Dawns January Woolly Wednesday - back to the wheel!

Well with all the excitement of Christmas, this could be a quiet month for Woolly Wednesday, I wonder how many will be joining in this month?

I have a few things to share. Firstly some knitting projects that were Christmas gifts. Here we have two novelty knits made for my husband Alex who enjoys playing Angry Birds from time to time, Imogen does too when she sees him playing it. They have already been introduced to Imogens other toys and enjoyed a tea party or two.

Angry Birds

Easy to follow free patterns from Ravelry, there is a third (the green pig) in progress but unfinished at present. Also unfinished (but working on them) are the house socks for Alex from some handspun Dorset Horn. Lovely chunky wool so these will be lovely - a few more rounds on the foot and then the toes to do and they are completed. I want to knot more socks and like that these have been done 2 at a time on one circular needle - they grow at the same rate so you know they will be even and it avoids the Second Sock Syndrome (SSS) where the 2nd sock doesn't get knitted straight away if at all. Anyway, hopefully I can reveal these finished next month.

Alex's socks from Handspun Dorset Horn

Also knitted some animals for Imogen to go with her Gruffalo toy so she has a play set - I have knitted an owl, fox, snake and a mouse. We bought her the Gruffalo hand-puppet for Christmas too so when The Gruffalos Child was on the BBC on Christmas day evening, it was re-enacted with her puppet and toys - her Gruffalo toy she has had for years was acting the role of the Gruffalo's child. I do intend to knit her a Gruffalo toy too from a pattern I have and am going to adapt it to make her a Gruffalos child. Another watch this space for results.

Gruffalo storybook characters

Almost finished knitting A hat and scarf combination for Imogen - just adding a few more rows to the scarf to make a kind of pocket to pop cold hands into. Here it is so far.

Hat and scarf combination for Imogen

So on now to spinning, and yes this month there has been some spinning - yay! We were away staying with family for Christmas but on return I had the urge to spin, and have been getting back into the rhythm of it.

2 skeins Portland 2 ply

Here are two skeins of Portland rare breed (classified as at risk) fleece. This is a lovely soft bouncy fleece, creamy white in colour. Two skeins 2-plied, each weighing approximately 200g each - 168 metres (183 yards) and 170 metres (185 yards). I'm thinking of dyeing these. Really want to get more dyeing done this year.

Icelandic grey Single Ply

Next is some Icelandic grey wool that I started spinning in September at the Romsey Show - it was still sitting there on the bobbin waiting to be completed so it now has been. Here is 100g of single ply which I think I am going to set as single ply as it's a nice long staple and a good strong yarn as it is.

Icelandic Grey/Brown (grey in background)

Inspired by finishing the Icelandic grey, I dug out another 100g bag of another Icelandic fleece - a slightly different shade - of grey with a hint of brown. It's only to the naked eye you can see the difference in them. Again keeping this as a single. I did consider plying them together but think something would be lost in doing that. Still on the bobbins - awaiting winding off onto the niddy noddy to set the twist, so no idea on length spun.

Lincoln Longwool navajo plied

More spinning - this time some White Lincoln Longwool fleece that I have - approximately 100g spun into a single and navajo plied, resulting in quite a chunky yarn here. I have more of this fleece but think I will two ply it in future. A lovely soft fleece, another rare breed at risk. Lovely long staple and a great lustre to the wool too. I have borrowed the Guilds combs to prepare the rest of this fleece as it is too long really for carders. Hopefully no injuries will occur using these instruments! They are pretty mean looking.

Dorset Horn on the wheel - spinning my way through a whole fleece

Phew I think that's it. So really quite busy in just over a week but it has been great getting back to the spinning wheel. I am now working on a Dorset Horn fleece - remember the post about the fleece with a break in it? Yep, that one - it has washed and dried lovely and is in lovely locks ready to spin, I am carding it too and it is so fluffy and bouncy and soft.

I am in the process of organising the fleeces I have and will be sorting out some to de-stash, always meant to do this with the last lot of wool but have not got around to it - so if anyone is interested in a fleece I shall pop on a post soon with what I have. It is all unwashed raw state fleece, skirted of any rubbish but still with some vegetable matter (VM) in it and in need of washing but lovely wool for spinning or felting, free for postage at cost.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been doing, or what are you planning to start soon?

Happy Woolly Wednesday x

Tale of a broken fleece! Dawns Woolly Wednesday July

Oops a little late sorry, but I'm here. I have been a bit busy this week putting together the Guild newsletter which I edit and couldn't quite fit in getting this written too. 

So what have I been doing, well acquiring fleece for a start, and yes quite a bit. More than I need or at least more than I can house, but at least the extra insulation for the house is good. I have spent some time skirting the fleeces with the dirty bits being used at the allotment for mulch and deep bed troughs to help with moisture retention. The rest is bagged and labeled. I shall be offering some of these either here or elsewhere soon so if you are looking for any, let me know by leaving a comment. I would only ask for postage to be covered.

A few weeks ago we went to the local museum farm for the day, where we saw some of my friends from the Guild demonstrating. It brought back lovely memories for me as this was where my spinning journey started just 2 years ago and where I first met the Guild, and the wonderful lady who let me have a go on her beautiful wheel.

The farm were demonstrating shearing that weekend so there were these lovely big bags of fleece! Well I couldn't be rude and not bring one, or two, or was it three home with me now could I? Especially as one was a shearling (first shear) Dorset Horn. The other two were Dorset Horn too. The shearling was filthy but came up clean after washing and is sitting waiting to be carded.

Dorset Horn lambs, just gorgeous

Who's the Daddy?

Onto the tale of the broken fleece (yes, finally I mention what the blog post is about). I had a good look at the one fleece before saying I'd take it, but the other one I just said I'd take it having seen a few locks at the top of the bag - it looked lovely and long, was soft and pretty clean for a sheeps fleece.

I got them home and thought I'd get them skirted straight away and wash some too. The shearling was lovely, although very dirty - pictures below as a bundle (doesn't that look lovely!), laid out to skirt and sort, close-up of the locks and after a wash. Lovely. So soft and sitting waiting to be carded and spun now. The second fleece was skirted, looks good, and has been put to one side to wash another day.

 Dorset Horn bundle and laid out below

 

Close up of locks

 Dorset Horn washed shearling, lovely white fleece

The 2nd Dorset Horn fleece 

 

The third fleece? Well this reminded me of something I've been told and read many times - always, always lay a fleece out and have a good look at it before you take it home. I didn't. So what greeted me when I laid this fleece out? It looked lovely and crimpy, nice off white which I knew would wash well but with very dirty and distinct tips. A closer look and I could see why - this fleece had a break in it!

A clear break in the fleece, near the tips

A break in a fleece is a sign of stress to the animal at sometime, maybe an illness. It was quite near to the tip and luckily beyond that was lovely crimpy wool with a good staple length, about 3-4 inches. So what to do? I know many people would just scrap it and chalk it up to experience, at least it didn't cost anything ... except a 50p donation.

But that's not my style. I pulled a few locks out from random places, broke off the break and then tested the remaining lock for strength. There was a very good twang to it showing that the rest of the lock was in good condition.

So what do you think I did next? Yep, I cut the tips off at the break! Something considered wrong in some spinning circles - cutting the fleece, but I like to do things differently and try other ways. It took a little while sitting and taking off the tips either by hand or with the scissors. As I was doing this I was also picking out as much VM as possible too and the locks were basically being teased open so I now have a lovely bag of fluffy locks, reasonably clean too.

Snipping off the break in the fleece

 Lovely softness and crimp in the remaining locks of fleece

Big bag of fluffy Dorset Horn awaiting washing

The moral to this tale is to always take a good look at a fleece before taking it home (unless you're buying online!), but you may be lucky like I was with this one and end up with a lovely bundle of fluff.

With fleece acquiring, washing and writing articles for the newsletter I haven't done much spinning this month but have started on that Portland fleece from my last post. It's going nicely so hopefully I'll have more of this done soon.

 Portland wool on the bobbin

I also wanted to share with you a picture of the Zwartble I was spinning for a while - here are 3 balls and 3 more skeins awaiting the finishing wash (I'm sure there's another ball or skein somewhere too) - over 1kg of lovely spun wool about worsted weight awaiting a pattern. I have had some ideas and plan to get something on the needles perhaps in the Autumn.