This should keep me busy for a while!

Today's mail brought a box.... a big box.  And inside is a whole shetland fleece from a sheep named Mary, from Flutterby Farms in the San Diego area.    This fleece was living happily on Mary until last Saturday, the 27th, when John Quimby from Roseburg, OR sheared her.   All this info came from Jeri, (Fluffysgarden on Ravelry) who offered to select and ship several fleeces at a really good price.  How could I turn down such an offer.  Talk about fresh!    It was too windy to unfold it onto the mesh picnic table outside, so I spread a twin size sheet in the basement and carefully spread it out.

 I removed the yucky poopy bits, the second cuts and the coarser parts around the edges.

What is left has a staple length of about 4-5 inches and I really look forward to processing it to see what results.    

The cut side of the fleece is a lovely oatmeal color, while the tip ends are more yellow.   

I did bundle up about 6 oz of it into mesh bags to soak and wash over the next couple of days and I will be interested to see what the final color will be.    

I finished the Romney silver that I started a few weeks ago and ended up with about 5 oz of worsted weight yarn.   It was a pleasure to card and spin.

As a break from all the neutral colors, I have also been spinning up Dark Cathedral, by JulieSpins.   I originally thought it would be for socks but I think I am spinning too thin for that.   As a two ply, it should make pretty dramatic lace weight yarn.  This yarn is superwash merino, bamboo, and nylon.

And the shopping bag is coming along nicely.    My hands are getting used to the coarseness of the hemp fiber and it is a simple enough pattern to carry along for portable knitting.

Just what I need: another project!

I met my friend Stacey for some lunch and knitting and catching up and this project followed me home: the Shop til you drop bag made with Hemp for Knitting in the large size.    If I don't have blisters or callouses when I finish this, I will be so lucky.     I'm using lots of lotion and shea butter on my hands as I go and it is helping a little.   I will love the results when I am done, but I will have the battle scars to show for it!   The next  skein may get soaked before being wound into a ball, hopefully to soften it up a little.

Lest you think I have forgotten about the afghan, here is the current square, the Meredith K Morioka square on page 8-9 of the GAAA book.

I just realized that my next post is my 200th Post since beginning this blog more than 2 years ago.   I will have to think of something special for the occasion!