Friday

Putting in some serious sofa time while plying some gorgeous mohair/wool I call Logwood.  I have no idea how I got this color and can never repeat it.  Now if I was a camera where would I hide myself?  Pictures when I find the little beast.  This color is gorgeous - kind of a brownish/purple/pink.  I adore mohair.  Angora goats are harder to keep than sheep as they need more hoof trimming and worming, but I love them.  I can grab a little goat by the horns and sometimes give a shot and worm meds myself.  I do admit I have been knocked down more often by goats than sheep - when they spot a bucket of corn they are a formidable force.  Mohair seems to grow nicer here than wool.  The lack of selenium in the soil here does not help the wool.   Goats need copper which can be deadly to sheep.  Libby Llop gave me copper boluses to give to my goats at shearing time, which definitely helps produce lustrous, silky mohair.  I was skirting a bag of black mohair yesterday that blew my mind.  Don't think I will blend anything with it and just keep it for myself.   I finally got the dye pots going.   Definitely had some approach avoidance there.  Tough to break away from the spinning wheel and sewing machine but it had to be done.  Still waiting for the new light to be installed over the dye stove so I can see what I am doing.  It's only been in the box for a year.  Let's not go there.  My headlight will do until then.  I won't get a substantial amount of fiber out to the processor in time for early fall shows, but here we are.  Raw fleeces will have to do.  Steamy and rainy today so the drying rack will remain empty until tomorrow when the lovely, sunny weather comes back.   The harder I work in the next three weeks the easier it will be for me when school starts.   I have lots of ideas for art projects swimming around in my head.  I've been looking at drawing tutorials on line.  Crafting is wonderful but I really like teaching kids how to draw.  I see walls covered with pumpkins and self portraits.  Right now I see bags and bags of wool that have to be spread out, skirted, picked, washed and dyed.  Happy with some of them, others  not so much.  Jim Baldwin was right - crossing breeds can result in fiber that is not as nice as either of them.  I have a couple of fleeces from the rescued Moorhouse Merino ram who got Bluefaced Leicester ewes with lamb.  They are surprisingly coarse. Go figure.  I plan on making felt boot inserts with that wool.  Bought a couple at the Bouckville show from an alpaca breeder.  They are heavenly in worn out rubber boots.  There is always something to do with wool, any wool.  Love the stuff.