We’re almost there . . . . . (warning, long post)

Yes, that’s right folks we are almost at a long, holiday weekend! Are you as ready for it as I am? I can’t wait!!!! Trouble is, even though there is an extra day involved, its still going to fly by way too fast!!! See the real trouble is I need to take a vacation (I haven’t taken more than a sick day, except my birthday, since last fall) but I can’t use my vacation time since we are saving it up for the big trip to Italy in October!!!! Yup, we are going back to Italy! Which is going to be a blast, don’t get me wrong, but it is very hard to go all summer without taking any vacation and its harder since everyone around me is taking lots of time off!!!

Okay, enough of my whining . . .

Silkworms:

There is one, and only one worm left to start spinning!!!!! That’s it, I’m done picking leaves and feeding these things 4 times a day!!!! Don’t get me wrong, this has been great, but it is more work than I initially realized (what in life isn’t?) I probably will do it again next year . . . but we’ll see how I feel come next spring! I have about 40 moths that I’m planning to let hatch and so far 5 of them have . . . and their eggs will go in the fridge for next years crop. (Yes, they are going in my fridge, up side is my MIL says she won’t after that ;) ) Now I have to finish processing the cocoons to make them into something I can spin. I had “cooked” just over 200 of them last week, but hadn’t finished picking the dead bugs out of them . . . I’ve been working on a few more each day and keeping the rest in the fridge while they wait . . . interesting thing is we have a squirrel that visits us and has become quite friendly (almost tame) and will sit on my husband’s shoulder even . . . and he has decided that boiled silkworms are a major treat!!!! So at least I’m not actually throwing them out, we just save them up and give them to the squirrel!

I’m still not sure what I’m going to make with this silk. I think I may have to wait until I have it all processed and then weight it before trying to decide what to do with it. One of the things I’m considering is mixing it with some of the baby angora from the rabbits first plucking and some soft wool (I have some Finn/Ramboulett coming back from Zeilinger’s someday) and spinning it to a sport weight or finer and making lacey baby sweaters out of it . . . or maybe even a fancy shawl or something. I have a little over an ounce of each white and silvery angora, if I have 2 once of silk (maybe?) I could add a couple of onces of wool and have enough for a couple of smaller projects.

Rabbit update:

Speaking of Angora, the buns are less happy about this warmer weather than the rest of us, though I can’t say I blame them. They have been looking a tad warm these days in their little fur coats! I had done a pretty thorough job of plucking Blossom but not as much with Jasmine and from the looks of her I need to go back and attempt to do some more! We’ve been giving them frozen water bottles and milk jugs full of ice to cozy up to which seems to help. Guess I wouldn’t want to wear an angora coat on a 90 degree day and not be able to take it off either . . . . Also, due in part to all the time being spent on the silkworms, they haven’t has quite as much attention as they should lately and its starting to show. They used to be so good about being brushed, but lately they just won’t sit still. Guess we are going back to small amounts every few days for a while till they get used to it again.

Spinning:

I called Zeilinger’s yesterday to check on the progress of the fleeces I dropped off to them at NH S&W. They had finished the single Romney fleece that is for my Mom’s shawl, but they were unclear where in the processing stages the 19lbs of Finn/Ramboulett and my 16lbs of Romney had landed at the moment. Sounds like it will likely be a few more weeks before I get this stuff back. Bummer! Not that I don’t have other things to work on, but . . . .

I had finished all the blue/green stuff I was spinning and that is safely tucked into my finished handspun yarn basket. I need to figure out just what I’m going to do with it . . . I’d like to make a hat and mittens from it if there is enough, but I haven’t taken the time to figure out if that will work yet.

I’ve been working on spinning the burnt coffee colored wool/llama. I have 1 bobbin worth as a skein and a bit more to ply but since it sheds so much when being washed I don’t want to use it for anything too special. I still have about 3/4 of a lb of it to spin, but I’m seriously considering throwing it away! I might use the yarn I have made, with a bit of white or something light to break it up a bit, to make a pair of felted mittens. I’m assuming that felting them, heavily, will helpt to hold all those short fibers in place. I really would like to show the fiber and the yarn to someone who knows more than I do before I decide for certain whether to even finish spinning it. It just seems like such a waste of time to spin something that I can’t use for what I wanted it for!!!! At least it was a lb and not a whole fleece worth!!!!! If I have a chance to see any of the others from the spinning group (looking doubtful with the holiday and all) then I’ll ask their more seasoned options of this fiber. If they say its junk I may just toss it!

I’m thinking of looking around for something a similar color to replace it with . . .since I really did want to use bits of it in about 3 different projects. Maybe I’ll try one of the bigger suppliers this time . . . . or I may go back to Iron Horse Farm (hmm, there is an idea) I love her stuff and I know she isn’t going to sell me any junk!!! Actually, I “spoke” with her recently by email and some time, later this summer, I’m going to take some weaving lessons from her!!!! I did a little bit of weaving way back when in grade school and loved it and I’ve wanted to really learn how ever since . . . and now that I have a loom . . . all I need is yarn and some instruction! I can see the placemats and scarves coming off it now . . . hmm, guess I know what a few of my friends will be getting for the holidays this year!

Anyway, back to spinning, I have some silk that I bought from the LYS sale last month and I want to try spinning that soon, I’m just not sure what I want to make out of it. I feel like I should start spinning with a finished project in mind, rather than randomly spinning and then trying to decide later what to do with the yarn (now that I have a whole basket of it to decide about) The question is what should I make from a few onces of silk? Any suggestions? It’s currently undyed and with my little bit of dyeing experience, I’d rather dye the yarn a solid color after I spin than try to do it before spinning . . . . or maybe even leave it a natural color . . . Also I could mix it with some Angora . . . I have a reddish yellow bit and a grey bit that I bought that I could blend with some of the silk, maybe for a shawl? but I’m thinking in order to make it easier to spin it really should have some wool mixed into it . . . I do have a merino fleece that I haven’t done anything with yet . . . maybe I should break that out and use a but with the silk and angora? Hmm, this is starting to sound like fun (which means it will be work and take 3x longer than I want it to) And I could get some dye and dye the silk caps a solid color, dye the merino another, similar?, color and then blend in some of the grey or reddish angora . . . Didn’t I see something somewhere (where is the real question) about dyeing using Wilton’s decorating colors? That sounds like it could be fun, and possibly less expensive and easier (I think they don’t have the fumes) than the commercially available yarn dyes . . . . I wonder how long they last?

I also have some Llama/Shetland Lamb blend fiber that I want to spin up to make a sweater for myself for this winter. I haven’t chosen a pattern yet and I’m reluctant to start spinning until I know exactly what I want to make of this fiber. See I really, really like it and I don’t want to ruin it or anything so I feel like I should know exactly what sweater I plan to make from it before I begin spinning. Actually, I’m having issue with that overall. I have a bunch of nice fiber right now and I don’t want to spin any of it yet! I want to, I’m just not sure that I’m spinning well enough to do “that fiber” justice. What if it comes out terrible? Of course, I know I’m just being silly. I have spun enough fiber now to be able to spin something that is at least passable and I should just dive in and work on some of this stuff before the other stuff comes back from Zeilinger’s and I suddenly have like 20# more fleece in the house!!!! Of course, spinning it means moving it to the yarn stash, it isn’t like it magically disappears once spun . . . . or knits itself (hmm, where is Mrs. Weasley when you need her?) but at least it would no longer be fiber stash . . . . I really need to take several years off from both work and house keeping so I can fully devote myself to my true calling in life! Yeah, right, I can see that idea working!!!! ;)

Knitting projects:

No progress on anything! I’ve done only a few rows on the purse lately so that is going to take forever . . . I’ve done next to nothing more on the Secret project, part 2 and I still haven’t gotten around to finishing Marianna’s sock! I guess I’ve been a bit distracted with reading Harry Potter and the silkworms and cooking up ideas for spinning up some of that fiber . . . . oh well, these things come in waves, right?

Okay now that I’ve babbled on and on I’m going to go try to get some work done . . . Have a great day!