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Scenes from the Barbershop

Saturday was nice and sunny, and I was able to convince Chone that he needed to be relieved of his heavy winter coat (or at least part of it)

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He’s usually a good sport for at least the first half of the job.

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And we had a nice bit of quality time, with lots of rubs and snuggles

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He’s such a sweet little dude 🙂
So he’s about half-shorn now, much like Dottie and Esther.
Still haven’t had a go at Felix and Frank yet, and Frank look like he’s already shedding his fleece a bit.
It’s just as well- I think that he’s pretty felted. But I hope to have a chance to get him tidied up soon.

In other fiber-y news, I received a sample of angora from a friend the other day, so I spent some time today playing with it and working up a little sample.

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I’d never spun angora before, so it took a little bit of practicing before I got a feel for how it drafted. It’s so soft and fine- but with a decent staple length, so I decided to spin it on it’s own, with no wool blended in.

My regular old hand carders did a decent job prepping it- not perfect, but got most of the clumps opened up

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Thought I had a picture of it on the bobbin, but oh, well-
Here is the resulting swatch

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Serious halo- and I haven’t even washed it yet!
It could probably have used a bit more twist in the singles, so I’ll probably try that next time so the yarn is a little stronger and more stable. But I’m pretty pleased with how the first try went.

Makes me really want to make one of these
or perhaps one of these

The little ones look like they’d work up pretty fast….

Off the Needles!

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and blocking, pinned to a towel

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It is indeed SuperGreen

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and I love it so .

Here’s hoping that it dries quickly so I can wear it while there is still a bit of chill in the air 🙂

In other news, I got a start shearing Esther today. Just the head neck and chest so far.
It went really well I thought. Kind of a trust-building exercise.
She seemed to enjoy me giving her rubs and chatting her up while working on her new ‘do.
Pictures later-

Just a Little Off the Top, Please

The most unlikely of walk-in customers approached me this evening about getting a little trim

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Yep, that’s Dottie.
Last year she was a bit of a handful at shearing time. Bucking bronco/jumping bean type of thing.
But this year she was all about getting rid of that heavy coat so I could give her some good scritches 🙂

I wasn’t really prepared for the shearing, and so didn’t have anything on hand to put the wool in as it was coming off- so I just stuffed it in my jacket as I went. Here is me afterwards-

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And here is Dot with her partial haircut

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Lookin’ pretty sporty, girl!

Kitten in the High Tower

I’ve been looking for a while, and just this week I finally got my hands on a shelving unit with great Kitten Tower potential!

I found it on this auction site, which I’ve found is a great way to get ahold of all kinds of random things that are being surplused from state agencies.

I liked how this unit is nice and open, and has shelves that are easily adjusted to permit a lot of different configurations.
I’ve got the litter box down low, but high enough off the ground to keep Gus from gaining access.

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Up top is a a nice shallow produce box that makes a very luxurious kitten bed when outfitted with a thick and toasty felted sweater.

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On the tall side I’ve rigged up a rolled jute rug that is a perfect scratching/climbing wall- this is the most adventurous route up to the penthouse!

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And on the other side is her regular scratching post, which can also be used to access the middle level-

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I’m also playing around with the idea of a hammock for an alternate lounging area- the current version is a deconstructed canvas tote bag.

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I’m so pleased that she seems to like the new digs. She’s a good girl and I’m happy to share my wool room with her- we bond over our shared love of knitwear 🙂

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