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This weekend I had planned to go to a fleece sale.

This fleece sale happens every year in early November, and they always have a nice selection of raw fleeces, washed fleeces, dyed mohair, etc. Really beauty stuff.

I usually go and get myself a nice little natural colored Border Leicester.

But this year, at the last minute, I had a flash of clarity, and decided not to subject myself to the temptation.
I realized that as much as I would be excited and happy about acquiring a lovely little fleece, that it would instantaneously become stash.
Stash that I have an obligation to process.

So instead, I decided to dedicate myself to getting the rest of my fall fleeces washed.

I had already washed up the white boys, so here is the rest of the gang

(Weather didn’t cooperate most of the weekend, so they are air-drying in the living room.)

Yes, that is correct. I no longer have any raw fleeces hiding in the closet!
It’s a good place to be.

Also managed to get some of Frank’s Fall fleece carded up.

Now I just have to my next project planned out!

And speaking of Frank, here is a little something you might enjoy-

The Man put together a little slideshow, “Faces of Frank”

Does anyone else have sheep whose color fades in and out with the seasons?

Buttons are on

tag is in

and I have entered a completed date on my Ravelry projects page.

So I guess it’s official.

All that is left is to send it off.
It might be hard to say goodbye after all this time.

But I am happy.
Happy that it turned out so swell.
And happy that I am now freed up to pursue other new and exciting projects!

I have to say, that since last weekends workshop, I’ve really been inspired to work with color.

I had quite a bit of yarn left over from the class

and wanted to practice my two-handed colorwork technique, but decided that I couldn’t handle being tied to a chart.
So I cast on for a cowl to use up my rainbow of leftovers

I love doing this sort of thing.
No counting.
No checking.
Just pick a color and knit.

and it’s going to be so cozy!

This past weekend was  my long-awaited “Fair Isle for Handspinners” workshop down on Whidbey Island, which is pretty fair in it’s own right.

The class was held at Greenbank Farm

and teachers were Elizabeth Johnson (from Shetland)

and Martha Owen (from South Carolina)
.

Elizabeth brought a ton of wool from Shetland- some raw and some washed and mordanted for dyeing- so we had lots of wonderful raw materials to play with. We each got a pack of raw natural colored wools to start.

After that came the color!
Three dyestuffs- onion skins, cochineal, and logwood
yielded a wide range of shades for blending and spinning!

The right yarn for fair isle knitting is a little different than my usual spin-
It’s done long-draw, but with more spin in the single, and a fairly loose ply. So that was new for me.

Another cool thing I learned about was the Shetland Knitting Belt. (sorry, no pictures from the demo)
I think the best thing about this technique is that it frees up one of your hands from having to hold a needle, and makes the of the two working yarns easier to manage. Very neat idea.

We did a little knitting with our sample yarns on day three-
I got a little carried away with all the colors, I think…

Here are some other scenes from around South Whidbey courtesy of The Man.

This afternoon the sun came out, so it seemed like a good time to get the boys together for some group photos!

This one almost worked, except Chone looked away at the last moment.

Ok, let’s try it  again guys!

Ok. That one’s a keeper.

I love how Frank and Felix’s faces are getting dark again.

(You can see how different he and Felix looked back in May here– that’s Frank on the far right)

Anyway,

I turned away for just a minute to see what the dogs were getting into, and

when I looked back, Egdar had the whole gang lined up and lookin’ sharp.

Pretty neat, eh?

They left after that, sure that I’d gotten it on the first take.

Except for Edgar , who hung around so I could tell him how impressed I was.

And give him some ear rubs. He’s my buddy. 🙂

In other news, Dad’s Classic Oak cardigan is essentially done, but I need to find the right buttons.

And I think I might wash and block it once more, now that it’s all assembled.

I’m really happy with how it turned out, but am finding it very hard to photograph.

If I use no flash (below), you can see all the texture of the cables and ribbing.

But if I use flash, the color is more accurate (warmer, more brown). This time texture won.

Love the texture. Of both the yarn and the cables.

It’s perfectly Fall.