Labor of Love

Esther likes to lay down in patches of bare dirt, which always results in her fleece being really muddy.

Her fleece also doesn’t seem to shed water as well as the rest of the gang, so every spring he has a kind of greenish tint. I have to say, this year, if it was anyone else, I might have just pitched most of it in to the compost.

But she is such a sweetie. And I know that she cleans up well. It just takes some work.

As soon as I got it off of her this year, it went into a bin to soak.

After many changes of cold water over the last couple of weeks, I finally gave it a hot wash.

This is it’s current state

Slowly coming around, I think. First batch still has a bit of grease in in, so might need another wash. And there is some discoloration, but it will still be a good candidate for dyeing. It’s a good thing her wool is so strong and relatively resistant to felting!

In other news- I’ve taken on a custom spinning project that has me busy sampling and documenting-

I do love sampling and playing with new fibers. This is Daisy, of Marietta Shetlands. Aiming for a DK-ish weight. I think once I get the specs dialed in the spinning should go quickly, as the roving is really quite nice -even and open. Working on Moto for this, so I can be sure of what RPM I’m working at for different versions- and also because I can reverse the direction of twist at a push of a button (some samples I’m spinning S and plying Z, just to see if they behave differently when knitted or crocheted).

Was out in the garden earlier, trying to get a handle on weeds, but it started raining steadily again so I came back in to play with wool.

Everything in the hoophouse seems fairly copacetic, tho in a bit of a holding pattern. Outside, cabbages, onions and garlics seem to be holding up ok, but beans and squashes look so sad. Hope they can hold on for the sun and warmer temps that are supposed to be on their way this week-