New Tools and Dreams...

I went to Shuttleworks yesterday, to spend the gift certificate that Dale gave me for my birthday. When I originally received the gift, I wasn't sure I'd use it up quickly... after all, I'm a new spinner and I already have all of the tools I need to spin processed top/roving/sliver (and I have quite a bit of that in my stash) into yarn and I really, really had NO intention of delving deeper into fibre preparation beyond fluffing and pre-drafting the processed stuff..... Then I bought a new book about spinning (Start Spinning by Maggie Casey) that had a whole section of nice photographs and easy to read instructions about washing and preparing fleece for spinning...... and I thought...... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....... wouldn't it be wonderful to take the "hair" right off the back of a sheep and go through the entire process from freshly shorn fleece to hand spun yarn to finished item???? That's it! I was sold and decided right then to use my gift certificate to buy combs, carders and whatever other tools I decided that I needed ... errrr... wanted for the job. And here is what I bought.... a set of mini-combs from Majacraft, 2 sets of carders (Schacht carders, a medium and a fine) and a flick carder (also from Schacht)...



(The bowl in the picture is one that Eli painted......)

and last week, I decided to try to find something with which to start my new Fibre journey..... I was reading a thread in Ravelry (I don't remember what about) that pointed me to The Spinning Loft (the store is offline right now for upgrades) and a nifty box of sheep samples called the Super Fiber Sampler "Here is the ultimate breeds study in a box. This sampler comes with 2 ounces of 18 different sheep breeds" and apparently has a bit from down breeds, medium and long hair breeds and is unwashed, but good quality fibre....... Exactly what I wanted! Now I'll know what I like to spin with (and wear, I'm all about soft and not scratchy), learn a bit more about sheep in general and different fibre preparation of different types of fleece....... when the box arrives a blog post about the process will begin.......

All of the thinking and buying and watching of uTube videos regarding fleece prep has been very disruptive to my sleep.... I can't stop dreaming about fibre ...... sigh.......

On the knitting front, my Grecian Top is going very well. I've started with the attached cable edging along the bottom, although I'm not convinced it (the cable edging) looks good with my mods (mainly the fact that I am using Linen that is a different weight than the pattern suggests and adding a lace and cable pattern from under the bust) ...... I've never used Linen and I'm not sure how it's going to change once it's washed....... I did wash my gauge swatches, but wasn't satisfied by this and decided to "wing it" anyway...... It looks REALLY pretty and IF it washes up as nicely as linen is supposed to without excessive sideways shrinking, then it will be fantastic........ we shall see......