No pictures. I do not want to incriminate myself.
The very same people who were SUPPOSED to shoot me if I bought a fleece were very eager to split "a few" of them with me. This is a great way to do it, though - who really wants an 8lb fleece?? I lost a couple of auctions so I came up short of ridiculous. (One was getting pretty competitive - snarly knitters after a fleece is a dangerous thing.)
The woman I've bought a shetland/something fleece from for 3 years no longer had that sheep. I did not ask for details, but my heart broke a little. She has converted her flock to Wennsleydales and was selling the lamby fleece in 1lb bags for $7. Now, every Wennsleydale I've ever spun has been kind of itchy and not my favorite by a long shot, but this stuff is like shiny floof. What the heck, I'll try a pound. And ONLY a pound, because - seasoned shopper that I am - I arrived with $7 in my pocket and no checkbook. Doh! I would have come home with lots more if Visa didn't make it so expensive for small vendors to take the cards!
Saturday was great fun - I met up with my friend Melissa from work, who learned to spindle spin last week over a lunch hour. She picked it right up! So we got her all set up with a beautiful Mielke Emily out of tulipwood, and she got some hand painted rovings. So much fun to see it all begin! She had her three little boys along (who *I* thought were perfectly behaved) and the oldest and I bonded over our love for alpaca.
Soon after they took off to see the critters, I started running into more friends all over the place. I spent the rest of the day with spinning friends Celeste and Rebecca, who have the same acquisition philosophy I do: "I want more!" I do love the fiber, but it's so much fun to hang out among crowds of people who "get" you. I talked about fiber and wheels with people for hours and hours and it was wonderful!
Sunday I took a class on spinning for lace. The location for this class was pretty bad - we were right in one of the market buildings so it was noisy and there were lots of distractions. Not a good place for trying to learn something new. Since much of what I spin is lace weight already, I planned to learn how to spin cashmere, which has eluded me, and try to get some more consistency. I got some cashmere on the bobbin, so I'm feeling confident enough to try some more. I also spun cotton for the first (and probably the last) time. We also had samples of yak, kid mohair, and flax(which I didn't try because I'm allergic to it). I liked spinning the mohair, but it kept breaking on me when I was pulling it off the bobbin. Same with the yak. I have spun piles of merino and silk before, but while I was there I wasn't spinning for a project, I was playing with how much twist to put in, monkeying around with my tension and take up, and I was able to see a real difference in what I made.
Today at work my fingers were twitching. Hard to get back to the real world!
hahaha I have pictures! I could blackmail you!
I have pics of all *cough*seven*cough of mine. Ours. You can look them up on my flickr if you want - same username. I still have to get them onto Ravelry.
(Seven? How did that happen? Yes, four of them are split, but they're still pretty big.)
Posted by: Rebecca the Enabler | May 11, 2009 at 07:38 PM
Were you frozen out there over the weekend??
Posted by: Chris | May 12, 2009 at 07:52 AM
But how can one resist the lure of fresh fleece fumes? Resistance is futile, and what's another fleece or two, or ...
Congrats on sucking another happy victim into the spinning vortex.
Posted by: Mel | May 17, 2009 at 09:38 PM
Um yeah, I bought 9#'s recently. My first.(I didn't know any better. More is better, right?) It's coopworth. Very yummy and me and my Boston Terrier love the lanolin feel and sheepy smell. I'll be busy forever! But that won't keep me from the next fiberfest! I just need my own little farm...
Posted by: Gina | July 28, 2009 at 11:26 AM
It's "Wensleydale" (you're spelling it wrong)... have you tried "Swaledale" wool yet?
Posted by: Josie | October 08, 2009 at 10:53 PM