April Update

Well, today was the big day here, CT sheep and wool 2010! It was wonderful. You would have loved it. The temperature was perfect, the skies clear, and there was plenty to see and do. I tried to look at all the bunnies. They were so cute and plenty of puffy angora to adore. The sheep were not pleased with getting sheared. Some were in a big pen in a building after their trims and they looked mighty displeased with their new do's even though I pet them and told them they looked great. There were two alpacas and a llama to admire as well. I found plenty to want, but restrained myself. I did find several great finds, including an incredible score that would have made you squeak with excitement, too. There was a couple selling cleaned merino wool in grocery bags for $5 a bag. It smells strongly of mothballs, but nothing a good dye and soak could remove. There is some vegetable matter still stuck in the fibers, but once it is spun, I think I'll be able to get it all out. I'm guessing each bag weighed about 1/2 pound.

After some thought on our way out, I decided to get more, but they were already sold out! I guess everyone else knew a great thing when they saw it!

I bought some silk hankies for us to spin in the merino with bright colors. There was also a woman there who was at the Fiber Fest in Coventry last fall that I had bought some gorgeous gray and teal merino from (that I made those super thick winter socks with). I told her how much fun I had spinning and knitting the socks and wound up getting more gray merino from her. She was delighted to know how I had used her wool goodness.

I placed an order for the Jaquard dyes in the greens and silver gray so when you come visit, we will have plenty of good stuff to use dyeing. I also bought an inexpensive little professional dye kit in primary colors and black to have a little more variations in color. And before you start thinking that we will have too much dye and not enough wool, look at this pretty pile of merino that Karen picked up for me from a homeschooling family in upstate CT near the MA border earlier this month.

There's a pound to play with there! I found some white 100% silk in a lace weight yarn that looks like it will make a lovely shawl once dyed. I'm hoping to stay super busy in the two weeks hubby is away training in Phoenix next month that I don't miss him too much.

I finished his socks, too, just in time for our 18th wedding anniversary. They are really soft with the possum mixed in the wool. They aren't the most practical, since they need to be hand washed and air dried, but I hope when he puts them on, he knows that I knit each stitch with love and good thoughts for at least  40 years more of happy marriage with him.

Here's a pic of the fingerless gloves I knit up using the yak yarn from the yak we dyed and spun up last time that you were here. There's still a little yak fiber left, but I'm not anxious to use it up. Spinning it straight was hard because the crimp is so incredibly short, but it was a pretty fun experience overall .

 Hope to see you next week, Baby Sis! Happy Spring!

Love,
Big Sis