Long Overdue Update

But then, that is so typical of me, a chronic procrastinator! o_0

My girls have really caught the crafting bug, so I have spent the summer teaching them all sorts of crafty things (not all related to fiber arts). Spoonflower has been particularly addictive for my oldest daughter Deborah, while Rachel has been experimenting with weaving.

However, the latest fiber craze at our house has been felt making of the wet variety. About two weeks ago we spent the entire day making some felted scarflettes for ourselves to get the feel of the process. The girls desperately want to try to make a felt beret, but I have no merino roving left. I'd buy more, but we'll be leaving on a 4 month RV adventure soon, so ordering online is out of the question to get delivered in time & I don't have the time to go hunting down a local supplier.

Since I still have 3 barrels full of lincoln wool left, I'm sorting, cleaning & carding so that we can have some workable fiber available for one last felting project before our trip. Should have some photos of the scarflettes posted here tomorrow.

I started crocheting some squares to go into blankets for the homeless shelter in Moose Jaw about a month ago & will bring enough yarn along with me on the RV to while the drive away. I think I may have already made up enough for an entire blanket so far, just need to check with Donna, the project co-ordinator to see what sizes the blankets need to be. I'm really happy that my girls contributed some squares of their own too - makes me so happy to see them give back to the community :)

We've had the wettest summer ever here & a curiously warm autumn (for the prairies), but the cold weather is just around the corner - I can't wait to go on our trip and head to warmer climes.... and hopefully visit a few yarn shops along the way! :D

Me, the Sheep & Ewe

Here I thought that I would be better at updating this blog, due to the easy access I have to it online, but I've certainly been wrong about that! I have recently discovered the simplicity of posting on Twitter, which has not only sucked me away from blogging, but other self-imposed crafting responsibilities. Still, it's nice to only be committed to 140 words at a time when I sit down to write. :)

One of the crafts related things that I'm working on is getting a whole lot of raw wool ready for resale (thus the Baaa-d pun in my title - oops, I did another one again!). I've never worked with raw wool before, and it has been an exciting adventure for me. Let me tell you, any misconceptions I had about sheep being white & fluffy has been completely thrown out the window.

So, for a reminder to myself how bad wool cleaning can really be, I offer up my top 10 list for what I experienced during my wool processing adventure:

10: White fleece that looks only slightly dirty dry, is actually really disgustingly filthy when wet.

9. The ratio of water/detergent mix to raw wool should not be 70/30, but rather 99/1

8. You have to clean the fleece before washing it. Not only must you skirt it, and shake out the debris, but a vacuum is recommended

7. It's probably not a good idea to shake out the debris on your kitchen table while somebody's plate of food is nearby.

6. Wool with very high crimping in it (the Lincoln lamb's wool that I had in particular) felts nearly instantaneously when it hits the hot water, even without agitation.

5. Lanolin smells nice on my hands, but not my kitchen counter, table or sink.

4. Like babysitting doesn't prepare you for childbirth, reading up & watching Youtube about washing wool won't prepare you for doing it.

3. I have a greater appreciation for the price of wool. People who hand wash & spin it should be allowed to charge at least $50/2 oz. skein

2. So much stuff can hide between the hairs. Even after cleaning I still found more dirt, more grass, more sticks, small animals, a child...

1. Despite all the above, I'm a glutton for punishment, because I'm going to clean four 30 lb barrels of wool before I've processed it all.

Anybody wanna buy some raw wool?

Seriously, if you want to be a brave DIY & try out some raw wool, just contact me through my profile & let me know how much you would like. I don't know much about grading, but I can easily get the answers to specific questions about the wool from the shepherd who gave it to me. I do know that most of the fleeces I have are from Lincoln ewes - some is lamb (first shearing), and some is second shearing, there might be some Cotswold available as well (I haven't opened all the barrels yet).

Theses fleeces have a lot of crimping in them, so they are suited for heavy yarns - the type you would use for outer garments or rugmaking. Makes great felting wool too. All of the wool is white with a high lanolin content.

The sheep are "working sheep", used for hard grazing noxious weeds (an environmentally friendly way to get rid of weeds instead of spraying pesticides). As such, they aren't blanketed, and though the fleece has been skirted, the wool has a lot of VM (vegetable matter) and fine dirt particles in it. Though I must say, I personally managed to get the wool very clean with 2 soaks of detergent & 5 rinses of water - and I'm a novice. So if you want to give it a try, just let me know - otherwise keep an eye on my Etsy store as I'll put the cleaned wool there.