Spinning

I sent some fleece to Spinderella's mill for the first time. www.spinderellas.com I had a BFL fleece blended with 20% nylon to spin for sock yarn. So far I have one bobbin nearly full. I am going to make a three ply yarn. My sample came out the way I planned. (love when that happens). The single is 40 wpi and the three ply is about 24 wpi. Can't wait to get it all spun up and then on to playing with dye. I am very happy with the processing that Jim and Lynn did and will be using them in the future. I must have hit it just right because the wool was back in two weeks.

Washing Wool

I wanted to process the fleece myself from my ewe's clip. Not the first clip from them, but the first now that they are mine. I washed up one fleece in small batches and the other two I kept the locks aligned and wrapped in cheesecloth and then placed that into some plastic containers. This is great for dunking up and down in the wash and rinse water so no need to touch the fiber. Keeps the locks neat in a row or rows depending on which container I use. Some are large enough to hold two rows, but only one can fit in the sink at a time. I placed the locks into the cheesecloth lined container and then folded over the four sides of the cloth. Fill the sink with very hot water and put in enough dish washing soap to make the water slick. You do not want suds. I used Ultra Dawn. Let the wool soak for at least 20 minutes and then lift out the container and fill the sink with water the same temp as you just let out. I add a *glug* of vinegar to the first rinse. Put the container back into the sink and after a minute or two dunk it up and down gently. It may take one or two more rinses to get the soap out and the water clear. Then I take the whole thing outside and place the locks on a cheesecloth lined wire shelf that is set up on saw horses in the patio. Cover the locks with another piece of cheesecloth to prevent the birds from flying off with the wool and let dry.

Sheep babies

On April 17th (my birthday)Terri's ewe Judy had twin ram lambs. Both born black, but as of now it looks like they are going to be gray. (Now? Yes, I am behind in posting to my blog. Life seems to get in the way. I have been distracted by knee pain,but that should be resolved soon with surgery.)
These lambs are Shetland. If you read previously, you know that Rocky is the ram and that we took three ewes to the breeder in November. The other two ewes had their lambs on April 23rd and May 1st. Out of the three sets of twins only one is a ewe lamb. Blossom is the brown ewe with brown babies and Peaches is the white ewe that has a black and a white baby. It will be interesting to see how all of these lambs turn out. Most will lighten up quite a bit according to the wool next to the skin.

The Girls are Nekkid!

Yesterday was shearing day. Six of us trailered our sheep to a central location to be sheared. It looked like a circle of wagons more or less as we waited for the shearer to arrive. He was hours late because his first stop of the morning took longer than expected as he had to round up the sheep. Silly woman did not know that she had to have her critters in a pen waiting for him. What was she thinking??? The weather was cold and cloudy, and very windy. The rain did hold off so I guess the shearing gods were favoring us. We stood around for a long time while waiting, throwing sicks for some of the dogs and visiting. Finally after 2 PM we got started. There were about 40 sheep sheared and by the time we left to come home the shearer was starting on the angora goats. Some of the people do not spin so did not want the fleece. I came home with seven fleeces besides my three. Today I went to get the mohair as the lady where we had the shearing does not spin either and throws it all away. There are three gray angoras there and I think it will be nice to blend some with my Coopworth. As you can see from the picture, the girls look much different then they did when I got them last month. We had heavy frost this morning so I put extra bedding in their pen in the barn. Good incentive for that wool to start growing again!

New Toy

My Will Taylor 6-ply kate and distaff arrived yesterday. UPS left it in the driveway. Good thing no one saw it before we got home from town! It is oak. Here you can see the pieces and the way it looks when all together. Very clever. Obviously plying is done without the distaff attached. It just slips into the center. Very easy. It even came with a ribbon for tying up the flax. I will change it however since it should match the spinner's eye color or station in life. Hmmmmmmmm, what color does one use for *crone*? Can't wait to use it.

Bags

Here is a spindle bag that my friend Yvonne made. Jeans leg and pockets, trimmed with some of her bobbin lace, antique buttons and a small guardian angel I used a candy tin that slips inside to protect the spindle. The strap is long enough that the bag hangs at my hip making it convenient to spin right out of the bag.

Plying and playing

Here is the ball being plied, then I wound off three skeins. Two are 100 yards and one is 50 yards. I thought I would play with some Kool-Aid to see how the silver gray would turn out. I like the heathered appearance. The smaller skein is done with Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade, then we have Mango, Blastin' Berry Cherry and the unspun fiber in the basket is Grape. Click on the picture for a close up look at the colors. I put some water into a pot and then the skein, heated it a bit and added the Kool-Aid. I simmered each pot about 20-30 minutes until the water was clear. Playing with small batches is fun, but if I were going to do a large amount of fiber or yarn, I would use commercial dyes. It did make the kitchen smell good.