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Took some time this afternoon to give the spinning wheel herd some love.

Dusting, polishing, oiling- got the girls all spiffed and ready for another year of wool work!

Also enlisted The Man to make repairs to Dala’s (Mighty Red’s new moniker) front upright endcap. Here it is in it’s original state

And here is the repair in progress. Epoxy curing around a framework of copper wire to fill the void.

Been spinning on her all this time with the compromised piece, and it will be nice to finally have her axle securely tucked in.

And speaking of spinning- I turned a few blendy batts into singles this week-

Also continued to make progress on the unspun sweater, which is really starting to look like a sweater now that it’s got part of one sleeve

And with that, 2023 is a wrap. Really hoping that the neighbors aren’t planning fireworks (for the sheeps’ sake). Would appreciate this year going out without a bang.

Happy New Years, everyone- and all the best in 2024!

Just popping in to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Fleece on Earth, Good Wool to Men!

Been busy this week attending to holiday rituals-

Even managed to get some cards written out and addressed this morning. So I’m calling that a win.

And in the spaces in-between, I of course squeezed in some wool work

My Felix yarn (white), while a bit under-spun, is so soft and squishy. Will have to find just the right special something to make out of it.

I’m just past the waist of the unspun sweater project, and everything seems to be going pretty smoothly- though the creamy natural color wool isn’t very forgiving of my occasional inconsistencies in thickness. Feel like I’m getting better at working with the roving- I guess the sweater will show the arc of my skill-building! Maybe I’ll really have it down by the time I’m doing the sleeves 🙂

And though I’ve never met Alice, the sheep from whom this fleece was sheared, I’m starting to feel like I know her. Wonder if I could recognize her out of a lineup just based on her wool. I’ve heard that she’s quite a character. Just diz’d some more of her wool into roving to keep the sweater project moving along-

I’ll sign off for now with a picture of the pasture gang- snapped just after they finished up an afternoon treat (alfalfa pellets)

and here’s Esther going back just to make sure she didn’t miss any bits

muncha muncha muncha 🙂

Still knitting with unspun.

I’m finding that the knitting with my own roving is kind of slow, because 1, it’s still got a little bit of lanolin in it, and 2, I’m thinning it down a little as I go. But I do like the look and feel of it. Gonna be super cozy!

And while I’m usually a one-sweater-at-a-time kind of knitter,,, I just got a new pattern that I’m really eager to get a start on- Smokeshow by Thea Colman. Think I might already have yarn in the stash for it, too! (Chone?)

Also wanted to mention that I’ll be teaching a Wool Processing class at the WSU Country Living Expo again this year (Jan 27). It’s always a good time, and this year we’re going to have a Spin-In type event in the afternoon for a couple/few hours, so that should be fun and more casual than a spinning class.

Ok folks- that’s about all I’ve got going now. Hopefully more progress on the sweater in the coming days.

Have a great week!