Photo Request

Attention all Madrona 2007 attendees.
I am looking for a photo of the booth from Madrona that had the huge tower of red top. I know I saw many photos on blogs right after Madrona. I was speaking with the owner at BSG and mentioned it. She asked me to send her links to any photos. Just leave me a comment or send me an email. Thanks.

Still on a Fiber High

Plying takes time. I always forget that. I spin singles and think, "Now I just have to ply it." Last night I sat down at my wheel at 11:30 with my poor attempt at Navajo plying from this weekend and the two full bobbins of merino. I plied and plied and plied. I finished the first bobbin at 2 am. I have no idea why I didn't just stop at a more resonable time.

I got my fleece last night.



First prize for variegated medium wool. Mmmmm. (I forgot to mention it's a Corriedale.)



I spread it out on a sheet on the deck and pulled out any short cuts, globs of poop (hardly any!) and bits of veg. This is a very clean fleece. Of course, once I put it in the washer the water immediately went to that sickly green-brown. Blech. I let it sit in the sun and heat up before washing. I thought it might help soften up the grease. The first batch is in its second soak right now.

I got some more little bundles of wool/mohair roving from Dawn's Custom Carding. I love these. They're quick and fun to spin and really inexpensive.



I bought, spun and plied this one on Saturday.



I also picked up these two skeins of Corriedale 3-ply fingering weight yarn.



I might use them for Anemoi Mittens or Endpaper Mitts. Or they may be socks.

Wool Fumes

What a great time. I learned so much about fleece on this trip to Black Sheep. Judith Mackenzie is a born teacher and a wool goddess. I can't say enough wonderful things about her. If you didn't already know, she has a new book
out about handspinning. It is excellent.

I remembered to take out my camera. On the first day I walked past a car in the parking lot and noticed something funny. It was a small four door sedan. With a picnic blanket in the backseat. And lots of hay.



I guess someone wanted to bring a sheep (or goat or alpaca???) with them to BSG and didn't have a truck. I guess it wasn't a goat since the seats are still there.

You'd think goat owners would know to keep yummy things like paper away from their animals.



But this show goat's owner didn't. I can't tell you anything about the goat because he ate his own sign. Last year I saw a goat that had eaten its own ribbon!
Good thing they're cute.



That's one sweet looking angora goat.

On Saturday I went to the fleece viewing after the judging ended. During the judging I fell passionately in love with a milk chocolate brown merino fleece. From 20 feet away I knew I loved it. It won third place in its class.



Drop dead gorgeous.
And the most expensive, yet smallest, merino fleece I saw in the entire show. A whopping $18/pound! Well worth it, I'm sure, but too rich for my blood nonetheless.

Folks start lining up early for the fleece sale.



These people mean business. I wasn't planning on buying a fleece so I let them have at it. About an hour later I went back and did buy a fleece. You'll need to wait until Tuesday to see a picture since Sarah was kind enough to schlep it home for me. (I was worried we wouldn't have room in our car).

This morning there was lots of sheep shearing going on. This Lincoln was not being all that cooperative.



But the fleece was so beautiful. I have a lot of admiration for the shearers.

And I'll leave you with one parting shot of a Shetland was really into his hay.

Fleece Lessons

Day one of Black Sheep was amazing. We left Seattle at 6:30, stopped for a nice breakfast along the way and made it to the fairgrounds at 12:30. After a quick tour of the vendors (and seeing lots of familiar faces) I found out that Judith Mackenzie-McCuin was the fleece judge. I ran over to the fleece judging. Unlike last year's judge, who would look through the fleeces and rank them, Judith shared as much information as possible. She discussed class standards, what makes a healthy fleece, how certain fleeces should be prepared, what garments would best be made from them, etc. I stayed for several hours taking in all the great information. I fell in love with a few fleeces too.

I finally finished spinnign the merino top I got from The Artful Ewe last November. I attempted to Navajo-ply it. My samples skeins were horrible. One dreadfully over-plied. One pitifully under-plied. I also finished my first Welsh sock and got loads done on my sock yarn blanket.

I believe I have managed to take one photo.

More later.

Road Trip!

Off to Eugene for the Black Sheep Gathering. Janine and her sister are picking me up early tomorrow. I am overjoyed that I don't have to do the driving this time. I'm trying to pack lightly. I already took out one knitting project. I'll just have to work on the two that I'd already packed.

Have a lovely weekend!