Shetland wool - Jen

I am sitting here posting stuff to etsy, checking out farm blogs, planning on what I am going to dye/spin/card/knit (choose one) today, daydreaming about lambing, dreading going out in the cold for chores, worrying about shearing day...when I realized - these sheep have taken over my life! I think there's a word for it, what would you call it?

Anyways, I've posted some more stuff to etsy:

This is one of a few batts I posted, I'm calling it "Purple Mountains Majesty", catching the wave of patriotism from the inauguration. Its Lily, I dyed batches of turquoise, scarlet and orchid and then blended them on my drum carder. I hate making painting roving. I am terrible at it, its a mess and I waste a ton of dye, so I am going to focus on blends instead.

The next two are raised, processed, spun and knit by me. A hat from Woody :and mittens from our girl, Buttercup. Both moorit. Buttercup has white patches, so I work it in, love the random highlights. Not a lot of white when you look at the unspun wool, but it really stands out once its knit.

View from my kitchen window - jen

This is what I see on those mornings when its nice enough to feed them outside.

Hat from cihat

I made a second hat from Cihat, may end up being an annual tradition. Mom scorched hers trying to dry it too close to fire. We now know for a fact that wool doesn't burn...So if she wants another one she can buy it on my etsy shop. Only the first one's free. Who am I kidding, we all know what Doris wants, Doris gets.

So here is the source animal, what the wool (roving) looked like pre - spun and the hat.

Catchup - Jen

Rich had his tonsils out last Monday, he is pretty uncomfortable, but we are hopefully in the last stretch. He goes back to work next Monday.

I did a lot of wool production over the holidays, knitting and processing mainly. So I will be posting more stuff on the etsy shop.

The ewes are all healthy and woolly - is it the cold weather that makes them look woolier than prior years? The rams are ok. Black Walnut broke off a horn, which is sickening, cause they were gorgeous. But, he's fine.

Had a great 4h fiber class a few weeks ago, well attended and really good students! We made the cd drop spindle, learned to spin and I've heard back from a few that are sticking with it and are ready to start plying! Our next meeting will cover plying, making a lazy kate and a quick review of carding. If we have time, we may start needle felting. Dates for the classes are on my website.

Here is some batting I made from one of many gorgeous shetland fleeces I got from a friend down near the city while I was there during Rhinebeck. I don't know the name of the ewe, I call it "Joe's Fawn Ewe". It is otherworldly. I posted some of it on etsy, and held back some for myself. It is spinning up like butter!

Spun dog hair mittens - Jen

I took a commission from a friend of a friend to make a pair of mittens from hair collected from their dog, a husky. At first it started out as a family joke, as the dog is notorious for shedding, but as they researched the idea, they got more and more excited about pursuing the mittens.

The hair was about 1” long, not long enough for my skill level to spin on its own, so I blended the hair with about 30% wool, but still the batts were just like big balls of fluff. I am still hacking up hairballs!

Spinning was a challenge, I am used to the long fibers of Shetland which spin up nice and consistent and smooth. The hair tended to draft out of the batt in clumps, so the yarn ended up looking like a bulky novelty yarn. Not a bad thing, just not what I’m used to.

Knitting was awesome, since it was a commission, I had the excuse to knit all day on that stormy Friday. Probably will end up being one of my favorite Christmas memories of 2008. Guilt free daytime knitting, catching up on Charlie Rose episodes, watching the snow storm through the window, wearing sweat pants, slugging down hot tea and cookies, catnapping every so often from the exhaustion of non stop knitting…oooh, nirvana!
So here they are, and they were picked up last night. I started spinning on Wednesday, and wove in the final strand on Sunday afternoon. I hope the giftee is happy with them.

Kiraz morning surf scarf - Jen

I made this scarf from a pattern in Spin off - morning surf. It was really nice to knit, required a little counting, but it went pretty fast. I used Kiraz's wool, and her highlights really stand out with this pattern.

Needlefelted North Pole - Jen

This was inspired by a really cool shop I found on etsy, this lady makes needlefelted playmats and little elves and stuff. Anyways, it started out as just a snowman, but then it got away from me. The squirrel, crow, bunny (in the log) and mouse are loose and can be played with. I think I still want to add a skunk. Most of the wool came from a local farmer that has a dorset cross - lots of mediocre wool, so I cleaned it and carded it, dyed it with cushing dyes for the bright colors. The mouse and crow are from Dahlia who now lives in New Jersey. The squirrel (behind the pole) is from Jasmine, who is in NYC!

I was hoping to post this on etsy, but the boys won't let me, they want to keep it.

I will probably make more of the same idea. Its fun, and reminds me of making paper dolls when I was a kid.

Sorry about the el crapola photo. I need a new camera or something.