Sheep and shopping
Ok where did we leave off? Oh yeah, the beginning of the shopping and seeing of sheep. Before I start, here is a good link to the sheep breeds I'm talking about.Well first I searched for brown wool. There were several shades available. And I had the option to dye white wool as well. So I bought some coffee brown corridale-7 oz, brown merino blended with white pygora- 1 oz, and chocolate colored CVM-8 oz. The CVM and the Pygora blend also satisfied that fiber I haven't spun before requirement. I did notice that when I got home that the blend matched my alpaca closer than the Corridale but I bought 7 oz of the Corridale and only one oz of the P/M blend. If I buy white alpaca roving from Desoto again, I can blend it with the CVM if I want to. I wandered over to the judgeing building to see the fleece contest.
Many fleeces, fine medium and course. The fines were Rambulette, the med were Corridale , and Jacob, and the course were border Leicester, Romney, crosses of the two and California red. Gorgeous fleeces- heavy, clean, bright, EXPENSIVE! The average prices were 10$ per lb. I picked 3 fleeces I wanted to buy before the judging started, all longwools. They got 1st second and honorable mention. The rest all got something. One fleece that was nice but I didn't like. The color one was grand champion. It was a misty grey.I sat down and drop spindled with these ladies while they were doing their sheep to shawl.
It was a demo since there was only one team signed up. One of these ladies is the daughter of a friend of mine. They were spinning a cross breed of Suffolk. And that brings me to another point..I have always been told that Suffolk was not a good breed for spinning. That is such hogwash! It is a rougher wool, but the fleece is so..distinctive even when crossed with something else. There is a loft that seems to have nothing to do with crimp. I can't explain it, but once I knew what to look for, I could tell everytime. It almost made the wool look nepped, but when you looked closer, you realized that wasn't it at all. I wound up buying a Suffolk cross and sending it to a mill. It is a grey/oatmeal. 4 months and we will see. Speaking of mills, my alpaca wool blend I sent off to the mill should be back end of July. Next I went out to see the sheep and the shearing demo. They were doing a Hall of Breeds. They had California Reds, Jacobs, Dorsets, Cormo's Navajo Churro, Shetland and I think a Targee. I was told some Lincolns would be coming but I didn't get to see them. There were Angora goats as well. A few had lambs and many were medium to large build. The California Red as a baby is red, but as an adult is oatmeal. I tried to get a lamb fleece but the ball got dropped somewhere.
By then it was noon and John came to get me for lunch at Panera bread (did you know that Panera means bakery or bread store? Isn't that kinda redundant?) and to check out a yarn shop we found called Knitted Together. Nice place nice people, only been open since March. The photo will say the rest.
John and Nancy WyattThere are some others I missed called Purls, and Knitwit as well as Creative corner. This means once again that we will have to go back.Well that's enough for today, I've got knit meeting tonight.
Toodles!
Post script: My alpaca fleece came back from the mill the 19th of June, the CVM roving has spinning oil in it so I won't be blending it, There were more fleeces than the photo shows, 4 were on the table when I took the photo.
posted by Snarled Yarns at
2:32 PM
1 Comments:
Last of the show
Ok so sat afternoon was cool, hung out the rest of the day ran into Gina, hit a Really nice Italian restaurant and had a meal you actually had to slow down and taste. It was exquisite! And the atmosphere was very Italian. But lets move on to Sunday.
It started ok, had breakfast at Bruggers bagels and wandered the local park in Adel,,,,,
Hit the fiber show with 40 dollars left in my pocket just burning a hole!. I found some brown dye, purchased some washed white kid mohair, and a cotton drop spindle. I also got 2 balls of dyed roving just to play with. I wound up with a t-shirt that proudly proclaims I love my sable! 1/2 lb California Variegated Mutant, a ball of grey and black wool blended with glitter tinsel and some other bright and shiny stuff.
Well at that point I went to sit and spin, I brought my wheel this time and was approached by a lady about drop spindle lessons for a friend of hers. Always glad to help, I said yes. While she was away, two other ladies came and asked about the same thing, I again said yes I could teach them. The first lady came back with her friend and watched me spindle. They had already had lessons and only needed a refresher. They asked a few questions, once they figured out what they needed to know they thanked me and left. The next two ladies had gone off to buy roving and drop spindles and had their lessons from scratch.
I saw my friend Linda and that completed the list. I got a drop spindle , fiber I hadn’t spun befor, some brown dye…oh I gave up on the hand cards. Bought a fleece, sent it off to a new mill.
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