Wool Swap

What a creamy, dreamy idea. A wool swap. Better yet, a raw wool swap. The idea was that the participants would swap samples of raw, unwashed, uncarded fleece. Not a full fleece, but a sampler, one that would give the recipient a taste of a new type of wool. Prior to this, in the Raw Wool Lovers United group on Ravelry, we'd been discussing breeds of wool, and cross bred sheep. I'd expressed an interest in cross bred sheep, and so was really pleased when my swap included a cross. This is the wool of Beatrice, whose lineage is diverse and marvelout. Beatrice, at the time of this shearing, was just a lamb. Her mother, Brownie, is an Outaouais Arcott, and her father, Shaemous was a cross between a South African Marino sire and a Rambouillet mother.

The first photo is a peek into the package. When I get raw wool, the first peek into the package is always exciting. I am expecting the perfume of a sheep. The second and third are a closer look. This is just loveliness. Look at that crimp. The fleece looks creamy because it has the sheep's natural oils saturating it. Washed up, it was white, but still had the lock formation. Now I'm carding it, and it is, as you might expect, soft and strong and sound, wonderful fleece.




What a treat this was. Thanks, Val. These pictures will remind me.

What happened to my Yarn???

Ok, this is a view of my kitchen (behind me) at night. I've just finished my hat, made from felted Corriedale handspun yarn, singles and plied. I've got an obvious look of total satisfaction on my face, and for good reason. The hat rocks. I didn't use a pattern. I went with the yarn, and worked it as I saw fit. There's a front view.

And there's a back view. The photos aren't as sharp as I might like, but it was a spur of the moment photo session, during which I was assisted by my SO (SeanO), who has his own unique photographic style.

I can't seem to find the picture that had our bird in it, although just maybe you'll see him if you peer through the door that is showing in the second photo.

I'm hoping my friends on Ravelry will get to see this. Today, for the first time, I linked my blog to some place. I've been doing this blog off and on for a while, and this is the first time I've linked it with anything.

We'll see. I'm publishing this now, then going back to cooking dinner. It's a split pea, lentil, and barley soup tonight, with a small bit of Beeler's Bacon in it for flavor. Currently simmering and waiting for the finishing touches.

I'll likely photograph the hat again, maybe in sunlight, but for now, a night time picture, assisted, and spur of the moment is going to do.

My Continuing Love Affair

As seen at sunrise, or as close to it as I could get, after getting my camera and setting things up. I shot this in a night mode, so that the small amount of light would seem enormous. I wanted to capture just how intimate my sewing machines are. Those two domes represent my Harris 9H, to the left, and my glorious Green Kayser to the right. Both are environmentalists, and help me to stave off the blues on the days when the electricity is not available. As hand crank sewing machines, they are remarkable in their ability to sew very precisely. As precise as hand sewing, in fact, because in a way, it is hand sewing. No, not needle and thread in hand type hand sewing, but instead of an electric motor rushing relentlessly forward, these beauties are guided by my steady turning on their hand cranks. If I'd opened one, I would have woke the bird, and I didnt want to do that. It was simply an early morning moment, filled with soft sunlight and a bit of cozy pleasure as I contemplated two good machines, a wonderful wall, my abode, and the day ahead. Sigh.
Sometimes it is all quite wonderful. (But it does take effort to see it that way in these tough times.

S'More

Now this is something that just makes me happy. Lovely yarn. This is what I'm using on this hat I am working on. I think you can see that it is plied, two pieces of yarn (singles) twisted together. I am enjoying making the hat, the yarn is so soft and lovely and it is mine!
The format for the page is terrible. I didn't do any format at all, just put the pictures up and then started typing, but nonetheless, it is good, look at my yarn! Lovely plied yarn.
The white is also a plied yarn, but is commercially processed prior to spinning. On the other hand, the yarn above there is mine from greasy fleece to yarn, and hat. I love having control over the entire process, or as much as I can have without learning to raise sheep or shear.

Something happened last Summer

Something startling.

Ok, not that startling. I've been studying spinning wheels in my own way for about two years now. My way? Studying everything I could find on making or repairing spinning wheels. I ranged from old hippie magazines to books on antique restoration, all starting when Crystal, of our local YLS, the Boll Weaver, suggested that if I were to join the spinning guild, I could participate in a project of rehabbing broken spinning wheels. I didn't join, but got intrigued by fixing spinning wheels. Eventually I started doing my research.

Then, this Summer, I saw an ad for a spinning wheel and struck a deal. After I tuned and toned and oiled to my heart's content, I was struck with a realization--I never studied anything on how to use it.

I bought a book, and talked to Crystal. She said "It takes about a pound of roving before you get the hang of it." Of course, I didn't even know what roving was. She explained, and I bought some. Took it home, had no idea what to do with it, read my book some more, fiddled around, and finally, after a lot of trial and error, I produced something that resembled yarn.

I'm doing a bit better now, thanks. But I thought it would be good to memorialze my first yarn as it sat on the spool.

(The wheel is an Ashford Traveller.)