I've got a lot of new followers all of a sudden, so I'd like to introduce myself.
I'm Olga, I live in a small village in the Italian Alps with my mini flock of pet sheep and a cat.
I work my sheep's wool, neighbours sheep's wool and also commercial wool. Any wool I find 😆 1/2
So here you will find lots of wool, lots of sheep pictures and occasionally some north italian castles, villages, and mountains.
Thank you so much for being here with me!
I'm overwhelmed with the response to my latest pictures. Thank you! I tried to answer to everyone, sorry if I left any questions unanswered.
Here are my sheep, the roof of my house, and my favourite view. The houses you can see down there is the city of Turin,looks great at night
I moved to this house ten years ago. Renovating slowly, one piece at a time, everything is so expensive.
It took me ten years to create a place where I can seat with a book. The window is open and I can hear the river and crickets. Good night
I don't usually post "behind the scenes" photos, but today when I was going to take pictures of the new hat all the sheep came to greet me 😊🐑
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New amanita witch hat is now available at my etsy shop
Gaby makes me laugh so much. When she arrives close to me and I'm not moving she immediately turns her back and starts to eat.
They are so hungry for fresh green grass. Nothing grows here in winter.
This morning at a local elementary school. I talked about wool and showed how to work it from fleece to yarn. We carded some wool together and then I spun it. At the end each pupil made a small cardboard and yarn sheep to take it home 😊🐑
Nalbilding is an old technique that precedes needles and crochet. The work is done with a wood or bone needle using short pieces of yarn. At the end of the piece it's attached to the next one by felting - soaking both ends and rubbing them together. Not a problem on a wet field!
I'm thinking about my Mum these days. She was an amazing knitter. There never was enough time, but she enjoyed it so much. Wish I learnt from her.
How I would love to give her some yarn from my sheep! Raised and spun by me. She would have loved it.
A funny fact about me: I don't knit. I have knitted 5 pair of socks in all my life.
I do rise sheep, spin their wool, but I never really knitted.
But on the markets people keep asking for "normal hats" 🤪, and I've got yarn. So I started knitting hats while sheep graze 🐑🧶
Good evening from the woods. All is fine, the sheep are ok.
Local newspapers wrote about Blue Tongue today, nothing new. It's spreading and there are not enough vaccines. Trying to stay calm and hug the sheep. Hugging a sheep always helps.
Many thanks to Eileen for the ko-fi!
Yarn sheepies made of local wool. I've washed, carded and spun the yarn by hand.
I usually make smaller ones, but this time I made nice big round summer sheep 🐑🐑🐑
I was so tired yesterday after the market, I didn't even answer to the comments, sorry. It was a great annual event dedicated to sheep and wool. The place is very beautiful too, up in the mountains.
Now I'm back, and everyone is doing fine. Eating with great appetite 🙂
New scarf made from Gaby's wool and dyed with eucalyptus leaves.
I worked this wool by hand from sheep to the shawl.
I'll post Etsy link in the comments, please use it if you'll decide, that you would like to have it. If you use the direct link the seller pays less etsy fees 🙂
We were so lucky with sunny weather yesterday. It was snowing this morning, now turned to rain.
Sheep don't care, they are well equipped for any weather.
A long long time ago (about two weeks 😆) before the sheep got shorn. I was going to take pictures of the new amanita hat and they wanted to participate 🐑🍄
Two fest yarn!
I filled one spindle on a medieval event in autumn, the other one on Sunday. Plied on a spinning wheel. it's quicker and I have a new wheel, we need to get to know each other better.
I will wash it later, I prefer to wash all my yarns outside and it's too cold now.
Finished a new bunch of slippers. Ready to ship numbers are: EU 34-35, 36, 38, 39, 40-41, 42-43
You can find them here
Handmade, natural brown merino wool, suede soles. Write me a dm if you need more info 🐑🐑
Cochineal
My hands are brown with walnut shells and pink with cochineal.
I also cut some firewood to smaller pieces today(doesn't looks like it , but the winter is near).
When I don't have orders to prepare I work in phases. I can spin for two weeks nonstop, or make hats, or earrings. Or to only wash wool or dye for a month.
The felting phase has passed. Now I'll have to stitch all the sheep, and attach all the soles 🐑🐑
I'm going to Celtica, a four days festival up in the mountains on the french italian border, next week.
Only a few days left and I'm absolutely not ready (panic)
Today on the balcony: Gaby's yarn and australian merino elf hats
I love these woolly girls so much. The possibility of some of them having the disease already breaks my heart. The incubation period is 4-20 days.
Apparently there is a vaccine for this variant of BTD, but we don't have enough of it in Piedmont. Some say it was all sold to
When I say I'm not a knitter that's what I mean. I can knit alright, I can do the stitches. What I can't do is count 😆
Yes, I made a swatch. It didn't help 😆
My new hat is enormous! The yarn is so stretchy!
I love felt. You make a felt hat, finish it, and it stays that way. ->
It's the insecticide day again!
The red line is a marker to mark the sheep, that have been treated. The actual medicine is white and put on the back.
Hope it keeps working 🤞