it's all natural

left to right: tan roving, chocolate brown roving

This past spring my mother and I worked really hard dying over some of our creamy white top. We came up with vibrant color combinations and gave our creations inspiring names like Mermaids in the Basement (after a poem by Emily Dickinson), One Red Hen (after one of our crazy red hens) and Spring Fling (after all of the colors we were seeing in our woods.)

But at Shepherd's Harvest this year, none of those colorways seemed to sell. Everyone was after the CVM romeldale natural colored top and skirted, but unwashed fleeces. Crosby Hill Farm sold out of our skirted fleeces, but we still have a few pounds left of the top that we colored so prettily.

I'm not complaining. I guess that leaves more for me to spin this summer. I'm planning on making some pretty crazy socks.

left to right: white top, 80% wool 20% mohair chocolate brown top, and gray top

And looking at these beautiful bundles of fiber now, I halfway wonder what we were thinking when we dyed over some of it. I can imagine how these earthy tones will look spun up and knit into cables or seed stitches.

This is what you can expect out of the fiber of our lambs. They come in many shades and tones.