This is the view through my kitchen window. Ron brought the sheep up to the back yard to eat the weeds. They are as surprised to see me through the window as I was to see them. Now that's a FLOCK!

They really mowed down the weeds. It took three of four days, but they put a big dent in it. What's really funny, is that after the second day they knew where they were going and headed on up with very little encouraging. It was really cute to see them following him up the yard.

See the little white building in the background? That is where the sheep live. They really are far away from their quarters. Look at all that wonderful WOOL. Can't wait to shear again. I must be nuts, I have so much now I probably could spin for years without buying anything. It is a sickness I'm telling you. But what fun!

I'm still spinning the pomegranate for a sweater. Lots more to spin on that one. I finished some sock yarn and dyed it (see last post) and can't wait to start those socks. I spun up some with gold sparkle in it and still need to ply it. I bought the roving from Sherry of Morro Fleece Works at the conference I went to. (see what I mean, I bought roving when I have pounds and pounds.) Oh well, I don't have "that Kind". I'm almost done with my sweater that we are making in machine knitting. A few more rows and then I can knit the button band. Also am still hand knitting a scarf. That's it for now.

It's raining today so our oats are loving it. They have been growing so good. I will take a picture later this week. Everything is so green. (this is the only time of year it is) I dread the heat of summer already. It seems harder to take every year. I don't know if it actually is getting hotter, of if I just am getting whimpy about it. I use to love the heat.

Spin On.............................Sheena

Learning to Dye

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Fiber Conference up in Riverside. It was great fun to see all the things they had and to shop for new things. I did buy a couple of things, but more important, our Spinning teacher took some classes to come back and teach us.




This is my dyeing project that we are learning about creating a formula to get a certain color that you can reproduce later to dye more yarn to match your project. I picked Denim Blue. We did a test piece of yarn in class and I chose the color that best looked like the color I wanted and then we mixed up enough for me to bring home and dye my yarn.

I had a skein of Columbia 2 ply and another skein of Border Leicester that I had spun really fine to use as sock yarn. I dyed both in the same dye bath. I love both of them. They are different because of the types of wool, but still the same color. The Border Leicester has a sheen to it that I really like. the Columbia is something I want to make more of and knit a sweater. I loved doing it. I think this is something I could do again.













The camera doesn't get the color exactly right. Somewhere between these two


Every time we dye in spinning class I am overwhelmed by all the choices and I really don't know how to put colors together. I know what I like, but that doesn't mean it will work. I haven't had much luck dying roving so I like dying yarn better. This was cool. To get the color I wanted and to test it in class first and then reproduce that color was really thrilling. I seem to do better if I have just a couple of colors to work with.

I think next I am going to do some solar dying. That's fun and not to fussy.

I have had a lot going on, but am knitting another Mr. Green Jeans sweater, only we have reworked for the knitting machine and it fits a lot better. I knit the main body of the sweater on the knitting machine and then am doing the cables by hand. It is turning out really good. I'll take a picture when it is done.

Spin on.............................Sheena