Thursday, May 17, 2012

sheep-nip

My latest "use up every scrap of wool" project: felted cat toys.



These are little golf-sized wiffle balls, covered with felted wool and stuffed with dried catnip and minimally-processed sheep fleece. I found myself referring to the combination as "sheep-nip." I am sure it will drive cats wild.

As I was making them, it occurred to me that twenty years ago, almost to the day, I had just finished my first year of law school and was starting to write my article to qualify for a spot on the law journal.

Now I am sitting in the basement making cat toys. It's funny where life takes you.

I am not saying this is a bad place, mind you. It's just very, very different. I am thoroughly engaged with the natural world around me. Trying to convert the resources provided by our flock into products that will maintain the cost of their existence (turning a profit may be too much to ask) is a never-ending Rubik's cube of a puzzle. I flip and twist and turn and rethink, working on marketing and packaging and production issues on a daily basis, all the while trying to keep the sheep themselves in the best health possible.

It's not the practice of law. But it's not mindless. In many ways, in fact, it is much more mindful.

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