Shearing Day!

Today was shearing day.  I am wore plumb out.  But I have such soft, girly hands from handling all that wool!

I will post pictures of Danny Smith shearing some of the sheep as soon as I get them resized.  I am just too tired tonight.

I will also be posting fleeces for sale on our farm's website as soon as I can get them skirted and photographed.  We have 47 sheep and lamb fleeces:

I have a "sheepy" mess in my living room right now.   Surprise company would be a disaster! 

~Lori

ah - HA!!!

Ever had one of those "ah-HA!!!" moments? I just did!

This is some of my first handspun yarn from a few years ago. There isn't much, 150 yds, but it is one of the first presentable yarns I ever made. Plus, it is Razorback Red!




I decided to use it on my new rectangle loom (more on that in a minute.) But obviously, this skein of yarn is not going to cooperate in this form - can we say tangled/mangled beyond use? So normally I have one of my rugrats sit and hold the skein on two outstretched hands while I either use the ball winder or wind it into a ball by hand. This usually involves lots of complaining on the part of the forced volunteer, followed by lots of ugly looks from me. But, hey, it gets the job done.

Well, no rugrats today because school started. Hmmm.....I inherited impatience (thanks Dad!), so actually waiting until someone gets home to help - it ain't an option. I have tried the "loop it around a dining room chair" method - never figured that one out. Also tried the ultimate impatience method of laying the loop in my lap and trying to wind from that. Yeah right, remember tangled/mangled? That is when the ah-HA!!! moment struck. If I loop this skein around my neck like a necklace, and let gravity do its job, I should be able to wind this all by myself!

And it worked! No complaining, no new wrinkles from glaring, and no rat's nest of yarn! I did have to un-loop it from around the back of my neck on every round, and I wouldn't want to do 2000 yards this way, but it was sooooo easy! And it only took about 10 minutes!

Now I know I am probably the last person in this century to figure this one out, I can just hear folks reading this post and going "DUH!", but I was rather proud of myself!

And here is the new rectangle loom. This is a Hideaway Homestead brand, and it is lovely! I have already made one scarf on it out of some acrylic, just to get the hang of it. I also have the parts to make it a large tri-loom for shawls.

And a close-up of the pins for weaving:
I will try to remember to post a picture of the finished Razorback scarf when I finish it!

New Pretties!

Check out all the cool stuff that followed me home from Fiber Christmas to share with mom:

Silk caps (lots of them!), alpaca roving, dyed Romney locks, bamboo, merino/bamboo, sari silk, mohair, art batts and yarn, oh my!

Yes, there is a spinning wheel in there - hubby found it and we called mom and she wanted it! It is old and needs some TLC, but it is still a beautiful wheel!

Later - as I get to stuff, I want to show a better picture and then what I make out of it. My brain won't shut off now, either. I saw so many things, and have way too many ideas for stuff, and the Lord still hasn't granted my prayer for 2 extra hours in my day!

Finished The Shawl!

I finally finished the Fleurdelise shawl I have been working on. It is made from a merino/silk sock yarn that mama gave me for my birthday last year. I don't knit socks. (I don't wear them, either, unless it is REALLY cold!) My attention span isn't long enough to make two of the same exact things in a row. But I loved this colorway when I saw it on etsy. It is called "Pumpkin Spice" and came from http://www.marigoldjen.etsy.com/ So, with it sitting in my stash, I had to find something to make from it. The pattern is by Michelle Miller, and I downloaded it from Ravelry. If you click on the picture below, it will take you to the pattern. (I don't know how I did it, but somehow it happened!)
I love how this yarn is multicolored, but it doesn't look "busy" like a lot of verigated yarns.

This picture is a little dark, but you can see the overall lacy look.

This will be a gift for a very dear lady that I used to work with. I seldom manage to keep things I create. I manage to justify to myself that time spent sitting on my hiney knitting is okay if I am making something for someone else. This lady is a beautiful Christian role model, and was a joy to work with. When I started this shawl, it was going to be for myself, but she kept coming to mind as I was working. Then one day I was driving down the street in front of the school, thinking about the section of the shawl I was working on, and there she stood, waiting to cross the street to another building on campus. Sometimes the Lord makes things very plain!