Yesterday evening some folk visited the Minions with not much notice..  The ponies were very happy to meet and greet but they looked revolting.  Waffle had bathed in dirt and everyone was losing their coat in handfuls.  It is the time of year.  I don’t think the visitors were too impressed, to be honest and I realise now that everyone should not resemble a guttersnipe.

I managed to successfully recruit both Daisy and Flossie, my daughters.  So, armed with brushes, we went and had a good go at the Shetland ponies.

The ponies’ winter coat is thick with an inner and outer layer, both coming out in handfuls this time of year.

It is a fine line, though, as we don’t want to totally strip a pony of its coat if it lives out 24/7 because they will have nothing to help them if there is bad weather.  So we just brushed the bits that were falling out. Of course Albie had to be different – his coat was not budging.

I also attacked ears when no one was noticing.  The whole herd was also dosed with Spot-On – a ready to use topical ectoparasiticide that will treat any unwanted creepy-crawlies.

Tiddles found our spare headcollars to play with.

“What me?  What, what did I do?  I touched nothing, honest.”

So once we had extracted our belongings from being distributed around the field, caught, brushed and dosed everyone, we could see they were back to being beautiful again.  For how long this will last, I do not know.

Our reward was a sit-down whereupon the usual Minions flung themselves upon us for hugs and kisses.

They fairly and evenly distributed themselves.

They will always remember who was around right at the beginning when they needed help.  Shetland elephants never forget!

Daisy and I took the van to fill up with emergency hay for foaling – because you never know and I like to be prepared.  Ok, ok, I panic and worry. I admit it.

Anyway, once we had our hay, we went into “centre ville” and I dropped off my felted creations.  First the sheeple went to Jamieson’s Knitwear on the street.

I felt very proud seeing my work in the shop and hope they quickly fly off the shelves.  I worked very hard making them.

Then ten puffins went to the Peerie Shop to be priced up and quickly put on the shelves.  The street was deserted mainly because it was ruddy freezing.

There was, however, a Norwegian cruise ship in harbour – the beautifully restored MS Nordstjernen.  We did see a few visitors huddling in doorways looking very cold.

The freezing black clouds were not helping.

Daisy and I dodged in and out of the shops trying to avoid the hail, sleet and, at one stage, snow.

So that’s all my sheep and puffins gone.  Flown the nest.  I am now working on curly-wurly sheep.

I love the Wensleydale curly “locks” and am waiting on some shiny black ones to arrive from England.

I think curly-wurly sheep may be the way forward!

The sun was shining, yes it was a tad blowy but nothing too miserable so I thought Haakon, BeAnne and I could go out for a walk.

(yes, that’s BeAnne’s grumbly face)

I put Her Maj on a lead before we reached the road as there are little lambs about now.

Lambing season has just begun and even though BeAnne would not chase a lamb or ewe, I would not be popular for walking a dog off a lead in the scattald (open hill or common grazing).  It is not the done thing.

So I “knitted” with my extending dog lead and the non-extending horse rope and both animals behaved very well.  BeAnne has often walked with Haakon and he knows she would take a very dim view on being trodden on.  So she walked in front of me and I cursed her for trying to trip me up instead!

After a while I grew bored of the endless “knitting” and tripping and let Haakon do his own thing.  He is used to this set-up and happily walked beside me.

I love this photo.  Me and my best friend just pottering together enjoying each other’s company.

On my walk, I did noticed that Haakon has another hoof abscess (his third).  It was draining nicely, no lameness or misery and actually the gentle walk increased the drainage nicely.  A small part of me is not surprised.  At the back of my mind I was thinking something else might be lurking.  Ho hum…… better out than in.

I think if this weather holds up, these gentle ambles are good for Haakon both mentally and physically. I push him onto the grass verge when I can and he happily potters alongside.

It is snowing outside and the north wind is bitter. I don’t want to think about how the grass has stopped growing.  Grrrr….

So, I have been busy in my lovely little studio, shed, she-shed, shudio, creation station, whatever, my space and have two orders ready to go out to the shops in Lerwick next week.

I am very excited.  Ten handmade needle-felted sheep made in Shetland (by me) using 100% Shetland wool.

OH and Daisy helped make the box and a lovely friend designed the banner for me moments before I threw my laptop out of the window.  I am not very good with Photoshop.

So that’s these lads ready to go out into the big bad world and hopefully be snapped up.

I am just waiting for stickers to be printed so for the meantime I have put a little hand-written one on their tummies.

Then there are the puffins.

Although totally made in Shetland, they are not created out of Shetland wool, but I still like them all the same. Like popcorn, everyone is different!

So that’s my craft work.  Now to start ten curly sheep to complete another order.  I also have visitors.

I’ve been busy.

Flossie, my younger daughter, is learning a new skill.

This is Suzhou embroidery (su xiu 苏绣), or Su embroidery for short.  Dating back for over 2000 years, this traditional Chinese silk embroidery is “famous for its beautiful patterns, elegant colours, variety of stitches, and consummate craftsmanship. Its stitching is meticulously skillful, coloration subtle and refined.” (Wikipedia)

For more information and history about this exceptional embroidery type, look here.  Su embroidery is breathtaking and the creations are stunning.

Anywho, Flossie has taught herself to do this.  She bought herself a book (The Art of Chinese Embroidery: Foundation Level by Margaret Lee), read it and found what she wanted to achieve.  Then she bought the silk thread, linen, silk and borrowed a traditional slate frame plus stand.

We now have our own stand and OH looked at the slate frame design and has made her a bigger version for her next embroidery piece.

Floss started by doing a test piece using cheaper linen and working out the stitches required.  She has very kindly given me this piece plus I have first dibs on everything she makes.  A mother’s perogative, I think.

And now she is working on the real thing on the fine silk background.

So that’s what Flossie does when she is not going to interviews, keeping up her Chinese (Mandarin), revising, doing tests, feeding and riding the horses.

I am full of admiration.

(so proud *** sniff ***)