Picking out the sheep poop .........

Its my anniversary weekend. Hubby and I have made it 9 years. And what a romantic way to spend the time ... picking out the sheep poop. Sigh. You know you have a steady marriage when you get to this point. I had some cleaning to do on one of my fleeces and unfortunately it was pretty full of that stuff left by sheep when they .. well, you know. 

On a positive note I think I have the whole fleece cleaning thing figured out. I am finding I am most successful by doing three hot tubs of dawn with 30 minute soaks. At that point the lanolin seems to be gone and I just need to rinse. Now I can leave it in the utility sink in a cooler soak for as long as I want. After about three rinse soaks in plain water it ran clean. Of course, I am still not overly enamored with the Romney/Corriedale as it is a bit short and not terribly soft or pretty. But hey, it was a $20 fleece so I can't complain too much. It is good for practice. 

I finally took my Cormo fleece and spread it out for a good look. Ohhhhh. It is so pretty. I am in luv with it! The staple is long and crinkly. I couldn't find any poop! There was very little observable VM. This was a nicely sheared fleece. Of course, it cost quite a bit more but oh it is so worth it. I put it in a new wash bag and have it living inside for now. I am going to wait until I finish the other fleece before washing the Cormo to make sure I really understand the process. But the Cormo is so pretty I may find myself pulling it out just to look at it. I can't wait to see how it ends up. 

I did take some of my clean brown wool and carded it up. I ended up with a huge batt and it doesn't look or feel too bad. Not as soft as I would like but it is what it is. It is also a bit grey. DH says it looks like old woman hair and he is right! It would make a good wig for a costume. I decided to try it in some Kool Aid to see what happens. I mean, I don't love this stuff so I will consider it my experimental wool. I can play with it all I want and not feel too guilty. 

My other experiment has been reclaiming Cashmere. I found a sweater at the thrift store for $6. I was lucky in that it is white. I spent several days carefully unwinding it and then navajo plying it up. I ended up with about a 1000 yards of fingering or light sport weight cashmere yarn that smells dreadfully of moth balls. I decided to throw it in the dye pot. It is now blue/green, drying in the fresh air and no longer smelling so awful. I intend to reskein it and turn it into a shawl. I found a red Cashmere at a garage sale for $1 which I intend to do the same thing with to get some red yarn. I may overdye it to brighten it up a bit. Not sure yet. Its a great resource for Cashmere provided you have patience. 

Next weekend is the Mass Sheep & Wool festival. I hope to go.... trying to decide about spending the time and gas. I will see how work goes this week but I really do want to see the Tsock Tsarina and look at her patterns/socks in person. I missed her at the NH show and I am bummed.