Lura fleece after a rotten day

One of my favorite things happened today. I came home to find a new fleece to spin ( packed in a Huggies box. Happily, we don't usually have those around here anymore.) I bought a lovely Jacob fleece from a lady in Oregon - mostly black with some white mixed in.

I'm now debating about how to spin - as variegated or as black and white yarns separately. I've tried to post my picture, but it is saved as a bitmap and Luddite that I am, I can't seem to get Hello to read it. Maybe another day when I'm not fatigued to the point of nausea.

Source of exhaustion? Being sick at heart. Today I learned something I should have known all along: that this leadership group I'm working with at school doesn't share the philosophy we've been working toward for the last 3 years. I'm sorely tempted to close my door, teach my way, and wash my hands of the whole affair. Luckily, it's the last quarter and I can get through 7 more weeks of the nightmare. Thirteen more years of it? That remains to be seen. And I can't rely on a daily fleece on my porch to sustain me!

Check this out. The yarn on top is the nicest I have spun...and it's made from the nastiest fleece I have purchased. We went to Ottawa to pick up the fleece and I must have washed it 4 times to remove the gross parts. Then I learned that it is possible to comb fine not so long fleece and my worries were over. The purple was made with the same fleece carded. Not bad, but not as nice as the white. I'm dyeing it shades of green for a friend to knit a scarf for her grown-up daughter. Double winner. 

The picture definitely doesn't do these babies justice. These were spun from the luscious roving I had processed. It's a blend of white Romney and grey mohair. I have tons of it as I got a really good deal on both and it makes a wonderful combination. No project in mind yet. 

Balls pictured here are from the practice yarn I spun as I first learned spinning on my Kromski. They are singles waiting to be plied with the combed Cotswold fleece I'm working on as the skeins pictured already have been. This will be enough for a large knitting project. 

This dark brown yarn is spun from some natural colored Navajo Churro I processed and spun 2 ply. I have some off white as well and hope it turns into a skirt I found from the Reynolds company. The original was knitted using lopi lite, but I love the idea of using fleece from sheep nearly extinct that are being brought back to their original numbers through the efforts of responsible sheep farmers. Lots of color work will be needed here and I'm looking forward to this one.  

Another batch finished. I'm much better at completing spinning projects made from already processed fiber, I notice. This was another pre-dyed fleece I got reasonably and had fun spinning and 2 plying. 

Look at these colors - all dyed with leftover Easter egg dye tablets. It's the very sandy Romney fleece I washed multiple times, dyed, combed and plied using my Babe wheel. I love the way that little baby plies. Now to find a project for these beauties... I'm looking at rug hooking. I need another fiber project going around here, no? 

What a pleasant surprise this turned out to be. It started out with intrigue regarding a pattern I found online, then discovered I had in a book. I didn't like the fleece I spun in this early spinning project, but it knit up nicely here. Included are some partial skeins of yarn from my stash and a lovely small bit of corriedale dyed single yarn spun on my spindle. In terms of using up leftovers, it was a great success - 4 in one shot! It needs the pocket stitched on, but I'm counting it as complete. I'll make this one again. 

I finally finished an entire batch of spinning. In the interest of lace knitting, I purchased a lot of processed Shetland fleece from an ebay seller, 12 oz in 3 natural colors: oatmeal, silver and brown. That will go nicely with the black Shetland I'm currently working on, but I won't post at this time. I'm reveling in having completed one whole batch! 

Sad Sunday again!

Sadly, it's the Sunday at the end of spring break. I know lots of moms yearn for it to be over, but not this one. We've had some wonderful stay home times and just a few travels to keep things interesting.

I started out by taking a girls only trip to Fultonville, NY to pick up a treasure from an ebay purchase. My friend Tina joined me and we had a great time. It's wonderful to find a person that's easy to travel with. She didn't mind not knowing where we would eat or spend the night or even if we would. Neither of us mind turning around or asking for directions or poking around in random shops striking up conversations with strangers. We came home loaded with nearly free fabric, notions and vintage clothing as well. What fun!

I did spend a moderate amount of time knitting and spinning. I made some progress on projects and yarn which you can see in photos below.

Someone shoot me if I even think about buying another Rambouillet fleece. At least the one I have is a nightmare in terms of dirty ends and it's just too short for me to get excited about combing it. I've been struggling with that to make room for the 2 new fleeces I actually bought from a local person. We went to Alexandria Bay yesterday to buy a Shetland and a Border Leicester fleece from a gentleman recommended by a local shearer that Tom met in his travels. I'm getting drowned in unspun fiber of course, but as long as I can get everything washed before warm weather arrives, I'll be happy. And then there's all that summer spinning to consider.

Time to quit whining, get dinner ready and prepare something fun for my students to do tomorrow. After all, it will be the end of their spring break, too!

Here are Thomas and his buddy Jake enjoying the finished product. We'll have to save this recipe and share it...not bad! 

Thomas and I made Mrs. Peters' birthday cake from a book called the Seven Silly Eaters. A little diversion for a lull in spring break!