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The weather outside is icky. Cold, rainy.

But there is plenty of wool inside to keep me busy. And warm.

I was doing some organizing up in the wool room recently and came upon some deep stash that seemed well suited to a small weaving project-

This lovely Norwegian wool in two shades of yellow-green was a thoughtful gift from a former boss many years ago. I originally thought that it wanted to be argyle socks, but that project stalled. And so most of the 4 skeins has been biding it’s time with my commercial yarn stash.

But no longer– Behold, the stripey warp!

Yep, I’m going to get the loom dressed again. It has been sitting nekkid for a bit, and I’d been using it recently as a kind of yarn winding station.

Now I just have to get my materials together and refresh my memory on the sequence of procedures.

I just revisited my post from the last time I warped (almost two years ago!), and am reminded that pre-sleying the reed off the loom seems like a good way to go.

I’m thinking that the weft will be comprised of the remaining Finullgarn plus white handspun of a compatible weight. Not sure yet if that will be Esther or Felix.

I’m so glad to be putting this lovely yarn to use, and am excited to see the resulting fabric!

It’s times like this when I’m glad to have hobbies that I can get lost in for a bit, and try to tune out the news of the day. Just keep spinning. Just keep spinning. Spinning, spinning- what do we do, we spin (and VOTE!).

So here we go-

Shortly after I posted last week, I washed up that sample of Hog Island fleece. It was nice and fresh, and so cleaned up quite easily to a nice bright white that even seems to have a little bit of sheen.

Little bit of veg material throughout, but that is not a concern. The plan is to spin it up pretty fine, so most of that will fall out in the drafting.

This short, spongy fiber really wants to be spun woolen, so I pulled out the hand cards and whipped up some rolags

And then proceeded to long draw those babies out on the spindle wheel!

That’s just under a half ounce of singles on the quill.

Chain ply, wash, thwack, dry, and voila! Cutest little sample skein 🙂

But check this out- this yarn is so springy, that the finished skein is only about 2/3 the length of the niddy noddy I wound it on. So almost 36 yards turns into just under 25!

I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that sort of shrinkage before. Very interesting.

Progress continues on Candelaria-

I really want to get it off the needles for a quick try-on, but my Purl Strings rubber tubing thing isn’t working as well on these tiny, kind of grabby stitches, so I haven’t managed that yet.

I might have to bite the bullet and use the old needle and thread method. But it’s a lot of stitches. Quick math is telling me approximately 440, given the starting cast on count and 35 rows of yoke increases.

It feels so yummy. Light and fluffy. But I know I’d better try it on before I start decreasing to shape the sleeves.

So i guess I’ll make myself do that.

Ok, folks. that’s all I’ve got for now. Take care, and keep your knitting close.

And I have a little bit of souvenir wool to show for it!

That’s Gulf Coast Native roving from Pioneer Fiber Mill in New Smyrna Beach, with a little bonus raw sample of Hog Island wool, which I haven’t worked with before, and wasn’t available the last time I’d visited. Here’s a closer look at the locks

It’s only about 2 inches long, but seems nice and crimpy, and should be great for long-draw spinning once it’s washed and carded up.

Just before I left, Teti Lutsak came out with a new pattern- the Candelaria blouse, that really spoke to me, so despite it being a small gauge, charted pattern, I just dove in and took it with me as my travel project. Progress has been kind of slow, but I am happy with how it’s looking so far-

I’m knitting it in Esther singles and Knitting for Olive silk/mohair. They are slightly different weights, but I think that the fuzz/fluff factor of the mohair is going to make it work out ok. Or maybe I’m just deluding myself. Only time will tell 🙂 I do love that tangerine color.

And the travels spins-

The uppermost guy in the photo got a little too much spin in the ply, so i might experiment with backing that out just a smidge. Not sure yet. Will see how I feel about it in a few days.

Alrighty. That’s all the woolly news I’ve got for now.

Have a good week everyone-

This weekend I picked the Jarrahdale and Oregon Homestead Sweet Meat squash that were growing in the compost pile.

Lots of good eating there! And with the vines having completed their mission, I cleared them out to prepare for the harvesting of the compost itself, which I think has probably been cooking for at least a year now.

Rich and crumbly- can’t wait to get this good stuff into the garden beds.

Had Daphne and Fiona in the shed for hoof trim/treatment today and got a couple decent shots of how their fleeces-

Daphne’s crazy sunbleached ringlets

And Fiona’s champagne superfluff- which is showing more promise with each passing year

Daphne says “hey”- and wants to know if you brought ‘falfer pellets. 🙂

I will be waiting til next spring to shear these girls- and hoping that they don’t manage to crub them up too much over the winter!