La La La

It ain't Friday yet...

It is kind of funny...

Sigh.

Friday Funny

I used to love reading the comics in the Sunday paper. Our small town paper does not carry comics, so I enjoyed receiving this one in the mail from a friend.

Have a great weekend!

It Really Wouldn't Be That Hard

There is a bird hopping around the porch railing eating cat food. I've tried to take a picture or, even better, a video, because it's really quite entertaining, but he/she's a very nervous bird that flies off at even a hint of movement from me behind the closed kitchen doors. This is probably because it knows it's treading on shaky ground with all the cats so close by...

...or not.

Bee Happy

Spring is here!

I almost hate to point this out, but I think it's kind of funny. Look closely. Wool blowing on the upper branch. It's everywhere!

Click to biggify. There's always more to the picture than initially "meets the eye".

Progression Of The Wensleydale/Cotswold Fleece

...or how you can tell I'm getting excited about the spring shearing.

A properly shorn fleece will come off in one piece - similar to, but much nicer than a pelt. This was obviously a professional job. I can't shear each sheep fast enough to risk keeping them upside down for so long, so I've learned to shear them standing up. I make one pass down the center and work down from there on each side. The best I can hope for is a two piece fleece.

So, after it's rolled out - I usually use a skirting table rather than the porch - it's skirted (all the cruddy stuff removed) and washed.

I hand pick, or fluff it, as it dries. Mostly to make sure there is as little vegetable matter in it as possible.

Even though I had plenty of other things I needed to be doing today, I then carded (all the tangles combed/brushed out) up a small sample.

An spun it using one of my kit spindles. I can't believe I can make something that spins yarn. And spins well.



I then wound it off into a center pull ball so that I could use both ends to make a two ply yarn.





Look at the combination of beautiful colors and textures. (Definitely click to biggify.)

Now isn't this fun?