Author: denisemor

I never publicly stated a goal pace.
But I had in mind a number.

1.

One ounce a day.
6 days a week.
And one day to ply.

It seemed so reasonable.
So right.

At this pace, I could spin all the yarn for the Classic Oak Cardigan in 5 weeks.

That would leave me lots and lots of time for knitting.
Which is good, because it gets harder to find knitting time in the summer months (too much outside work competing for my time).

And last week it all worked out according to plan.
2 skeins. about 280 yards total.

Plied, washed and hanging to dry on Sunday evening.

This week I almost made it.

2 skeins. Plied, but not yet washed. Waiting on the windowsill.

I might get them washed before bed tonight.

But then I’m stuck.

You see, I don’t have my ounce a day ready to go for tomorrow.

I forgot to build carding time into my schedule!

Dag. Rookie mistake.

I might have to take time off my day job to get back on track.
Just kidding.

Or maybe not. 🙂

Two sunny weekends in a row.
In April.

And the Mariners are 6 and 5.

The sheeps are really psyched.

Don’t they look excited? 🙂

Chone still has his baggy pants, and various other straggly bits, but I keep forgetting to finish up his haircut. Oops.

Got a few other projects done though- like fencing the compost

to keep sweet Sadie pup out,

and tying up the raspberries

Some other weekend highlights:

Sadie asking for a fetch

Walla and Boo Kitten are working on their synchronized prowling

Coffee in the yet un-prepared garden with Sadie and Clara.

And yarn drying on the breeze in the almost-blooming cherry tree:

2 skeins down, 8 or so to go!

Ah, the sun!
It got us all charged up this weekend.

The pups had lots of fun frolicking and carrying on, and we got lots of yard and sheep work done.

Only one still unshorn:

That would be the little crazy bugger, of course!

Could have gotten him done while we had them all in for manicures and such today, but I was just too tired to give it a shot.
Some time later this week maybe 🙂

And, I’ve finally gotten focused on my next sweater project!
The Classic Oak Cardigan, by Alexandra Charlotte Dafoe

I picked the pattern out a while back, but was uncertain of what yarn I was going to spin for it- or more specifically, which fleece.
But sometime this week it dawned on me- the thing to do was to blend a couple/few fleeces from the substantial wool stash to get just the right effect!

So here’s what I’ve got:

That’s Chone on the left, Jonasson Farms Border Leicester at the top, and Hidden Meadows CVM/suffolk cross at the bottom right.

And here they are all blended together:

The photo is a little bit washed out, it’s a little bit warmer and nuttier than that. More like this:

and this

The swatch turned out a little big- the so I’ve got to adjust my spinning mode from worsted to DK weight, but then I should be right in the ballpark.

(Go Ms!)

Today I managed to get the two white guys in for hair (fleece) appointments-
and boy, did they need it!

Frank and Felix were both really badly felted all down their backs-

Which made for some pretty tough clipping. My clipper hand is really shot.

But they were both pretty good sports

I think they were both just really relieved to be rid of those heavy, matted coats!

I was able to salvage some wool from each fleece that might be spinnable once I trim the tips off, but there is a whole lot of wool that is just completely felted in slabs.

I haven’t thrown it on the compost yet, though- because I’m thinking that maybe some use for it will present itself.

For now, its just hanging out outside on a rocked area, where hopefully the heavy rains predicted for the next couple of days will give it a cold water rinse and me some time to think about what it might be good for!

Guess I really do need to shear these guys twice a year.
Poor Felix looks all naked and lumpy after his haircut, but I’m sure he’ll fluff out and curl up pretty quick.
Will be interesting to see how much fleece they put on between now and Sept/Oct.

Get growing, guys!