First off, let me introduce you to Punkin, the start of it all.  I rescued Punkin from the Bluegrass Stockyards on October 30, 1992, the day he was born.  I didn't know anything about sheep and didn't even know I liked sheep, but I didn't want something bad to happen to him, so I picked him up.  He lived in my bathroom for several weeks and was the sickest little lamb you'd ever seen.  I'm not sure how many of his 9 lives he used up, but I think even his vet was surprised he made it.  He did make it though and eventually moved out to the barn, but for the next 12 years, I could stick my head out the back door and call his name and he'd holler back to me.

In the beginning I just gave his wool to the shearer each spring.  Then some friends suggested that I find someone to spin it and knit a sweater.  I didn't know how to knit, but figured I could learn that, but knew I'd never figure out the spinning part, so was lucky to find a local spinner who was willing to help.  She spun the yarn and I somehow got a sweater made.  Then, another friend came out and took some wonderful photographs of me and Punkin "dressed alike".  As he was quite old by then, these are some of my most treasured pictures.

Of course, I had so much fun knitting his sweater, I began to wonder if maybe I could learn to spin.  You saw that coming didn't you?  Next thing I knew I had a spinning wheel, a bag of practice wool and lots of new friends who were happy to help me get started.  That's the nicest thing about the fiber world.  You meet so many extremely talented spinners, knitters, weavers, crocheters, felters...and they are some of the nicest folks you'll ever get to know.  I now have sheep friends all over the world.

So, we added sheep friends, then we added more sheep.  We acquired five Jacob sheep from Indiana.  And then two more, including a ram, from Kentucky.  Soon came the lambs - is there anything cuter?  Add a few more Jacobs from West Virginia, a couple Border Cheviots from Paris - Kentucky that is -  a couple bottle lambs, a few Cotswolds from New York some beautifully colored crossbreds, also from New York, a rescue sheep we met on the evening news and the latest bottle baby, preemie lamb Miss Maisie and we now have 29 funny sheep to keep us on our toes.