Wool, Wool, Wool

I have a huge list of things to talk about tonight. I'll start with all of the enjoyable stuff. Last night we went with the kids to see Meet the Robinsons. Seriously, I was not that excited. The previews didn't look that interesting to me. My head was all stuffed up and the thought of 3-D glasses sitting on my pressure filled nose was not attractive.

Here comes the But.

This was the best family movie I've seen in a long time. The messages were positive. Things I WANT to teach my kids. Things like "You can choose how you react to situations." and "Your actions have an impact on those around you, whether you are aware of it or not." This was all wrapped up in a very nice story which Maggie watched with interest and even Ryan, in the midst of the threes, made an effort to watch. I will definitely be purchasing this movie to sit next to the classics on our shelf.

Of course there is fiber going on all around me. This picture is of the white Wensleydale I'm working with right now. The Handweavers Guild of America has learning exchanges 2 times per year. When you sign up you get a list of names of others who are also participating - usually 6-10 people in each group. For the spinning exchanges you spin enough 5 yard samples for the people in your group plus the evaluator. You keep records of your study and send the samples with your records to the evaluator who critiques your work as well as everyone elses in your group. In the end you get one of your samples back with the evaluations well as a skein from everyone else and their evaluations. It is a great way to obtain a lot of knowledge from a group of people in a short time.

Wensleydale Sheep

There are two reasons I am doing this. One is that I am the new Michigan Rep. for the Handweavers Guild of America and thought it might be a great idea to take advantage of as many of their programs as possible so that I can speak intelligently about them. The second reason is that I LOVE Wensleydale wool. I love the luster of it. I love the weight of it. I love the drape of it. I love how it gets a little halo when you spin it. Love it.

Cotswold Sheep



This week I got 3 Cotswold Fleeces from 2 different farms. It's really hit or miss when you don;t get to touch the fleeces before buying but I really hit the jackpot here. This first one is a lamb fleece and it is soooooo fine. Probably a 4 or 5 inch staple.

Holy Crap!!!! Look at that! Beautiful and wavy. Staple length on this one is like 7 or 8 inches and it is white as snow. The individual fibers on this adult ewe fleece are, of course, courser than the lamb but the luster and the crimp...

This is another adult ewe. The color ranges from white to black and every shade in between. This fleece is finer than the white and has beautiful curly locks.

This is the place where I get into trouble in this business because I don't want to sell anything. I want to keep it all and spin it. Last week I decided I couldn't sell the Jacob fleece so i washed it all up and it is in line for spinning. It will be a white cardigan with a black stripe around the bust.

Jacob Sheep

I got some Optim Fiber from Conjoined Creations and just had to spin some up. It is merino that is somehow stretched. Well, it was a little difficult to spin and needed plenty of predrafting but the product is just beautiful. It has a very silk -like look. The finished yarn is very nice. I plyed it and wet it on my plastic niddy. When it was wet it got very stretched out but it dried right back to its original length. Weird. It's also not cheap. $28.00 for 4 ounces. The finished product is very lovely though and if you are looking for a little luxury item this could be the ticket and the colorways are very wonderful.

This is the next skein I'm working on for the COE. I have this little Ann Grout Acorn support spindle. It spins like a dream The fiber is a combination of Qiviut and silk. I'm spinning this very fine which I think is fitting for a fine fiber such as this. Most of the skeins for the COE are turned in a singles but I would like to see this plyed with a single of silk and knitted into something lacy. I need a one ounce skein and so far I think I've gotten about 1/10th of an ounce spun. This will be a few more weeks.

Now, I was over at Deb's earlier and she was showing her work on her bedroom today. I need to work on my bedroom but I have issues. I do a lot of work in my bed. I'm talking about working, reading, studying. So here is a bad picture of my side of the bed. On the floor there are scriptures, books about and by church leaders, my work bag, about 20 books about spinning, my bag of qiviut, Michigan quarterly sales tax stuff, a sweater I'm knitting, another bag full of back issues of Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot and a lot of used tissues - stuffy nose, remember?

In the table is Vitamin E cream, a cute box from Dana with jewelry in it, my acorn spindle and a whole bunch of other things I need to put away.

The problem is this. I don't have convenient places for this stuff. I do have a craft room but I use the stuff mainly in my bedroom. I need to come up with a better way to have the stuff near me - or be less lazy.

O.k. I'm going to sleep. Busy day at the shop tomorrow.