At Last!

I've had this book on back order with Canadian Amazon since last August. A couple of weeks ago they sent me an email saying that it wouldn't be available at all. On American Amazon it says the book will ship in several months!

I saw it at Interweave saying it could take 6 to 8 weeks to ship to Canada. I ordered it one week ago and it's already here. Halleluyah!

The glove is knit from handspun alpaca. The pattern I was going to use didn't have a long enough cuff. This is an older Patons pattern and I have used it many times. It's a great pattern. I used 2mm needles so the fabric would be firm and warm.

Something Other Than Fleece

Wall quilt hanging in my stairway. The materials used are very special because my son bought them for me when he was just a little guy...sniff.sniff.

Christmas wall quilt.

Closeup of Christmas wall quilt. Machine pieced and hand quilted.

Roman blinds in the bathroom. I used prairie points for the edging.

Silky roman blinds in the hallway upstairs. I used fringe for the bottom of these. Love my fringe.

Everyone's lovely quilting/sewing projects have inspired me to post some of my own. I have finished two single bed sized quilts but they were given away so I cannot show them to you. All but one window treatment in my house was sewn by moi. Special Dim-out and Blackout linings were used on curtains and roman blinds to keep the heat/sun out in the summer and the cold out in the winter. I also own a pretty good sized collection of cotton fabrics for quilting (most were purchased at a quilting shop in Holland) and quilting/sewing books. I was always interested in miniature quilts but have never made one. Working with all those teeny tiny pieces of fabric would for sure make my eyes go funny :)

Moving On

This weekend I finished a couple skeins of sportweight grey alpaca yarn to make these cabled gloves. The free pattern is one of Drops from here http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/kategori_oversikt.php. I have used another glove pattern from their site before.

Second photo is the Tilly scarf which I am going to start knitting as soon as I spin the yarn. It will probably be a blend of white merino with the crimpy grey alpaca. I thought about using white finn but it wasn't as soft as the merino.

Both of these knit items are for the breeder that sent me the alpaca fleeces. I hope she will like them.

Not Exactly As Pictured

I can't help feeling disappointed with my merino fleeces. The tips are all kind of mooshed together and the discolouration is halfway up most of the staples (especially on the coloured fleeces). The lovely pictures I saw showed none of this. The cut ends are nice but the other ends..well not so easy to get clean. I have been using the tulle method and several hot washes and rinses but not so good results. Possibly the fleeces have just sat too long...maybe that happens to very greasy fleeces or they are just very weathered.

I bought some purebred Corriedale fleeces from B.C last summer and ended up having to cut the tips on alot of it. That can work with longer stapled Corriedale but not on merino thats only a few inches. I have to say the best conditioned fleece I ever bought was from here...http://lifewithsheep.blogspot.com/. Not as soft as merino but great condition!

I am making a New Year's resolution right now! Never buy any fleece unless I can see the actual fleece with my own eyes first.

Merino Fleeces Have Arrived!

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I'm not sure yet how I will wash them. I don't want to just stuff them into lingerie bags like I do with my alpaca fleeces but there is so much of it that I don't want it to take forever either.

My New Alpaca Fleeces Have Arrived

This is a very crimpy (but dusty) Bay Black fleece. I had this one last year. An amazing crimpy, soft, long stapled grey fleece. Had this last year too.

A shorter stapled soft dark grey.

The Bay Black close up.

Another medium grey that is very soft which I spun last year.

Another long stapled silver grey...again I had this last year..

Close up of the long stapled crimpy grey. The darker bottom of the staples is just dust and it will wash out.

And the best for last.....an amazing long stapled and incredibly soft black cria fleece. The tips are as clean as a whistle. Just beautiful and I was given her seconds too. Rare beauty and hard to photograph! If you put your hand in the bag it feels like heaven.

This is a pic of all my fleece samples together so you can see all the lovely colours. These are unwashed. I have three other separate fleeces to spin for the breeder that gave these to me.

Finished 3 Ply Alpaca Yarn

It always amazes me how that huge mass of roving winds up filling just 3 bobbins!

Spun and plied

Drying rack

My goal with this yarn was just to keep the softness. I wanted my finished yarn to feel as soft as the roving (and it pretty much does). I had to put alot of twist in the singles to keep it together and it made plying more difficult.

Christmas Gift for the Kitties

We got a great deal on this 'jungle gym' cat thingy. It came complete with animal smells from the Pet Store so Spicey went into her feral cat mode for several days. It's like this every time we take either her or Mokka to the vet's too. She is so bad that I can't even go near her or she will hiss and growl at me. Poor Mokka...he gets the worst of it.

I am trying to finish these socks for DH. Just a plain sock pattern and Lorna's Laces sock in Lakeside colourway. I am adding some extra wool/nylon blend in a mauve colour for the heel and toe.

I have finished my second bobbin of the fawn roving and have started the third already. I want to finish and get it to the recipient so I can move on to my next project. I am expecting more than 20lbs of alpaca from the States of which I have 8+ lbs to spin for the breeder. More on that soon.