Getting Started

... I had already learned to knit by this time, and wish those little tufts had kept me from ‘wasting time’ with acrylics, but I do know better now.  Fabric, clothes sewing and quilting joined the fiber ranks but knitting always remained the biggie.  Early in our marriage, Fred stated “You should learn how to spin it since you spend so much money on yarn”.  He’s wiser now and will deny saying that until his dying day. I did learn to spin when our eldest, Amy, begged me to get her lessons after seeing a spinning demo at our local fair.  The sheep followed a few years later.  A friend put us in touch with someone who wanted to get rid of a couple of sheep they had. (The ubiquitous ‘free sheep’ that all breeders hate.)  At the last minute other family members didn’t want to give them up, but we had already committed ourselves to FINALLY getting the sheep. In the intervening years we had purchased property with two big fields, and I had been researching breeds.  I knew I wanted a duel-purpose breed that was unusual/not common.  A woman that was mentoring me raised Cotswolds and told me those would fit my requirements but that Coopworth was another one I might want to consider and explained the production focus versus most breeds show focus.  She traveled extensively showing her sheep including the big show in Kentucky.  She had a ewe lamb that was destined for Kentucky the day it was born and it ended up placing second to one that wasn’t even a purebred. She was so disgusted she called, told me “go Coopworth” and hung up. I had a breed and was finally ready. A quick internet search showed me Marianne Dube was the closest breeder and I’ve never looked back or regretted it.  There have been some winter mornings I’ve questioned my sanity, but no regrets.