BYFC - Random Tip #9

 BOOKS!

There are So Many good books and magazines out there that were written by really experienced and real live fiber artists and teachers.  They have put incredible amounts of time into researching, writing, photographing and marketing their books and you can learn so much from them. 

Take the time to learn directly through them, not by reading an unethical AI synopsis.  You'll get better information and enjoy the journey so much more.  You can find great selections in stores, your library, your guild's library, estate sales, friends houses...

The Yarn Might Not Be The Best Part

It might be the stories :-).

Mother's Day ended up being very busy, but in a good way.  The spring barn clean out, originally planned for Friday/Saturday, was rained out.  We were afraid the ground would still be too wet Sunday, but it dried up enough and Tim was able to knock it out.  Well, you don't just knock it out.  Cleaning the barn is an all day job.  I can't think of a better Mother's Day gift :-).

By late afternoon I was finally able to gather everything and set up a photo shoot under one of the redbud trees by the Wool House.  I mixed and matched and rearranged and fought the too bright light and then Betsy's head popped up in a perfect photobomb.  I love that she is in the picture.

Do you remember her babysitting the bottle lambs?  She loved to sleep in the crate with the lambs, especially if there was a heat lamp involved.  Curling up with a warm lamb was a close second.  I'm not sure Maisie ever took a nap without Betsy.

I don't think Betsy knows her lambs are in this yarn blend, but it's sweet to think that she does and wanted to be part of the pictures.  To make it even better, I told a little story about Betsy and her lambs in the booklet.  Do you remember which lamb ruined it for her?

The bright sun did work out in my favor to help show off the little stitch markers -  sky blue, grass green, tree green, dandelion yellow and redbud pink.  These are my favorite type of stitch markers for knitting.  I haven't learned how to make crochet markers yet, but I enjoyed learning a little about beads and wire and I doubt this is the end of it :-).

The stitch markers are hanging around their necks like a sheep bell and can be easily removed to use or can just stay part of the decoration.  Do you remember which lamb wore the first bell and why?

The yarn wrapped ornaments are for the small gift boxes and the unwrapped ornaments are for the yarn kits.  There will also be a little bit of Blossom roving tucked in the yarn kits so you can wrap your own with any leftover yarn.  It's not a surprise why I picked Blossom to help with them and that is part of her story in the booklet.

This shady tree is actually the redbud tree most loved by lambs...and cats and dogs and chickens and lamb moms.  Remember Early sleeping next to the yard sheep?  He knew they were real sheep, too, and you still can't tell us any different.  

So...that's Early and Abby on the bag logo, yarn tags and leather tag.  They are an important part of our story here and I didn't want them to be left out just because they couldn't contribute any wool.  I loved sitting out under this tree with them tucked against my legs.  Using them in the logo helps a little.

The drawstring bags are a handy 10"x12" size, just perfect for a skein or two of yarn or a small project. The booklet tucks nicely in there as well.  

The booklet was a true labor of love.  I thought it would be easy to write up some stories, describe each sheep's wool, find some good pictures and send it off to the printer.  Phew!  The stories weren't too hard other than trying to pick out what stories I wanted to tell.  I could probably write whole chapters on each sheep...and maybe I will someday.

The problem was the pictures.  Those early lambs lived here long before I had a decent camera or even any real practice at taking pictures.  I love the pictures I have, but they do not compare to the pictures of the more recent lambs.  I wanted Punkin to look as good as Biscuit.  

I played around with several styles and finally settled on a sort of pen and ink/wood block sort of look.  I used the original photographs to make sketches and then a fun iPad app to turn them into black and white line drawings and then fine tuned them with another drawing app.  I enjoyed learning how to do this and it was fun to spend a little extra time with each lamb.

The booklet not only has pictures and stories about the lambs, but also a bit about their breed(s) and fleece.  There's also a little story about how the yarn came about and how I became thecrazysheeplady.  Karen Battersby designed a beautiful lamb sweater using the yarn and the pattern for that is included as well.  Even if you don't have a baby lamb to dress, it could easily be adapted for a small dog or agreeable cat :-).

About the yarn.  Each skein is 250 yards of worsted weight yarn and weighs around 4.4 ounces.  I find it knits comfortably to the gauge of around five stitches per inch and is a very nice versatile yarn with good Punkin's Patch character.  It's soft and cuddly, but hard working enough to do most any job.  

As this blend can never be replicated, it's a very limited offering and will only be for sale here on the blog.  Feel free to share this post with your friends, but I'd rather it didn't get posted to the wider public.  There's not much of it and I want to make sure everyone who's been along for the ride, new or old, gets first dibs.

This is my favorite picture from the shoot.  Isn't it a bit funny that Betsy came over here as well?  Maybe she can smell her lambs in there.  

* * * * *

The yarn box includes 1, 2 or 3+ skeins of Lamb Camp bottle lamb yarn, the lamb stories booklet, drawstring bag, plain ornament, spring stitch markers, a leather Lamb Camp tag and a fun surprise gift.  

         One skein $52    Two skeins $77    Three skeins $102 

If you are wanting a sweater quantity of yarn or unwashed yarn for weaving, drop me an email.   

The ornament box includes a Lamb Camp bottle lamb yarn wrapped ornament with the spring stitch markers and leather tag attached, the drawstring bag, lamb stories booklet and the fun surprise gift.

$36

As always, if you are interested in purchasing something from the farm shop, just send me an email and let me know what you'd like.  I'd also love to hear who your favorite lamb is or your favorite lamb story.  Even if you aren't interested in purchasing a Lamb Camp box, I'd love to hear about your favorites :-).

Shipping is always a struggle these days.  If you would like a shipping quote, I am happy to get that for you.

You are also always welcome to come to the farm and visit the sheep and save your shipping costs entirely.  Punkin's Patch won't be setting up at the Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival later this month, but I'll be around that weekend and we would all love a visit :-).  Please send me an email to let me know you are coming.

We hope you love our yarn :-)

Thecrazysheeplady, Punkin, PPPP, Ewen McTeagle, Keebler, Graham Lamb, Baaxter Black, Lila, Liddy, Blossom, Maisie, Bullwinkle and Biscuit

It's All Been Fun...

...but washing the yarn is the best part :-).

I've spent the last month (or so) working on the new Lamb Camp yarn release.  Remember the bottle lamb fleeces I sent to Stonehedge Fiber Mill?  Here's a video link.  

I've got the yarn "finished" (skeined, washed and ready for tagging).  I wrote a short book telling a little about the yarn and all the sheep who made it.  I also created a picture of each sheep as a lamb to go with each story.  There was a huge learning curve there, but I'm happy with the end results.

At that point I realized that the project was much more than just throwing together a pamphlet with some yarn and more of a celebration of all the sheep and each of their special stories, so I designed a small project bag, some Equinox Farm inspired stitch markers, a project tag and a wooden ornament to all go with it.

Whew!  I've got way more time in this project than I should, but I always end up putting more time into each lamb than I anticipate as well, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.  

The first batch. 

The yarn isn't "finished" until it's washed and dried.  The main reason you need to wash it is to get rid of the spinning oil and any residual dirt, but washing it also wakes up each fiber and allows it to relax back into it's original character.  Some fibers bloom into fuzzy yarns, some get really stretchy, some get puffy, some relax with more drape and flow...  This yarn, being a blend of several types of sheep does a little bit of all of that.

One skein before washing, on the right.  One skein after, on the left.  Isn't that fun?

The yarn is really pretty.  I've made a lamb sweater from it and also a matching short poncho for myself.  The lamb sweater was pretty straightforward, but I have some epic stories about the poncho that need to be shared here so I can add more details than what hit Instagram at the time.  Miss B made a gorgeous sweater from the yarn and I would love to share that as well.  My poor neglected blog.

So, yes, there will be some of this yarn for sale and my plan is to post it on Sunday for Mother's Day, mostly for sentimental reasons.  Of course I don't have any pictures taken and it's crazy/normal springtime on the farm and Frankie and I have our first horse show tomorrow... so it may be the afternoon before I can actually pull that off.  

Wouldn't it be nice if I got all that done and posted a horse show update tomorrow evening like the good old blogging days?  I'm going to try.

Happy Bees

 

I am happy to report that Stella's bee hives are all alive and well and once again we've made it through winter with no losses.  That's a pretty impressive record actually, as we've heard quite a few stories of significant hive losses over the last few years.  

We are no experts and aren't really "successful" honey producers these days, but we are very happy to help maintain a steady bee population and we think the keys to our successes/good luck are not opening the hives and bothering the bees any more than we absolutely have to and not taking too much much honey from them.  We've also never treated our hives for any serious diseases.

If you are looking for an enjoyable book to read about beekeeping...and life, I will once again recommend A Country Year:Living The Questions by Sue Hubbell.  It's one of my very favorites.

Here is a fun (and a bit hard) new puzzle.  For those keeping score at home, disregard my work time.  I actually worked it twice, once as a gift from a friend and once after I created it to my account so I'd have record of my working it...or something.  

Maisie's Red Sled And Some Of My Favorite Things

I mentioned the red sled that went a** over tea kettle "several" years ago and broke into a million pieces.  See the kind of weird red plastic Christmas tree ornament?  It was made from that sledding wreck :-D.  It's one of my very favorite ornaments.

I love ornaments that have special stories or memories behind them.  Even years when I don't really feel like putting up any decorations, I always do because I'd hate to not visit with these special friends. 

I had plans to do a post every day this week sharing something special from my Christmas.  Even though it's only Wednesday now Thursday (!), I feel like the week has completely gotten away from me.  And actually, I just realized that one of the main reasons my week has gotten away needs his own blog post before I go any further.  Be right back. 

Okay!  Archie was a pretty good Christmas gift, eh?  :-D

I don't do a lot of traditional holiday stuff, but I do have some favorite things I'd like to share in case you might be struggling to find some Christmas spirit this year.  

One of my very favorite Christmas stories is The Tree Nobody Wanted by Tom McCann.  I love audiobooks and McCann does a wonderful job narrating if you go that route.  It's short and sweet and even if it's not a true story...and it very well is...it's a true story.

I always make a pan of gingerbread from Fields of Greens by Annie Somerville.  This year's (first :-) cake was my best yet.  Turns out if you use the actual called for size cake pan you don't have to stress about how much longer you have to bake it or how to get the middle done perfectly.  Thanks, Auntie Reg :-).  Sometimes I top it with poached cranberries (also in her cookbook), but usually I just warm it up and pour milk over it.

 

Years ago Tim put together a CD collection of our favorite Christmas music.  Yes, a CD collection, that's how long ago it was :-D.  He listens to his copy now on an iPod, but I'm still playing the CDs ;-).  Here's one of my favorite songs.  Sing along and sing it loud!

Of course my favorite sheep are maybe the best part of my Christmas.  I love being in the barn at night any night, but Christmas Eve is always extra special.  We'll once again do a live cookie party at some point in the evening.  I'll post the time on Christmas Eve...which is tomorrow :-o.

Yarn Along - A Barnyard Scarf

One of my favorite things to do is to sit down and spin yarn from our flock.  I have a big plan for the Tour de Fleece this year involving spinning enough yarn for a sweater, but mostly I only get allow myself an hour or so here and there and then I end up with baskets full of small amounts of yarn...that just sit there.  

I do enjoy the baskets of yarn.  There's something joyful about all the different colors, textures, weights and especially all the individual sheep tucked in there, but I've been trying to think of something special to make that would utilize those small skeins.

I decided to try weaving a multi-yarn scarf.  I used my handspun bits and bobs for the warp (the up and down threads) and some Nistock Farms Golden Fleece Cotswold singles for the weft (the side to side threads).  

Since the warp threads were all different thicknesses, I used a reed that would accommodate the thickest yarns.  Actually, I started with a 6 dent reed (6 ends per inch) but didn't like it and, you know, ripped it out ;-).  The 8 dent reed worked reasonably well, but a 10 would have been better.

I wanted to showcase the individual handspun yarns rather than the solid color weft, so I worked for a warp faced weave (more warp showing than weft).  I know who most of the yarns are.  The white Cotswold is Keebler, the warm brown is Petunia, the thinner white is Peabody, the too thick for the 10 dent reed gray is Rebecca Boone, the medium weight gray is probably Jester...

And it's too hot to even ask 20 to model it, so I hung it on the barn ladder.  Next to the fire extinguisher :-o.  

Some day it will cool down enough to wear.

Regarding books...I have lost the energy to listen to "grown up" books and after Thoroughly Enjoying the Terry Prachett young adult books last year, decided to delve into the Newbery Medal Winners list this year.  I may just stay there.  I've listened to The Girl Who Drank the Moon, The One and Only Ivan, Moon Over Manifest, Walk Two Moons and Bridge to Terabithia.  I've also listened to Some Kind of Courage and The Last Bus to Wisdom: A Novel.

I highly recommend them all :-).

Welfare Check

When a musher gets stopped out on the trail and the GPS tracker doesn't move or moves in circles...they try to find someone in the area who can get out to them and do what's called a welfare check to make sure everyone is okay.  

One of the mushers I am following this year is Blair Braverman.  She appeared to be having trouble at a creek, or was maybe trying to get back to a cabin, or...  Her gazillion Twitter fans were all panicked.  I felt bad as well because I, too, feared the worst.  Turns out her GPS unit was  just malfunctioning and she was still on the trail.  

No such luck here.  I left "Unalakleet" in good spirits, knitting on strong.  I did my short rows, divided for the sleeves, added 8 or 9 inches to the body...started second guessing how it was going, hesitantly knit another inch or two...and stalled out.  

I needed a break anyway.  I'd knit to where my hands were sore.  Bill was in town so I was helping with shearing at Final Frontier Farm on Monday and then we sheared here Wednesday.  The Wool House Crafters met on Tuesday and I asked a couple folks for their opinion on the fabric I was getting and I think we all agreed that it was okay, but could be better.  

I ended up ripping it all back to "Unalakleet".  I figured if I was going to get stuck out on the trail making some necessary sled repairs, there'd be no better place than to hang out with fellow Iknitaroder knitski and eat sourdough pancakes ;-).  20 caught up with us there.

20:  Glad you've made it back here to Unalakleet and everything is okay.  Sounds like you've had some trouble this year.  What can you tell us about that?

TCSL: Well, the theme this year so far seems to be gauge.  Gauge too tight, gauge too loose, gauge not making sense, gauge inconsistencies due to sloppy or inattentive knitting on my part...  

20:  Why is gauge so important?

TCSL: Gauge affects how the fabric feels and how a garment fits.  If you knit it too loose it's "sleazy".  If you knit it too tight, it's feels stiff and harsh.  If your gauge doesn't work with the pattern size you've chosen, your sweater won't fit.  There are frequently gauge issues with stranded knitting versus straight stockinette as well.

20:  I thought you did some gauge samples before the race though.  Shouldn't that have helped?

TCSL:  Yes, absolutely.  My mistake was only swatching the plain knitting, not the colorful patterning as well.  I lost two days right off the bat because I didn't do that and had to restart 2-3 times.  After I finally felt like I was on the right track and finished the top section, I started down the body and all was okay for awhile and then I started knitting tighter for some reason and the fabric started feeling "off".

20:  So what are you going to do about that?

TCSL:  I did what Stella always says "Take it back out and do it right."  I unraveled it all the way back to the bottom of the yoke last night and I am going to go up a needle size which will make the stitches bigger and the fabric softer and smushy-er and I'm going to pay more attention this time.

20:  That sounds like a good plan.  So other than the sled runner issues, how have you enjoyed the trail so far?

TCSL:  Honestly, the trail this year has been one of the prettier ones.  We got all sorts of beautiful snow early on and Pip and I really enjoyed that.  I took a bunch of pictures of that and all the sheep and even did some videos that I just haven't had time to edit together.  

20:  I've noticed you've been knitting in the Wool House more this race.  What changed to encourage that?

TCSL:  I loved that cute little tan couch, but it wasn't the most comfortable sled ;-).

20:  It's been fun catching up on all the Iditarod race videos and interviews up there with you as well.  

TCSL: Yes!  I've really liked being able to run my iPad up there this year.  It's been fun to keep up with the race a little better while I'm knitting.  I've listened to some good books and podcasts as well and I like that better than trying to knit watching tv in the house.

20:  What's been your favorite? 

TCSL:  Ooh, hard to pick.  I really enjoyed Winterdance: the fine madness of running the Iditarod and Dogsong both by Gary Paulson.  I listened to Call of the Wild by Jack London as well.  I liked it...I mean it's a classic, but some of it was hard to listen to.  I'm going to look for another sled dog or Iditarod story to keep us company as we get back out on the trail.  I also have a few episodes of the Iditapod to listen to.  That's a really fun podcast.  And you know, the race isn't over so there will still be more race updates from the Iditarod Insider :-).

20:  Do you think there is any chance you could still get finished before the Red Lantern?

TCSL:  Not really.  I'd have to think we are mathematically out at this point, but I'm basically okay with that.  It's disappointing for sure, but I'd rather be disappointed by not finishing quickly than disappointed in the finished sweater.   My sheep team worked hard to get us all here and I want them to be happy and proud.  Sometimes what you learn out on the trail is more important than the race itself.  I'll come off this race a much more skilled knitter...and that will help me for next year!

Mushing on!

Not Quite Dead Yet

I made it nearly 50 years without getting the flu.  It'd be nice if I could go another 50 without a repeat.  A huge thanks to Saint Tim for holding down the fort for almost a week now.  I did make it out for a Biscuit fix to feed this morning.  Yeesh.

Yarn Along - The Denim Elizabeth Shawl

Once I finally settled on what I was doing with the colors, twill structure and sett, the rest of the project went off without a hitch.  Actually, the entire project from dyeing and combing to spinning and finally weaving was completely enjoyable.  I think it does look like denim and I'm giving myself an A for creating and using c-o-l-o-r :-D.

I was worried there were too many white stripes, but side by side, it's probably not far off.  I wish I'd had a little more of the very light blue yarn, but again, it's not too far off.  The brown stripes can be either to match the pocket stitching or the dirt that is inevitably ground into my clothes just minutes after I put them on ;-).

The orange stripe on each edge is to match the side seam stitching and hems.

And this beautiful shawl pin (made by a friend who didn't just create the pin, but made the glass beads as well!) nicely represents the coppery/brass button.

My biggest fear in weaving a shawl was that it would end up thick, stiff and blanket-y when I wanted light and drape-y.  I worried a bit about how loosely woven this was, but I had confidence in the yarn and it came out just as I wanted. 

Thanks, Elizabeth!  I had a great time and, as always, learned a lot.  A great project :-).

Edited to add:  fiberpusher wanted to know the shrinkage after fulling.  Just off the loom and before fulling (which I do in the washing machine) the shawl measured 20" x 86".  After "washing" it measures 17.5" x 80.5".  It weighs 8.8 ounces.  There are 6.2 ounces of yarn left for another project :-).

My book this week is The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg.  After last week I wanted something completely Pollyanna and this definitely fit the bill.  Nothing earth shattering, but a completely enjoyable story.  Perfect :-).

Joining in with Ginny...

Yarn Along

Yeah, I know I missed last week.  These pictures were actually all taken, well, most of them, last week, but I didn't have the mental energy to explain them and then the next thing I knew it was...like Friday.  

It's quarter after ten and I once again don't feel like I can give this post the energy it needs, but I'm going to try to hit the high spots so I have a record of at least some of how this project has progressed.  This is the Elizabeth shawl.  Finally.

After stewing and stewing on how much of each color I wanted to use and how I wanted to use the colors, I finally decided to just figure out the percentages of the colors as they came off the wheel.  I don't remember now how I separated out the colors before combing and spinning, hence the importance of documentation (head smack).  

I like how Betsy appears to be studying the loom (the Big Mac) in front of her.  She's probably amazed at the dishtowel mess on there.  I'll be weaving the shawl on the Baby Mac for just that reason.  

I'm not going to address how the warping board also appears to be appalled at the dish towel mess in front of it.  

Normally I wouldn't have left each color on as I wound the warp, but I wanted to see all the colors together in case it told me something about the mix aka something else to stew about...which I did for about a week and then finally decided to just go with it by the math and how it turned out was how it was supposed to turn out.  

But yes, still stewing.

I sleyed the reed using the 'by the book' maths to determine which size reed I should use...and didn't like it.  Thought it was too crowded.  

So I pulled out the little Dorothy table loom and wove a sample...like I should have from the very beginning.  I threaded it looser, did a right and left twill, thought maybe I should double check the denim twills and found that actually jean denim is not a 2/2 twill, but a 3/1 twill for heavy denim and 2/1 twill for lighter weight fabric.  

I sampled the 3/1 and hated it and then thought what the heck and pulled the last half of the sample out and re-threaded it for a 2/1 twill and really liked that.  Sorry to not explain that more for non-weavers, but it's now 10:40 and I'm tired :-o.  Here's a good simple explanation.

I also had a great plan to take pictures of 20 and the Sock Monkey doing all this since they tend to be the ones to fix most of my yarn problems...and forgot.  It would have been really cute.  Sigh...  Edited to add the next morning - Oh wait!  I did take a picture of them studying the Baby Mac at least :-).

Staff meeting in the Wool House. Sleyed at 10 epi, but now have decided to go with 8. To keep the width more where I want I need to pull out some threads before re-sleying. We are trying to decide if we should do that in the current ratios or maybe there’s too much white and we should use this opportunity to readjust the colors a little. 🤔 #sertasheep20 #sockmonkey #weaving #handspun #handdyed #handweaversofinstagram #WoolHouse

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Jan 19, 2018 at 12:22pm PST

My next dilemma was the orange.  I'd originally planned to just use that for the hem stitching, but stewed on that for awhile and decided (after it was threaded and wound on of course) that I wanted it to run up both edges as well, like the side seams of blue jeans.  

I stewed on how to make that work without un-doing anything, started putting the hemstitching in and didn't like it so took it out, pulled one of the four hand woven (with a needle, long story) picks of the plain weave edge to make it three to match the three shafts I was using (don't ask me why I thought that was important), got the side orange set up and started weaving and after about three inches I decided I did want the hem stitching after all and put that back in.  Yes, I'm exhausting even myself at this point.

I'm a little worried that the fabric is too "sleazy" but it was sleazy on the sample as well and it fulled nicely so I'm [weaving] on with confidence...  I'm about halfway through.

As far as books....yeesh...I've hit some duds lately.  Well, duds really isn't the right word.  My most recent book, The One and Only Ivan was very well rated and I guess most folks really enjoyed it, but even though I had to assume the ending was going to be happy, I really struggled getting to that ending having to listen to and be reminded of what people do to animals.

Speaking of animal books, after I raced through all of the Tiffany Aching books last year I listened to The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents.  Terry Pratchett was just an incredible story teller.  I have listened to these six books several times now and each time I catch something new and brilliant that I'd missed before.  These I can highly recommend!

Joining in with Ginny for the...

Un-Yarning Along

I'm a firm believer in setting yourself up to succeed...but I only let myself knit at night, after dinner, when I'm tired.  It was 63 degrees today.  I worked until 4:00 and grabbed my knitting bag and headed for the Grahaminator (my favorite knitting spot).  Getting such an early start I was sure to go far.  And I did.

And then I noticed that I'd doubled up a row the night before...and had to frog four rows.  Four rows on a hat is no big deal to most knitters, but I'm a Slow Knitter.  Nothing else to do though.  And then June rolled over on her back looking like my knitting was killing her...and I had to laugh.

At least the scenery was nice :-).

I think I'm back on track, but I'll give it a good double check tonight after dinner.  I decided to have a margarita.  That can only help, right?   

I'm currently listening to The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald.  It's taken me a bit to get into it, but it's starting to get interesting. 

Back Yarning Along

When Ginny stopped hosting the popular Yarn Along last year I thought, "Well, I can still post on Wednesdays and use that as a record of progress." A couple of my favorite Yarn Along-ers tried that as well. It just wasn't the same.  I'm so glad the Yarn Along is back even if it looks like it's just monthly now.  It's a lot of fun and I've made several new friends through this group and picked up quite a few good book tips as well.  

For this week's Yarn Along post I'm sharing some Christmas gift knitting.  Not knitting I'm doing to gift, but knitting gifts given to me ;-).  This Voe hat is a kit from Brooklyn Tweed.  I've been really wanting to try some of their yarn not only because it's so beautifully marketed, but also because it's American made yarn from American sheep.  Nice!

So far I've gotten to learn a new cast on (German) and a new ribbing.  I think the ribbing is called mistake broken ribbing.  I. Hate. Knitting. Ribbing.  Getting to straight knit every other row was a huge morale booster :-D.  I may never knit un-mistake un-broken ribbing again!

Is this not the most charming project bag ever?

With the most charming logo and tag to boot?  I just love everything about this project so far :-).

And it was nice to see the sheep venture out for a bit this afternoon.  A brief foray near 30 degrees!

My book this week is another favorite Christmas gift.  Sheep-O!  The story of the worlds fastest shearers.  I'd link to it but it's so old it doesn't even show up on Amazon's used books.  Maybe if I checked Amazon Australia.  It's fascinating!

I've also listened to a ton of good audio books that I've been thinking for months how fun they'd be to share.  I'll try to put together a list for my next week's (I'm just going to keep repeating that to myself  in hopes I can challenge myself to do it ;-) Yarn Along post.

Happily joining in with Ginny...

It's That Time Of Year...Again

It's time for the Tour de Fleece!  20 is still assembling my complete line up for this year's Tour (fingers crossed he goes easy on me ;-), but I wanted to share a sneak peek at my special "big" project.  

Last year, when I was organizing the wool storage/skirting area, I found an old fleece of Elizabeth's. It was from 2013...hence the wool storage area needing to be organized :-o.  Since I already have a completed Elizabeth project, I felt like this gave me a free pass to try something "dangerous".

Several months ago, Miss B and I separated out some dark, some light and some mix of the two and then dyed it various shades of blue in hopes of ending up with a "denim" color.  We then ran it through the picker to start blending it and I planned on carding it all.  

I have no idea what made me try combing it the other day, but I'm so glad I did.  I hadn't been jazzed about the carded samples.  I loved it combed.  My only issue then was the amount.  How much would I have to comb to get enough to make a shawl (my planned project).  

Turns out you can comb an entire fleece if you just stop whining about it and do it!  Who knew... ;-)

You can click the "combing wool" label at the bottom of this post or on the right side bar for more detailed information about "combing wool".  I'm just going to share some quick pics for curiosity and posterity.

Messy to "faded denim".  I love this color...and I think we nailed it :-D.

I still have no real idea how this works*, but it does.  You start pulling the fiber through a diz (yes, this one is straight from my recycling bin ;-)...

...and keep pulling and it all comes out in one long, ready to spin, wool [thingy].  What would be a descriptive word I'm looking for here besides "top"?  Rope?  I then wound/rolled each [thingy] into a "bird nest" (man, this post gets more confusing for non-spinners all the time :-o) and tucked it into a basket.

Natural gray/brown, white, medium blues, dark blues...

...and a couple brighter blues...that I may try to tone down a bit so they are a little less "dangerous" ;-).

That's a big basket of wool!  17.2 ounces total.  I had more waste than I should have, but I learned a whole lot for next time.  The trick now is actually making myself spin it.  I'm so enamored with the basket of un-spun fiber that I'm worried I'll just keep petting it and never move on.

Another similar shot, but with Tilly helping "pose for scale" again ;-).

The colors are more accurate in the previous picture, but I like the light on the flowers and our old truck in this one.  

I finally finished this year's Ravatar/cartoon this afternoon.  Anyone already in the Ravelry group can get a sneak peek.  I'll post it here tomorrow...which most likely means Saturday morning the way things go ;-).  It's pretty cute!

* "It's still magic even if you know how it's done."  Terry Pratchett - A Hat Full of Sky

Yes, that's one of the Tiffany Aching books that I just burned through one right after the other.  Fabulous fun!  With a nod to the old Yarn Along posts...