Automne en Bretagne

The rich reds and golden sunshine of autumn  in Brittany. Punctuated by fluorescent orange jackets of the huntsmen....... so hopefully they avoid shooting each other .............they are *mostly*  successful. Two hundred metres from  taking this photo a magnificent pheasant made his way across the road, we looked at each other, nodded and he went on his way. The joys and madness of living in Brittany...

Ramly Headaches

Ti'beau has a set of horns that would give anyone  a headache,  but I was thinking more along the lines of keeping rams and unbred ewes on the same site.  A recent conversation reminded me that I am lucky to be able to house my rams seperately to the ewes when needed, in such a way that the rams cannot stress over not getting to the ewes when they are on heat. This isn't the case for everyone and keeping rams and unbred ewes apart, fences in place and stress levels down when they are in close proximity can be difficult.

Owning a ram comes with a set of responsibilities, no matter how calm and docile out of breeding season the hormonal influence cannnot be under estimated when an on heat ewe is around. They can become dangerous and even a Ouessant ram can cause injury. Think carefully what the reasons are behind a decision to own a ram, if you really want to breed then there is no reason not to look at the options for  the loan of a ram for a breeding season. Problems associated with in-breeding can be avoided and you still have the option for lambs without the difficulties of a testosterone fuelled set of horns for more than a few weeks at most.  The alternative is to own and all male flock, bachelor groups of rams work very well provided there are no ewes in the vicinity to upset the balance.

This years breeding groups will be together for a maximum period of six weeks, long enough for the ewes to cycle a second time if not bred the first time around. After that the rams will all rejoin the bachelor group and peace and tranquility will be restored for everyone.

Il est parfois difficile quand vous avez le ou les béliers au même endroit que les femelles  surtout s'il y en a que vous voudriez pas reproduire pour un raison où l'autre. Malheureusement souvent ceux qui débutent avec un couple ( mâle et femelle ) tombent sur ce problème  assez vite à cause du consanguinité et le fait qu'il est souvent plus difficile  à placer les mâles. Un bélier même si c'est un mouton d'Ouessant peut être agressif s'il est frustré et qu'il sent une brebis en chaleur.  A devenir propriétaire d'un bélier n'est pas sans responsabilité. Un troupeau des moutons constitué des femelles et les mâles castré peut être un solution. Si vous voudriez des naissances,  à trouver quelqu'un à vous prêter un  mâle peut être un option à fin de limiter les difficultés . 
L'option d'avoir un troupeau constitué seulement des mâles  est impressionnant  à voir et moins  turbulent  qu'un mâle séparé des femelles. Il n'est pas obligatoire à prendre un mâle  avec une femelle surtout si vous n'avez pas l'expérience, soyez prudent, mais n'oubliez pas un mouton seul est un mouton malheureux il faut au mois deux.

Plan B

Irritatingly blogger seems to want to automatically lighten this photo no matter what I do!!

Originally this yarn which is from on my bobbin # 4 was destined to be alot more funky than it is. However I wasn't adventurous enough and instead I got a yarn which is chunky and textured. Thats OK, plan B.  I haven't crochet'd since I was in my teens :-o still, it isn't difficult and I picked a knot which is so simple to do how could I go wrong? Well I did a couple of times but lets gloss over that :-).

Thanks to the internet and youtube to be precise I found an eloquent and easy to follow guide to how to do this knot and make a shawl. LINK Now let me tell you I had resolved not to make a shawl,  however plan B and all that . That being said I am pleased it has turned out as well as it has and I have learnt from doing it. 

This is more the actual colour of the yarn

So I can tick off one more project completed, more learnt and I have found inspiration for the next project, but for now back to christmas decorations!!

Un châle au crochet  de laine de mouton d'Ouessant! Enfin , ça me fais plaisir d'avoir réussi à filer la laine de mes moutons. Les moutons que j'ai élevé, tondu et maintenant peux dire qu'ils sont pas uniquement pour tondre l'herbe c'est  vraiment un bête à laine, on retourne au débuts de la race.  Même s'il  y a du travail encore pour l'apprentissage du filage, je suis contente.

Gary and the Giggly Girls

 Gary having a back scratch

This years ewe lambs are not being bred, one reason amongst several is because of  Schmallenberg disease. It falls to Gary  then, the long suffering wether to keep them company. Gary is extremely paternal and takes his duties seriously, however he is long suffering, the giggly girls are so named because they can behave like a group of hysterical teenagers at times. Gary offers them a stable influence always  calm and collected, when the time comes I'm not sure how we'll do without him. Neither are the giggly girls.

Tonton Gary ( mâle castré) reste avec les agnelles de l'année qui seront pas mise à la reproduction, à cause de la risque du virus schmallenberg. Elles lui adorent, il est doux, calme et toujours là au moments d'angoisse. Bon continuation Gary et bon courage!

A Christmas Affair

These are not yet finished but are shaping up nicely for christmas decorations

Ils sont pas encore fini mais ils me semblent d'être pas mal  comme décorations de noël

On My Bobbin #5

There is an advantage to growing your own fleeces and that is that you will have a  selection available to choose from when it comes to selecting for specific projects. Here I specifically wanted a woolly fleece and wanted to spin a fat yarn. In truth I would have liked the yarn to be fatter but my spinning skills are still being honed. This will form part of a black and white project if all goes well..

J'ai choisi une de mes toisons plus laineux pour un projet en noir et blanc, l'avantage d'avoir un troupeau de mini-moutons est qu'il y a plus de choix par rapport à la laine.  Je cherchais  à filer un fil assez épais on verra plus tard si c'est suffisant.....

Rich Russets

Autumns bounty is plentiful this year with an early start to the chainsawing, this is mostly cherry.

Nous profitons des cerisiers d'automne!

 Apples in abundance...... Its'ok we have enough, no, really more than enough!

 Pommes en abondance,  vraiment, on a suffisent.....

Titian!