Kerry, is that you???
Yes, it's a blog post!
Sometimes life gets going and before you know it, you have to struggle to remember what your login is for getting to your blog. I have lots of pictures to make up for it, though! And I almost have a couple of FO's, so there will be another post before too long to show you what I've been working on in my absence.
Before the wooly stuff, I want to show you a couple of dog photos.
My two adorables:
Look at these:
Same doggy? Nope. This week I'm babysitting my sister's dog and parrot, so it's quite a houseful! Huck is a mini-Oakley in many ways. They have similar personalities and they're very funny to watch.
This is the weekend for Shepherds Harvest, the sheep and wool extravaganza for these parts. My friend Vicki came up for the event again this year and we had a great time! Despite the rain and cold. Today, of course, is gorgeous, and would have been a perfect day out there.
So this is me, having just picked up my roving from last year's fleeces. Happy, happy happy!
And here are the bags o'dreaminess...
First up is a shetland x lincoln. I bought this same fleece three years in a row now, though I "misplaced" one of them. Still baffles me how I managed to lose an entire fleece. Anyway, here's the photo of the new fleece this year, then the roving from last year's. The fleece is predominantly white but has a bit of taupe in it, making it a lovely soft oatmeal color. A very soft combination, which surprises me because I don't usually think of either one of those breeds as being super soft.
Then a BFL cross. This one will be fun to spin - look how curly the individual fibers are! This sheep was a curly dude. This is not as soft as most bfl, though it's still pretty nice. I'm not sure what it was crossed with. First is the fleece picture from last year. I really thought it would be gray, but I guess there's a lot more brown than I remember. Doesn't take much to make a difference.
Then some North Country Cheviot. Maybe you remember my dyeing experience with this stuff. I had a bunch of fleece in a big pot. In one third of the pot I poured in some dark green, another third some gold, another third some rust. The locks dyed in halves - so one half would be green, the other half rust. Or gold and green. Every combination. The dye didn't stay where it was supposed to at all. I had no idea what it was going to turn into, but this is the result:
I messed around with the colors before posting because the picture had it very green and it's more on the brown side. Yes, I know what this looks like, but when it's spun up it's a nice heathery, earthy color. I keep telling myself it will be okay.
THEN. My Favorite. This was a little shetland fleece I bought clandestinely out of someone's trunk for $5 last year. The poor thing was crusted in scurf and had sunburnt ends and I thought it was hopeless. After soaking it in a strong vinegar and Dawn solution, the scurf melted away and I had a nice little pile of fiber (1 lb, 10 oz). Not as soft as a shetland should be, but usable. I came across some kid mohair (7.5 oz) that was like white satin soaked in tea and blended them on a drum carder. I hate drum carding, so decided to send it out. In the mean time, I also collected some almost black baby alpaca (7 oz). Then some chocolate brown suri (6 oz). And finally some fawn colored baby alpaca (6.5 oz). This stuff is enough to make me weep - sort of a Pygmalion of the fiber world.
Enough chatting - time to spin!
