Anyway, I have started combing my fleece that I washed. I am not quite finished washing it,got a bit sidetracked last weekend. Went to the Great Western Gun Show in Dallas with my husband, Rick. Now I am not a gun nut, but sometimes there are things there that can interest me. In fact, the very first gun show we attended had the prairie skirt pattern I needed for period spinning demonstrations. And another, I got a really cool purse. And at this one I got this..

I am not sure of the origin of the whorl. I have never seen one this color before, either. Anyone want to venture a guess? Most of mine are either brown or black, but not this greenish color. And I love the 'eyes' around it. There was another that sorta looked like it had lips. The vendor that GAVE(!) it to me says that her father used to collect beads from all over the world. I explained to her that it was used for spinning fibers, primarily cotton. I did bring out my Kaari spindle to show her the basics of spinning and that is when she gave it to me. I hope to run into to her again! Maybe when I can spend more time browsing her stuff. We were just getting ready to leave when I spotted all her beads. Darn it!

I had my spinning guild over on Monday night and got to infect another new spinner! Heh, heh, heh! Little does she know what she is in for! BBBBBBBWWWWWWWHHAHAHAHAHA

I decided to do a little woolcombing on that grey/brown fleece.

And here is the combed product

Such lovely fiber to spin!

      (11:45am)



Later,

Tuesday, May 4, 2004
Okay, so now I am in a fleece washing mood! Got out another fleece that I either got in a trade from a wonderful friend in Australia (hi /anne!) or bought it somewhere in Washington. CRS and all that stuff. It is a very nice grey, brown Perendale, or Corridale (depending from where it came). Nice lock formation and about 3-4" long. Here is a nice photo of the first washed batch drying on my fire escape outside my studio.

Wow, it really is more brown than grey now. I have more to wash, I think the whole fleece was a about 4 lbs. Sure had lots of dirt in it, but the soaking I gave it in the kettle with Orvus and hot, hot water took care of all that stuff.

I have been knitting a bit too. Did the Market Bag from Knitty.com's last issue. It came out okay, but I am not in love with it. I had to dig around for more yarn as I only had 2 skeins of the Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride and the pattern calls for three skeins. Anyway, the 2 skeins were dyed during a dye workshop that I had in my home a couple of years ago. My friend, Micayla Lee, formerly of Spinster's Cottage, came for a visit and we decided to have some fun. Got a bunch of ladies together and Micayla gave us the benefit of her dyeing expertise. I was not sure what I wanted to do with the 2 skeins I handpainted until I saw the MarketBag and thought it would make a good project for it. Ya know that sometimes either handspun or handpainted yarn needs to marinate until it tells you what it wants to be.


So here is my MarketBag





The handle was knit from some singles Brown Sheep I found at a flea market or a thrift store.

Other than that I have been looking for work...       (10:20pm)



Later, bj


Monday, May 3, 2004
Today was just gorgeous out so I decided that it was finally time to wash up some yummy dark grey almost black fleece that I bought several years ago at Kid 'N Ewe (usually held the second weekend of November). So I got out my big splatterware pot, filled it with water and a glop of Orvus and heated the water up to almost boiling. Then I turned down the heat and put in my wool. I originally bought about a pound and have only span up a couple of ounces previously. I let it sit in the hot water for about an hour. I could see the remaining lanolin in the water when I took it out to drain.

I spun out the water in my washing machine, then filled up the kettle again with hot tap water. I bought this really cool little laundry bag at our local flea market a couple of months ago. It folds up into a pouch and when you unfold it, it is a rectangular laundry bag with mesh sides. Kinda like one of those pop up tents. I put the wool in the laundry bag then in kettle the so I could drain out the rinse water very easily & set it out in the sun on my back patio. I may wash more fleece tomorrow so if I do I will take pictures of it. Here is what the wool looks like after drying.

So now what will I do with this wonderful wool? I bought some light grey silk off eBay recently and want to blend the two. The silk is roving that has been cut up into about 1¾" pieces.Here is what the cut silk looks like.

I am picking it out so it will blend & card up easily with the wool.

Other than that I have been looking for work...       (9:08pm)



Later, bj