no front loading washer for me!

Realized that I had more unwashed wool than I had originally thought. Sunny day, nothing to do. Let’s wash us up some fleece. I wanted to get some of those large mesh laundry bags so I could do multiple fleeces without having them get mixed up. Unfortunately Target only had one. So I put the remaining BFL/Border Leicester in the bag and dumped the rest of the Columbia into the washer without a bag. Seems to be fine. I don’t understand why the tips of the Columbia are so yellow or how to get them washed. The cut ends are super clean!

P.S.  It’s party time!! I’m making pompoms. Weee!

fleecy

With the Great Lakes Fiber Show coming up at the end of the month, I’ve been trying to sort out just what I want to do… leave a fleece? enter the skein competition? purchases?

So, I decided to take a closer look at the two remaining fleeces I brought home from Masque a month or so back. I washed the smaller Icelandic with Power Scour for the first time, so I thought I’d give that a go again. The two other fleeces are an Icelandic ewe and a Lincoln/Cotswold/Tunis cross. I decided to wash the later, but skirted both.

The cross fleece, 4 pounds, is really quite beautiful with lots of big full curls. I was surprised at the amount of mud, but lack of VM (at least I’m hoping that was mud!). As of this moment it is sitting in the washing machine going through a second soap bath. Next will be a rinse, spin, then dry. I’m not sure whether to have it processed or not. The locks are so lovely, I think I might keep it.

The Icelandic, about 6 pounds, has a 6 inch staple length. There were very few poo-bits on it, but more VM. However, it feels nearly dry – I’ve heard this breed is light on lanolin. It’s not getting washed today. I might keep some and have some processed. I look at it and feel quite overwhelmed, thinking about combing ALL of it!

embarking on a fleece adventure!

Well, I picked up three fleeces this weekend at an SCA event. While I was there, I attended a class on sorting and cleaning. For some reason I am so hesitant to clean a fleece en masse in the washing machine. Usually I do it in small bunches in a pot of water. But if I just did the whole thing at once it would save time and the locks would be ready any time I want to work with them. As it is, there is a lot of wool I am not using because it’s still in the grease.

Anyway, I decided to test out my new Unicorn Power Scour on one of the new fleeces, a black Icelandic lamb. I measured out about an ounce of washing solution and put it into the washing machine, the water was set to “hot”. It’s going to sit in there a bit and then I’ll just do a rinse and be done. This fleece was not overly greasy, so I think just once will be enough. The Power Scour is biodegradable and usable at lower water temperatures, all good things. I’m very curious to see the end product.

rambling… sometimes you just gotta

I think I’m in chug-along mode. As in once every few weeks I dye a few pounds of wool. Each Wednesday I make an update to the etsy shop. During the week I spin a few skeins of yarn. In between I knit along on a project of mild interest. Tuesday evenings I weave a little more on the woolly bum cushions. I suppose some would call it a “rut”, but I feel like I’ve finally got a handle on my organization!

This weekend I’m picking up a few new fleeces from a local Ohio farm. When I spent my whole day in a fiber room at Masque a few weeks ago, I played with some great Icelandic wool and decided I needed some at home. So I chose two Icelandic fleeces and another that is a cross-breed. I’m excited to have some new additions to the pile. Plus I bought some wool scour last year at Rhinebeck and still haven’t tried it!!

I think we’ve decided to attend Rhinebeck again this year, but not Maryland. I haven’t been to Maryland yet, but I like the idea of going to Great Lakes in May and New York in October. I’m not sure I could manage to giant wool festivals in one year – or two in May. I’m easily intimidated. Plus I like to participate in the skein competition, drop off fleeces and buy from certain farms at the Great Lakes show.

After making that second teapot sweater and getting such a positive response, I’ve decided for sure to sell them this winter at my yearly show. I’m going to start buying teapots at flea markets and thrift stores, knit accessories for them, and sell it as a whole package. Weee! It’s like neckwarmers without having to hear from whiney customers about how wool is itchy and this or that is too small. Ha.

giant clown wig

I’ve run out of commercially processed top. But I haven’t run out of dye. So I got out the washed Columbia locks that have been vacationing on the backporch for several days and separated them into 2 ounce bunches. It worked out quite evenly into 6 piles and I dyed them 3 at a time. Some of the colors blended more than others. Those that I did in the crockpot stayed more separate than those done on the stovetop. I bet you can guess which ones are which. These will eventually get flick-carded and then I’ll send them through the drumcarder. (I’m buying a real flick-carder at Rhinebeck!) I’m hoping to add batts to my etsy shop at some point.

happy little surprises

1.) Apparently I’m going to “Rhinebeck” as all the cool kids call it. It’s the New York Sheep and Wool Festival. The story goes something like this: All summer I wanted to go on a vacation, but we were too busy getting ready for our vacation (Pennsic) to get away. Rich and I then decided to take a weekend in the fall to do something special but relatively close. I ordered a AAA tourbook for Maryland/DC/Delaware/Virginia and started to plot a course to Baltimore. Then I got my fall Spin-Off in the mail and found out Rhinebeck was taking place the SAME WEEKEND we were planning to be away! I informed Rich of this and he determined right then and there that we had to go. It’s only 2 additional hours drive than our original destination. I’m excited, as I’ve not been to a large scale wool festival before. Weee!

2.) I like my new fleece. A few days ago I dyed a couple ounces. Some of it went into the drumcarder on Sunday and made lovely heathered batts. I had used scarlet, turquoise, and gold with lots of black to achieve these colors. Quite pleased with the way it handled.

I also dyed some bright orange and yellow. Those I flick-carded on Tuesday with every intention of drumcarding them also. However, the color was too irresistible and I just couldn’t wait. They were spun as fluffed locks into an uneven single that will be plied once I dig out my nostepinne after the weekend. Additionally, Zeilinger Wool Co. will be accepting fleeces at the show, so I don’t have to wait until May to get the rest of this processed! Hoobah.

3.) Not necessarily happy nor a surprise – I sort of realized beforehand that I won’t be home this weekend to select the winner of the giveaway because I’ll be at Saxon Summer in the rain. So, first thing Monday morning I will post the winner! Sorry ladies. I set it as a week later than the original entry and halfway through the week mentally acknowledged the lapse in thinking. Which also means you can still get in until Monday if you missed your chance the last few days.

So, yes. I’ll be camping this weekend in the 100% chance of rain. Come back Monday to find out who has been selected as Pieces of String too Small to Save’s First Giveaway Winner!

good things come in furry packages

This weekend we attended the county fair. And while there, I inadvertently purchased a fleece.

Post-skirting. Wow – there was a lot of poop on this thing! VM, not so bad.

I had my selection of the competition fleeces and decided on a second place winner. This particular fleece is of the breed “Columbia” which I was told is a cousin of the Corriedale. From Sheep 101, I read that it originated from a cross between Lincoln and Rambouillet and is considered “all American”. I had my choice between Shropshire, Merino, Corriedale, Southdown and several others. I chose this one because I didn’t want something too fine and spongy. Also, it was very large – the man assisting me said it was the biggest one there, maybe 15 pounds. And it cost only $15. So, the game plan is to skirt the fleece, separate some for myself, and store the rest for the fiber show next spring where I will leave it in Zeilinger’s capable hands.

In addition to sheep, we visited with the cutest Pygmy goats at the fair. The babies are just hilarious! Sleeping and eating and trying to climb out. Check out my photostream for more goat pictures.

life goes on without you

While I was away at Pennsic, my fleece came home! I walked in to the house on Sunday to find a sizable box with my name on it. I opened it up and WOOL. Recall my horrific story of fleeces gone missing? Well, it made me a bit wary of getting another processed, but I decided to try again elsewhere, and left it with Zeilinger Wool Co, someone different (someone better). So professional! And the end product is beautiful. It’s free of VM, combed so nice and straight and clean. Finished in a timely fashion (May to August). I couldn’t be happier. In the future I would definitely go back to them. In fact, I may do that more often! It’s nice to be able to say: “Yes, this is locally produced fiber.”

Also, right before I left, I did some website helper stuff for a woman who owns alpacas. She was really nice, super friendly, and very enthusiastic. She called me up to ask if I would like to spin at the farm’s open house in a few weeks. It’s a national alpaca farm thingy where all the farms are open for visitors. She wants me to bring everything! My knitting, weaving, spinning – whatever I have. I think it’ll be really fun to get out there and be chatty and it’ll be good exposure for me. Something cute I can put on my resume (which is good because I’m job hunting). Plus I’ll just be fibering all day long!

marigold’s fleece

Last year at the Fiber Show I brought home a gorgeous brown fleece donated by Sage. He is a Blue-faced Leicester/Border Leicester X and it has to be the softest, most fantastic wool I’ve worked with. I love the little light curls at the ends… anyway I returned to the same booth again this year and she had his fleece again! But she also had Marigold’s fleece – the same cross but in white. It weighed about 6.5 pounds and cost $3.00/lb. I had to buy it! Marigold’s is just as sweet and soft as Sage’s fleece. I wish you could feel this. The photos don’t do it justice. 

A week or so back I took a wee handful out and washed it. Magical. I store my raw and washed locks in little squares of old sheets. It’s terribly fun to rip apart the fabric and make the squares, especially when I used the fancy expensive sheets from my mom’s B&B. Each packet is labeled with as much information as I can supply; like where and when I bought it and the breed. I have a huge stack of them on top of my shelf. 

I was thinking I’d dye some of the locks and spin them myself, sell or keep the yarn. And I would dye the locks and list them in my shop. I’m more hesitant  to sell locks than top because when I wash and dye locks, they always get really fuzzy and weird and I don’t know if people will be offended by that. 

P.S. This is my 100th post in this blog!

great lakes fiber show

The weather was beautiful here on Saturday. Get in the car, drive, drive, drive… arrive at the fairgrounds at 9:30. I went first to the skein competition table to enter my skeins. The more I looked at my 2-ply the less confident I became. I got stuck behind a woman who was entering 16 skeins! I swear she was the same woman I got stuck behind last year!! She turned around and said some nonsense to me about not standing there waiting. I can’t help it if you are hogging the entire table! More on this later when my skeins come back.

• I managed to obtain everything on my list in some form or another. Almost immediately I bought a huge box of Rambouillet roving. It’s not a fiber I’m terribly familiar with, but at $20 for the box, I couldn’t resist. However, after getting it home and trying it out, I’m not sure it was a wise decision. The spongiest, weirdest fiber I’ve ever experienced.
• Also bought a GORGEOUS white fleece, Bluefaced Leicester/Border Leicester cross. It’s from the same farm I bought Sage’s fleece from last year. She had his again; this one is from Marigold. So curly and soft soft soft. $3/pound.
• I wanted another bobbin for my Sonata, but there was only one Kromski vendor present! And she only had the dark brown bobbins, not the light ones. I bought one anyway to save on shipping. I’m not overly concerned with the inconsistency in color.
• Also got a needle felting tool that holds six needles – much quicker than one needle at a time.
• Found some blank cards with sheepies on them to send as thank-you notes for graduation gifts. 
• It was hard to think ahead far enough to know what I will need in the future, but I’m fairly happy with my acquisitions. There’s also the interweb for emergencies.

As for the sending off of the fleece… 

It went much better! Thank you Zeilinger’s Wool Mill. You are professional when others are not! I got a 20% discount for paying with check and I saved on shipping. He actually gave me a receipt and an expected time of arrival (August!) and I have faith in their ability to deliver my clean and processed fleece in a timely manner. Well done.