Catching Up

It's been a while since I've checked in. I have been busy with all kinds of fiber related projects. I finished knitting the Cold Mountain shawl, but since it's not blocked yet, I have not photographed it to share with you. During that long and tedious project, I made this scarf as a "side project". It was a mindless project that kept my hands busy and I used it as a "break" form the lace shawl.
I started with some BFL roving and spaced dyed it. Then I spun singles and I left it as a single. That's right. It's my first attempt of making a single (non-plied) yarn. And I really liked it. Below is my daughter's friend Maddie who modeled for me on the fly.
Recently I finished spinning all of the Jacob fleece. Some is combed and some is carded. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet...maybe a blanket of natural colored yarns.

Washing Fleece

While I was down in Salem, Oregon, at the Northwest Regional Spinner's conference, I purchased this Shetland fleece. "Finian" produced 5 1/2 lbs on his 2nd sheering, according Terry from Windy Valley Fiber Arts who sold me the fleece. This was a super stinky fleece. I decided to wash it in the top-loader washing machine. Since the fleece was so big, I wash it in two different sections. I ran hot water into the washing machine, soaked the fleece for several hours using Dawn as the cleaning agent, then I spun out the water. No agitation was used, of course. Then I ran some warm water in, soaked it again, and spun out the water again. I must say that it's still a wee bit stinky, but I 'm not willing to mess with it any more. I dried it out on the picnic table on a nice warm day.