.
Awt Ag
Aa Awt/Aa Ag/Aa
Aa Awt/Aa Ag/Aa
A white Awt/Ag ewe bred
to a solid colored ram Aa/Aa.
Ag Aa
Aa Ag/Aa Aa/Aa
Aa Ag/Aa Aa/Aa
An Ag/Aa fading ewe bred
to a solid colored ram Aa/Aa
By continuing with this strategy of breeding for the solid gene in my flock, I hope eventually to be able to bring out the five more uncommon colors that I lack in my flock. I believe that the colors are there because of the colors that I see in my Ag fading lambs. Their prodigies just need the solid pattern, Aa/Aa so that the colors will not fade. The quickest way to accomplish this is with solid patterned rams.
But breeders must also always remember that there are scores of important characteristics to keep in mind for the preservation of quality in Shetlands that have nothing to do with color or pattern. May we always keep a well-balanced breeding program and may we forever preserve all of the beautiful colors and patterns in Shetlands.
For over three years now I have become more and more enamored with a study of the colors and patterns in Shetland sheep. Shetland sheep can have eleven official colors (white, light gray, gray, emsket, shaela, black, dark brown, moorit, mioget, fawn, and musket). They come in five distinct patterns (white, Ag fading, katmoget, gulmoget, and solid). I enjoy seeing the lovely patterns and colors in NASSA News and on the Heritage Shetland Sheep Facebook page, but have noticed that many flocks lack white and solid color patterns. This is significant because with the lack of these patterns, the genetics for most of the lovely colors can be easily lost.
Almost half of the Shetlands brought to North America along with their prodigies born here were white. Breeders worked hard to bring out the other colors so desired by hand spinners. The pendulum swung the other way until few flocks include white sheep. White wool in general is softest and most desirable for dyeing. It is essential in stranded knitting along with black to bring out the beauty of the other lovely colors. White is the dominant pattern in sheep and can only be bred into lambs with a parent whose pattern is white.
Much information about patterns, colors, and markings in Shetland sheep remains yet to be discovered. But Shetland sheep breeders have made great strides in gaining information that can help us preserve the genetics that give us the celebrated Shetland patterns and colors. It is my hope that if I can develop the most recessive gene for pattern, the solid pattern, that I will be able to breed sheep with the less common colors of emsket, shela, mioget, dark brown and fawn.
Every parent has two genes for every characteristic, one of which will be passed on to each offspring. Every offspring receives one gene from each parent giving that offspring a new pair of genes. For a given characteristic there is a gene that is dominant and a gene that is recessive unless the offspring gets identical genes for a trait. The dominant gene will be evident and the recessive gene hidden.
The white pattern, Awt, is predominant in my flock along with the Ag fading pattern. Because my goal is to develop all of the eleven colors in the flock, I have bred a black and a moorit ram to my ewes. The configuration for the rams’ pattern is Aa/Aa. Since these rams have the solid pattern, Aa, exclusively, the gene for that pattern is all that these rams can pass on to their off-springs. All of the lambs from these breedings with white and Ag ewes are Awt/Aa or Ag/Aa in pattern. When I breed these off-springs to an Aa/Aa sheep, 50% of the lambs will have the potential of being solid, Aa/Aa, in pattern and will have nonfading color. This can be easily seen with the genetic punnet square.
Awt Ag
Aa Awt/Aa Ag/Aa
Aa Awt/Aa Ag/Aa
A white Awt/Ag ewe bred
to a solid colored ram Aa/Aa.
Ag Aa
Aa Ag/Aa Aa/Aa
Aa Ag/Aa Aa/Aa
An Ag/Aa fading ewe bred
to a solid colored ram Aa/Aa
By continuing with this strategy of breeding for the solid gene in my flock, I hope eventually to be able to bring out the five more uncommon colors that I lack in my flock. I believe that the colors are there because of the colors that I see in my Ag fading lambs. Their prodigies just need the solid pattern, Aa/Aa so that the colors will not fade. The quickest way to accomplish this is with solid patterned rams.
But breeders must also always remember that there are scores of important characteristics to keep in mind for the preservation of quality in Shetlands that have nothing to do with color or pattern. May we always keep a well-balanced breeding program and may we forever preserve all of the beautiful colors and patterns in Shetlands.
How Much Twist?
An important question to every hand spinner and knitter or weaver is, “How much twist do I need in my yarn?” The answer can only be found in considering the purpose of the yarn. Will the yarn be used in a rug, a pillow, a hat, sweater, slippers, or scarf? The softest yarn gets the most attention; soft is the magic word. But will soft always fit the purpose for the yarn? Generally, the less twist put into a fiber to make a yarn, the softer it will feel. But with less twist comes less durability and more of a chance that the product made from the yarn will pill. A rug made from a soft fluffy yarn will feel wonderful when you step on it first thing in the morning as you climb out of bed. But before long, after all that work to make the rug, it will start looking ratty from daily wear! On the other hand a soft lightly spun yarn can make a gorgeous cowl for dressy occasions. When spinning or choosing yarn to knit a sweater, the choice of a little more twist in the yarn will result in a more satisfactory product especially if the sweater has sleeves. It is surprising how much abrasion a sweater takes from body movement especially the underside of sleeves as arms brush against the body of the sweater. For those who knit up that sweater rapidly, a yarn with more twist will knit up faster as the needle will not split the yarn in the knitting process. When choosing yarn for a scarf, less twist can be more desirable for a softer hand as long as the yarn has lasting integrity. A yarn with less twist might work better in a woven scarf than with the same yarn in a knitted scarf. The fibers in the yarn will be woven in a straight line and not bent as they are in knitting. I tend to think of a project I would like to make and then look in my stash of fiber or yarn for what will work in my project. The limits on our resources of time, money, and energy often demand this. But the ideal way to match the yarn to the project would of course be to look at the fiber or the yarn and imagine how it can become the loveliest creation with the lovely characteristics it possesses. And here is a plug for Shetland fleeces and yarns. So much diversity can be found in Shetland that a fiber or yarn can be found for about any project one can dream of. |
Fair Isles Hat in Natural Colors
With a love for all the beautiful natural colors in Shetlands, one of my desires has been to make a Fair Isle hat of natural colored Shetland yarns exclusively. I set to work choosing patterns for designing that hat when I came across the Interweave Press magazine, Spin + Knit, with a picture of the hat of my dreams on the cover! It even included the Fair Isle traditional OXOX type of pattern on the wide band of the design.
My gauge with my handspun was greater that the pattern called for but worked well when I knitted five instead of six repeats of the pattern. I wanted my hat to be predominantly black instead of brown and I only had four natural colors of handspun instead of five; so I adjusted the color pattern to suit my yarns. When the hat was all knitted up, the results were quite satisfying except that the top of the hat was pointed. To remedy this, I unraveled the last eight rounds and knitted decrease rounds on every round.
Next winter I hope to impress my sheep with my new hat. A friend saw my hat and wants one like it so I get to do the project again!
With a love for all the beautiful natural colors in Shetlands, one of my desires has been to make a Fair Isle hat of natural colored Shetland yarns exclusively. I set to work choosing patterns for designing that hat when I came across the Interweave Press magazine, Spin + Knit, with a picture of the hat of my dreams on the cover! It even included the Fair Isle traditional OXOX type of pattern on the wide band of the design.
My gauge with my handspun was greater that the pattern called for but worked well when I knitted five instead of six repeats of the pattern. I wanted my hat to be predominantly black instead of brown and I only had four natural colors of handspun instead of five; so I adjusted the color pattern to suit my yarns. When the hat was all knitted up, the results were quite satisfying except that the top of the hat was pointed. To remedy this, I unraveled the last eight rounds and knitted decrease rounds on every round.
Next winter I hope to impress my sheep with my new hat. A friend saw my hat and wants one like it so I get to do the project again!
LESSONS LEARNED BY A SHEPHERDESS
I Want My Mommy!
Every year when my lambs are about two weeks old, they get to leave the sheep pens and go out into our 300 acre pasture to graze for the day. Every year when I turn the sheep out in the morning, there will be a lamb or two who while playing with other lambs or nibbling grass, lose track of their mothers. That is when the crying begins and it can go on literally for hours.
Nothing is more distressing in the morning as I go about my chores than to listen to these babies cry. Often for the first few years as I became familiar with this phenomenon, I would try to shoo the lamb to its mother or get the mother to come to the lamb. I found myself just adding to the confusion. Driving a lamb somewhere is next to impossible. He will run the opposite way from where you are trying to get him to go. Other lambs will start to run, and the first thing I know, more lambs cannot find their mothers.
These poor little babes are scared and before long become hungry as I listen to them cry and wish there were something I could do. If only I could kneel down and get them to run to me, I could pick them up and carry them to their mothers. Now in the pen, they will come up and sniff my finger. But in the pasture when they are scared and hungry, there is not a chance I can touch them, much less pick them up!
Do we humans not respond to God, the Great Shepherd in this way sometimes? We desire good and wholesome blessings in our lives, like a good marriage, a decent job, a peaceful lifestyle. But we have gotten on a wrong path, thinking worldly pleasure, and poorly chosen friends, or fame and fortune will get us there. We become more and more unhappy as we scurry through life not knowing which way to turn! Actually the answer is quite simple; we need only to run to our Heavenly Father, the creator of the entire universe. Like all loving fathers, He has a storehouse of blessings for us and longs to show us the way to the desires of our hearts. All we have to do is stop crying and groping around, and run into His arms.
Now do not worry about my lambs. Eventually their mothers realize they are missing and come looking for them. Likewise the Lord knows all things and understands our every need. He is right there all the time prepared to bless us if we will only come to Him.
But unlike the lost lambs who jump for joy when they catch sight of their mothers, we humans often blindly run past the Lord when He is right there waiting to help us.
What time and I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Psalm 56:3
Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4
Every year when my lambs are about two weeks old, they get to leave the sheep pens and go out into our 300 acre pasture to graze for the day. Every year when I turn the sheep out in the morning, there will be a lamb or two who while playing with other lambs or nibbling grass, lose track of their mothers. That is when the crying begins and it can go on literally for hours.
Nothing is more distressing in the morning as I go about my chores than to listen to these babies cry. Often for the first few years as I became familiar with this phenomenon, I would try to shoo the lamb to its mother or get the mother to come to the lamb. I found myself just adding to the confusion. Driving a lamb somewhere is next to impossible. He will run the opposite way from where you are trying to get him to go. Other lambs will start to run, and the first thing I know, more lambs cannot find their mothers.
These poor little babes are scared and before long become hungry as I listen to them cry and wish there were something I could do. If only I could kneel down and get them to run to me, I could pick them up and carry them to their mothers. Now in the pen, they will come up and sniff my finger. But in the pasture when they are scared and hungry, there is not a chance I can touch them, much less pick them up!
Do we humans not respond to God, the Great Shepherd in this way sometimes? We desire good and wholesome blessings in our lives, like a good marriage, a decent job, a peaceful lifestyle. But we have gotten on a wrong path, thinking worldly pleasure, and poorly chosen friends, or fame and fortune will get us there. We become more and more unhappy as we scurry through life not knowing which way to turn! Actually the answer is quite simple; we need only to run to our Heavenly Father, the creator of the entire universe. Like all loving fathers, He has a storehouse of blessings for us and longs to show us the way to the desires of our hearts. All we have to do is stop crying and groping around, and run into His arms.
Now do not worry about my lambs. Eventually their mothers realize they are missing and come looking for them. Likewise the Lord knows all things and understands our every need. He is right there all the time prepared to bless us if we will only come to Him.
But unlike the lost lambs who jump for joy when they catch sight of their mothers, we humans often blindly run past the Lord when He is right there waiting to help us.
What time and I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Psalm 56:3
Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Psalm 37:4