Yes Sir, Yes Sir, 3 Bags Full!

<---------- Look what I got!!

Our friend Erica's parents had kept 2 sheep and a llama as pets until recently, when they had to sell them. They gave me the fleece for free, considering I would knit them scarves from it. No sweat there, I would kill for this llama fleece in any other situation! It's so soft and clean that I don't think I'm even going to wash it before spinning.

















This is the Cheviot fleece, which is a breed I'm not very familiar with, but it seems pretty solid with a good staple length and a mild crimp. It'll probably be blended with another fiber to spice it up a bit.









And, the Shetland. I'm not sure if this is the norm, but this particular fleece seems as if it doesn't really have much of a lock formation. It's just kind of a big blob. That may also be attributed to the fact that they probably did not have a spinner in mind while shearing, but I've been able to work around it, and have already gotten some really good, clean, soft wool from this one.




The best part of these is that I got them right when we moved into our new place, where we have a TOP LOADING WASHER! I finished my last fleece washing in it, and it worked like a dream. So much less work than doing it in the sink or the bathtub.

Weird day...

I've had an..odd day.

It started off with me calling in sick to work, because I re-developed an old painful infection sometime during the night. I went in to the hospital for a lab test, because even though I have had this same thing a bazillion times, this new doctor still won't just call a refill of the prescription into my pharmacy. Whatever.
So I go and pee in the little cup for them, and like I ALWAYS DO after having my lab test, I sit down and wait for the results, and my prescription.
After 45 minutes of waiting, a lab nurse came over, commented on my knitting, and said, "You don't have to stay you know. We'll call you with the results and have your prescription called into your pharmacy"
It would have been nice if you would have said that before I SAT HERE for FOURTY-FIVE MINUTES!!

ugh.

It got better after that, with an interesting trip to my local craft store. I'm out of dye, and I've been putting off ordering more online until we get more settled into our new home. So I decided that a couple jars of Procion MX dye they carry (the ONLY dye they carry that I can use for wool) would hold me for a bit. I ran in, and to the exact spot where I knew the dye was. But, it WASN'T.
After a mini panic attack, I ran to an employee.
"Oh, uhm.............I think we moved it to our closeout store" (Crafts Direct closeout store; crap they got to get rid of for CHEAP)
So I run across the street, hoping, praying that they still have some.
After running around this little shop for awhile too, I have another mini panic attack. I can't find it anywhere.
Turns out, I'm just blind. It was in some far back corner, sitting on the floor. I made out like a bandit; 8 jars for $12; thats half price!

So tonight will be busy dying, and teaching hubby how to help! He's been doing little things to help me like reskeining and picking vm out of fleeces while he watches tv. It's so awesome to have someone who not only respects and admires my little fiber world, but wants to be involved with it as well.

Moved!

I think I've been going crazy! First we went to South Dakota in June, and now we've been moving for what seems like a month, and I finally have my studio with my computer back up and running!
June 20th was my birthday, and hubs got me the best present ever! I had been obsessing to him about starting a big project of a technique I haven't done much before...either something lace or fair isle. The sucker got me three BEAUTIFUL skeins of Malabrigo Lace! I knew what to make with it the second I touched it, and here she is:




















I had my wheel once we got into the new apartment, but I didn't have anything to spin, since I've been waiting to order supplies until we got settled. So I pulled the peacock batt from my store to spin. It's turning out a gorgeous teal, and the gray/silver alpaca is making it beautifully shiny.