I'm a die hard knitter, but before I realized knitting wasn't hard and I could learn it via KZfaq tutorials, I was a felter. Needle felting, specifically. My husband and I have been married for 9 years now, but we met online, and my in laws were AMAZING and welcomed me into their home with open arms and open hearts when I made the move from Texas here to Nevada. One of the first things my mother in law and I bonded over was felting; she'd seen a little needle felted animal online and didn't know that's what it was, and when I was like "oh that's needle felting, and it's not as difficult as you think it is", she wanted to learn, so I taught her. Even when she got really, really sick, she continued to make her little critters and figures. That's how she passed the time when she was spending 7 to 9 hours a day, 4 days a week getting dialysis, and she accidentally started a little "felting circle" at her dialysis center, I had POUNDS of undyed raw roving that I basically supplied for them to use. Young and old, men and women, even some of the staff picked it up. She passed 3 years ago, and every time I look at those little needle felted figures she made, it brings back special memories. Pardon the long story, I just felt like I needed to share. Also, I'd LOVE some yarn from your sheep, it breaks my heart that all this wool and fleece is just going to waste because of the economics. Wool is SUCH a great fiber, and so very versatile, and I wish the general public understood that; maybe then there would be more demand.

It floors me that wool is worth nothing considering how valuable wool PRODUCTS are.

As painful as it is, I'm happy that the ewe is free from suffering. Her groans broke my heart as well and I felt she needed the mercy you provided her.

So sorry you lost the ewe lamb. If nothing else Sandi, you are compassionate-and patient! I give you so much credit. Thank you for pouring so much of yourself into this work. It gives us life!

My heart was breaking watching Sandi close to tears over the little lamb. 😢 No one better EVER say anything about Sandi not treating her sheep well! I was raised on a farm and all my friends parents were farmers and I have never seen a farmer in the 50 years I have been on this earth treat animals with so much compassion and love! This woman is a saint among us and I don't see how she doesn't see what a stellar person she is. Dedicated, hard working, compassionate and loving, and that just begins to describe Sandi Brock. 💕🐑🐑🐑🐑

Hey Carissa, I just wanted to say ‘hello’ to you and tell you what a fantastic job I think you do for Sandi. You are a really hard worker and are learning well from all of Sandi’s great knowledge. I wish you well as you continue in life. 😊🐏🐑

Polio is painful! I got polio at 4 yrs old, I am now 65yrs old. My whole life has been full of pain. THANK YOU FOR HELPING HER! You did the right thing.

I’m watching from Saint John, New Brunswick, near where that wool is processed and spun. I love the way you love your animals and care so much for them. As a fellow animal care professional (zookeeper), I applaud you 😊🐑

Sandi...you did what was best for that little lamb. You showed her grace when you could’ve just put her down right away. You did all you could and I’m sure she appreciates all your effort.

Sandi I can’t tell you how proud I was of you watching you making the dryer balls. You are such a precious young lady and I tune in every time to see your life with your farm. We live on a little 5 acre piece of land but we had goats and I can’t tell you how much joy they brought me. I have chickens and we have a cow and a few pigs but I have found as a city girl I missed a great deal of goodness living with animals. You inspire me every time I watch and I hate when you are troubled by naysayers. You rock! Keep going your path, you’re a strong woman and you’re strength gives others strength.

Hi Sandy! I"m a knitter here and felting is fun. :D First off, the yarn you have comes in a hank or you can also call it a skein (skane pronunciation). To felt you have to have 100% wool (untreated and "natural" wool not anything that's superwashed). Any synthetic fiber will not felt. If you don't like the shape of it, make your layers smaller so that they're less noticable. If you have spots that aren't felting so well, you can use a little bit of hand soap and water and rub the areas that you want tighter. If you want your ornaments lighter then work them around a ping pong ball so there's a hollow center. I love your crafting ideas. Thanks!

Love, love, love the Billy & Cinnamon balls. I’m partial to Billy’s balls! 😷 Loved the live but couldn’t comment or see comments - I’m a youtube newbie. Thank you for being you and your honesty and transparency especially when it comes to the reality of your herd. You give us the good and the bad; the happy and the sad; the beauty and the not so pretty. Thank you! Much love for all of you!

As a novice felter myself, I think you did those dryer balls perfectly, and I love that you are promoting the use of wool!! I'm sad that so much wool is going by the wayside when fiber prices are still so high!

I love the balls there are adorable!!!! I’m a crafter and you’re doing a great job ❤️

Oh Sandi.. I just love the balls you’re making! They are turning out so stinkin cute! I’ve been with you for years now and I was with you on your live.. it was so much fun! You and Jess are hilarious! Sending you lots of love and hugs from Atlanta, GA. ❤️

I’m always amazed how fast he shears them and how he never seems to nick them. Awesome shearer

Sandi, I'm a spinner, knitter and a beginner weaver, so hearing that you're going to do something with your wool makes me very happy. One of our former spinners & weavers guild members made duvets and pillow from wool - so I thought I'd drop that little idea in here. Hugs to you to help you through a tough morning. Youts in Gratitude

I started felting a few months ago. I must say your dryer balls came out far better then mine! I cant wait to see what else you create and sell! And you did everything you could for the lamb. Sometimes you just need to take away their pain.

Thank you so much for doing all you could for the little ewe lamb! You done the biggest act of kindness for her by putting her down since she wasn't getting any better after all the treatment you gave to her! ❤💯Big Hug!🌹You are an Amazing lady Sandi and you take damn good care of your sheep, pets...dont ever let anyone tell you different!🌹💯

A message for Charlie: when my husband switched to suspenders, not only did they keep his pants up better, they reduced his back pain. A belt sinched up can actually cause a lot of back pain without you knowing it. It's worth trying out anyway.

I love that you always come up with projects to support your community. First the meet boxes and now the wool project. You are an incredible farmer and human being! Thanks for being on youtube!!!

The wool balls are so beautiful. I have a quilt that has wool batting hand carded by my grandfather.

PILLOWS!!!! You can make pillows with wool roving! That would be awesome! Can't wait to see your new wool stuff on the web site

OMG I love those balls they are so cute especially the Billy valentine heart and of course cinnamon ball I would love to have both of them

🤣🤣 Charlie’s response, “you mean I don’t have to truck it?!” I think I seen a slight glimmer in his eye 🤣♥️ love shearing days!!

Congratulations on making your dryerballs! I've been making them for years from my sheep's wool...honestly the sales of them has greatly supplemented my "sheep habit". A top load washing machine with an agitator works best. Another tip, use a kitchen scale to weigh your roving so all the DBalls are of a consistent size. Use a good felting wool, usually the higher the micron the less it will felt. Another tip, when selecting replacement rams always look for a finer wool ram (very small crimpy wool) you will see a big difference in his lambs. So maybe you'll have a good market lamb with really good wool too. Enjoy, have fun...there is so much you can do with wool.

I have watched many people shear over the years but I have never seen someone so ambidextrous with electro-mechanical shears before. Charlie handles those clippers really well. For folks that have never sheared a sheep the principle secret is to know how to handle the sheeps body so that the skin is smooth and taught without wrestling the sheep. The issue of handling the sheep becomes much more difficult the bigger (and smaller) the sheep are. Big sheep struggle and small sheep squirm something awful and you have to bend further more of the time!

What a wonderful helper you have!! You thought you were going to have a mess to clean up! She rocks!👍

I love them. When we crochet, we just pull the thread thru and leave it all together. I like to make yarn balls because they make crocheting easier. I never realized you could actually make stuff with the balls. That is awesome

So many things to say! First - tell Mark to go tune up a tractor or something - you and Jess were GREAT on the live. Second - is there any way you can use the wool from our, er I mean your sheep for the base of the balls? Cheaper for you and more meaningful for us. Third - so very sorry about the lamb. You did what you needed to do and when you needed to do it. You gave her a chance and then helped her out of her misery. If anyone comes for you for that, just let me know! #superfan

Thanks for showing us how the balls are made! I was wondering how you got the heart on them. I am so very sorry about the polio lamb, we were all rooting for her to get better. You win some you loose some 😢🤗

The heart balls are the cutest thing I've ever seen!! What a wonderful idea!! 🤍

The crafts are absolutely adorable...The Billy balls are great..🖤🤍🖤 ..You are fooling us 😁 you're very crafty 💛👍💛

Knitter here- The "braid thing" you were handling at the end of the video is called a 'twisted hank' #knitting

Put a camera on the hose! :) Then you'll see how the buggers are doing it!

This brought back memories of holding the skein for my great-grandmother. She would wind the yarn into balls and then crochet covers for wooden coat hangars. Pretty and clothes stayed on better.

The hard part of farming is never easy on the farmer. You did the absolute best you could for your ewe.

this is how i get my happiness. there is snow covering the ground in England right now which is pretty awesome but this is my happiness fulfilled for the day. doesn't mean i can't take more!

Love the cupid over the rams. I didnt realize rams were so quick with their performance lol..wham, bam, thank you ma'am

I would definitely buy the Wool from you if I lived in Canada. The things I could make from it is endless. Have a great day. 😁 Cheryl

You're leading in the right direction with the wool crafts. Since you have a fairly large platform, others will be inspired to add their ideas and who knows what will happen from there?

Charlie is good at shearing. Here, when they shear, sometimes the sheep have knicks and cuts.

The Billy heart could be Billy Butts! Totally adorable 🥰 great job Sandi!

Lovely, a crafter always starts ‘somewhere’. "You’ve done a beautiful job on Billy’s and Cinnamon’s dryer/ornaments.

Cinnamon hearts and Billy Valentines are amazing!! I love your unique ideas!!!😊💟

The balls are so cool! Such a great idea ❤️

I honestly love these shearing videos! It's so nice to see all the sheep so clean and refreshed!

You can make a yarn ball for the core and then just do black roving on the outside. I know Biggs & Little makes different colour roving. Love that you are crafting.

Charlie makes it look so easy 😂 love this channel ♥

Here is a fix for your washer leaking in the front... the door seal, at the bottom there is a lip on the outside of the inner lip.... where the darkest stain is. There are 3 holes there, clean those out and your washer won't leak anymore.

GIRL..grant yourself some GRACE...you’re being supportive to your peers‼️💜💚🧡 you did awesome 👏🏽 💜💚🧡💜💚🧡💜💚🧡

I think synthetic “wool” is much less expensive to process because it is made mostly with machines. I love real wool, but am allergic to lanolin. 😢. I hope you do well with your crafts! So cute!

I love those ornaments! I do a lot of crafting and it’s a super good distressor for me! Can’t wait for these to go live on the website!!

I love your post! No matter what it is. I’m inspired by you to get going! You never stop! Thanks for being there for me and all the other people out there. We love you and your family!

Breaks our Hearts to see the Ewe Fighting for its Life. You did it a Huge Favor and Ended it’s Life.🙏

I love your Billy Balls & Cinnamon Hearts they are ADORABLE! Sandi you are so good at a lot of things! Please keep moving forward! No one has a user’s manual we are all learning as we go. GREAT JOB GIRL 👍

I love the valentine balls! Adorable 🖤🤍❤️

I was so glad you did a live. Please, do it again. Practice makes it perfect.

Your channel is art. There is an amazing amount of creativity required to film and produce this excellent content. Be proud of what you have shown that you are good at.

I really enjoyed your live Friday night. Thank you for sharing your life, sheep and time with us. You inspire me. Love ya, Evonne from East Bernstadt, KY USA

it was freaking awesome live feed. Never caught one from the beginning.

Love Charlie’s care, no nicks!

I really enjoyed your live feed! I hope you do it again.

thought the live stream was great and would be nice to have Mark joining in 💪👍🚜

I was watching the sheep game and joanne the shearer, they are really cool

Sandy, maybe try to market your wool to tiny house builders. They love it for insulating the walls.

Omg. I NEED a billy dryer ball....I sure hope you are making TONS of these or they will sell out in minutes!

How I love your adventures in wool. I am 72 now, but somehow in my ancient memories, I remember my grandmother undoing a hank of yarn, slinging it carefully between2 chair backs and winding it into balls so my great grandmother could knit school sweaters for all the great grand kids. Being the oldest, sometimes I was recruited to help hold the yarn. Memories ❤

You did great on the live. I love the ornaments, that's how I roll my yarn balls. Maybe your more crafty than you thought. Love your videos keep em coming.

The young lady who helps you is a keeper.

I noticed your washer had stuff growing on the rubber ring that seals the door. My family had the same thing for a long time. We figured out if you run a cycle with quite a bit of bleach it will kill it (you might have to wipe it afterward). Then if you always leave your washer door open after you wash so air can flow in it will dry out and not grow stuff anymore. :) (not that you have to do this, just wanted to share in case you were looking for a way to get rid of it) :)

It's never an easy decision to make. You did your best for her. ❤ hugs.

I'm adoring the pun! Keep up the good work Sandi! I love you!

I was going to suggest you use roving for your balls, I am glad you figured it out on your own. If you just use the one chair it will twirl around as you make your yarn ball so it will go smoother.

Your wool balls are so cool! Roving IS the way to go. Great job! You could have a few fleeces of your own to be processed into roving...but it's great you are suppporting other producers. ❤️

*Valentines Day Billy Balls* 😁🤭❤️ - no pun inteded, lol! Fantastic idea, they are super cute👍

Does Carissa have a twin I could bring to Texas? What an amazing young lady she is... All around. So proud you are able to showcase her.

It’s awesome Charlie can shave with both hands, makes it faster I’m sure! I’d hate to have his back issues! I have my own!

Thank you Sandi for the shout out to the Revolution Wool Shop! They sell will quilt batting! Just placed my first order! Can’t wait. Thanks so much and the Valentine balls look adorable. ❤️❤️👍

I love your Billy and Cinnamon balls! You did a great job on them. Yes, roving style wool is best for felting. If I could get 1 of each, I would just keep them in safe place because you made them. 😊

Very impressed with your crafty skills Sandi, never thought we'd see a craft tutorial from you 😂 love the balls and everything in your shop, I'm saving up for a haul 👕 you continue to inspire me with every video you put out and everything you do in your life. You did more than lots of other people would have for that little lamb. Thank you for all you do. Lots of love always, Yasmin and Dan 🇬🇧xx

How is your shearer back doing? Any back pain? I'm impressed, he does a great job

So excited for the dryer balls!! Thank you for all your hard work!

An inspirational wool crafting video on you tube to watch" On Gentle Threads " Your first creative projects are fantastic. How brave you are to show us the oops! Possible wool project. Filling for dog beds.

I would absolutely buy wool from you if you can find someone to process it. Great job on the wool balls!

Loved the live and thosewill backs are awesome!! Sandy your an inspiration to so many

So sorry about you ewe... you did the humane thing for her. You gave her a chance and then it was time to do the right thing and let her go since she was suffering. I love the wool balls.

Your support is not insignificant! You did an amazing job on the wool balls! I love them! It would be cool if you could find a way to use your own wool. It would open a whole new door for you!

Magic, well done ewe, love the little ornaments, great use of the wool and yes you are better off using the Romies wool ( more natural state) . Sorry about your little ewe, we know you tried your best, stay safe and take care x

I am so excited for the wool... Amazing Sandi...

Excellent skill class today. I have leftover wool from my crochet days, decades ago.

These Billy Valentines and Cinnamon hearts are amazing!!! Love them to bits!!!! Yes, felting is a new thing for me too, but I quite enjoyed it!!! Now I know how to make the ball part of it!!! It is something to do on the cold nights when kids are both working and all my paperwork is done!!! Great job Sandi!!!

Omg! I love the Billy Balls!

I always wanted to know how the dryer balls were made. You did a good job of showing us. Sorry for the wool price situation.

Crafting with Sandi! I love it. More crafting videos are needed! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🐑❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Congratulations on your 1st live, you and Mark always produce excellent videos, sound and picture quality is always 1st class, I always watch yours and Marks videos from beginning to end. I think your channels are very well presented, keep up the good work and thanks for the entertainment.

Sandi I would look into someone who can clean, spin the wool into Yarn and Sell your Website. I suggest looking at your Local Yarn Shop to find one.

LOL it’s a shame you can’t just take your wool and like use it as insulation on like the insides of your barn xD

Sheeple, is what I call THEM ADORABLE CREATURES.SANDI YOU WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND FOR THEM. NO ONE COULD BLAME YOU FOR DOING WHAT YOU CAN DID THEM. GOD BLESS, DEB

I would like to order some stuff from you cause hopefully you can make some socks and mittens out of your wool. You inspire me so much I love watching you channel you know I can't wait until you post another one most of the time it doesn't matter what you post if it's cheap planning or you've out in the field it just warms my heart and my little one loves watching you. 💖