Category: Blog

Shear Luck?

denisemor 0 September 5, 2011

Nope. None here.
I had great hopes of getting little Chone sheared this weekend,

but he’s a wiley little bugger. And it’s like he knew what I was up to.

I tried plying him with apple branches, and nice sweet-smelling hay, but I just couldn’t get the guy within arms reach.

Oh well, perhaps it’s not meant to be.

In other news, I’ve made great progress with The Shepherd’s vest since it’s last appeared on the blog.

Just about ready to start shaping the v-neck. So, I’m in the homestretch on this one!

And I’ve got the first weaving experiment off the loom,

and another in the works, this time being a little more adventurous in building curvy shapes and such-

Felix asks

“Is this my best side? I think this is my best side.”

I think he’s getting a little vain. 🙂

Home from the Fair

denisemor 4 August 28, 2011

I didn’t make it up there this year, but I did send a couple things in for the Wool Show

And I’m pleased to report that they both made a fine showing.

Spike’s two ply skein and the stashbuster raglan both had lots of fun and received high marks, but I’m glad to have them back home again.

In other news, I think I’ve taken my little weaving project as far as I can go on this loom setup.

It’s about 19 inches now. Hopefully long enough for me to fold into a little handbag or something. Will see what it looks like once I figure out how to get it off the loom!

And the boys got pedicures again today (still trimming and treating with copper napthenate about every three weeks). I made it up to them with some pea vines from the poor neglected garden. It’s mostly been a chicken playground this year. Figured the boys can help me get a start on the cleanup!

I’ve got all of Edgar’s summer fleece washed now- today was a great day for drying al fresco in the cherry tree-

so I hung out some Frank/Felix yarn, too!

Nothing like wool in the breeze. 🙂

Have a great week!

Loom-ing Improvements

denisemor 3 August 21, 2011

First, I repurposed a quilting frame-

Then I rigged up a pedal thingee to control a heddle bar below the frame-

And finally, I found a shuttle lurking in a kitchen drawer-

(actually works better as a shuttle than it ever did as a spatula)

The treadle-operated thingee and shuttle are really speeding up my progress. So far I’ve got about 12 inches of fabric from my handspun leftovers.

And I think they look pretty cool. Mighty good use of spare bits. Maybe I’ll turn it into a handbag or something.

Handsome Frank says “Better get busy. I’ll have another 6 inches of fleecy goodness for you in no time!”

Looks who’s Nekkid Again!

denisemor 10 August 14, 2011

Yep.
It’s Egger (Edgar) 🙂

It all started because I was trimming some wool around his neck that was really matted.
Then I started looking at the rest of his fleece, and it occurred to me that it was already almost as long as it was back in March. And I figured, if I sheared him now, he’ll certainly have regrown enough by late Fall to be comfortable when the weather turns cold.

So I went for it.
I don’t know if he was looking for some quality time with his maaaaa, or if he just likes bein’ nekkid, but the boy was really relaxed and cooperative.

It happened kind of spur-of-the-moment, and I didn’t have anything handy to put the fleece in, so I piled it up on top of a wheelbarrow on the other side of the shed as I went along. Think I managed to keep most of the straw bedding out of it.

The other guys were a little surprised to see the shears out again so soon, and are wondering if they’ll be next-

I’m not sure if I’ll do anyone else. Maybe Egger will be my one experimental Fall guy.

We’ll just see how it goes.

In other news, I’ve recently gotten inspired to weave.
This hasn’t happened since back in 2008 (man, how time flies!)

I think it was the rug/import shop in Langley that did it.
I just love kilims.

So I think I’m going to try and learn how to do tapestry weaving.
I’ve gotten my frame loom back out

And I’m going to start playing around.
Maybe I’ll have something to share by next week.

Wish me luck!