Fleecy Fun

So the Fabulous Phoebe came over on Wednesday to help me use this beast :



to process this beast (2 lbs of shetland fleece from "Freckles", classified as cream-colored):



I have fibers to blend in -- clockwise from the top left, glitz, tencel, silk, and some angora. Along with "Burt" (not pictured). I got some of this carded and taken to knit group on Saturday.



I've set up the scale to get an accurate fiber percentage, but it feels weird weighing out fiber, mostly because I'm a 'seat-of-the-pants' kinda person.

I spun some thin 2-ply, navajo plied the rest of the thin singles, and spun a 'beginner's chunky-n-light' for Phoebe to take with her to swatch with (and therefore have no pics of those).

I now have half of the fleeces washed (one drying, 3 dry and ready to card).

Oh, and anyone who hasn't seen them yet... here are the Jaywalkers:

Field Trip!

The Fabulous Phoebe and I went to visit a shetland 'ranch' that's right near my house this morning, to buy some lovely fleeces. You should see how peoples' eyes go wide when you say "yes, really, I want all of them that you have left." After money changed hands, we got a tour, and here are some of the highlights.

This guy was out standing in his field...

This cutie wanted her picture taken, and went right up to the fence to say hi.

He was keeping some of his non-breeding rams in one pen (one had a 'fading gene', and his coloration was fading, so they didn't want to breed that through their stock). The one on the right had obviously been in a battle recently.

This group was ready for its group photo. Ok, together now people! Everyone move this way and face the camera! One.. two.. three... smile!

And finally, here's the haul from the day. Eight shetland fleeces, varying from 2-3.66 lbs, with staples varying from 4-6", in light grey, cream, and white. One fleece has been washed, and is laying out drying right now. Seven need washing. They will all need carding, and I've already made arrangements to pick up a drum carder from the Llama store tomorrow morning. (The same one I rented to process the previous shetland featured in MJ's photos.)

From the driveway of the sheep ranch, we had a great view of Pikes Peak, and since I had the camera, I had to snap a quick pic.

Dragon Cookies and Kitty Cats

This weekend started off with our Penzey's order coming in (with the ever-useful Vanilla Extract), and a trio of cookie cutters:

Cookies were made, and castles were saved, by eating the dragons one by one. Unfortunately, the threat to the castles wasn't over, and they were devoured by the evil people who eat cookies.

The kitties seemed nonplussed by the whole cookie-making weekend.