Curly

Not quite two years ago we acquired Betsy and Bitsy, ewe sisters from up in North Carolina.  I found them on craigslist, the woman was seemingly losing her farm and the fact that they were Border Leicester/Cotswold crosses seemed intriguing as I just knew they'd have pretty fleece.  They were grossly overweight from being fed mostly grain.   We brought them home, put them on nice pasture on a hillside for lots of exercise and cut out their grain.  They have thrived  They really are dolls and I adore their lovely curly fleece.  I'd dyed a bucket load of it in the winter but had gotten busy and set it aside.  I fluffed some up yesterday.

I put the fuzzy heap in my lap, pulled up my wheel and began to spin.  I plyed the yarn, popped it in a bucket of hot water and then flipped it out on the clothesline.  I am quite happy with the final 29 yards of curly shiny yarn.  I really need to get back to picking and dyeing the rest of their fleece.  And we'll see how long this skein lasts on the market rack.

TaDa.....

The first 4 ounces of the purple blue roving is spun up - I've got over 200 yards so far.  It is always fun to start with the dyeing to see what happens.  This is what it was last week.  I'm sure you can see the resemblance!

A Little Dyeing & A Big Blessing

I got the word today that I have been accepted as a vendor at Indie Craft Parade!  This will be my 3rd year as a vendor and it is a remarkable weekend.  It is a lot of fun and also adds a nice bit of money to help with the winter feed bills.  Ironically, I had just walked in from starting a few more dye vats when I checked e-mail and got the great news.  So here are some "in process" dye pictures.  And it looks like I'd best get a bit more in process to be ready for September!

I'll follow up in a few days with the finished roving and (hopefully) the handspun yarn.  And I should have taken a few pictures of the multicolored puddles on the table when I removed the wrapped roving.