Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I have fallen

Oh the shame. I was doing so well too, but that wool was whispering so loudly that I had no choice but to give in. Yes, I have set aside the fugglienes for wool.

I still have several fleeces that need washed. It takes forever to wash an entire fleece. Picking out the icky bits, washing handfuls at a time in the kitchen sink, letting it dry on the electric sweater dryer for a day or two, picking out the smaller bits.... you get the picture. It takes forever, it's smelly, dirty work, and I love every bit of it. Raw (unwashed) wool is stinky but it's a good stinky. It means I'm being creative and doing something I love. There's just so much potential in raw wool. The family has other ideas about the mess and smell though, so I have to get up very early to do it before it bothers the others.

The wool I'm washing now will be died and spun to make area rugs for the house. We have all wooden floors and no area rugs so it's going to take a lot of spinning before this project is finished. The wool isn't next-to-the-skin-soft so every once in a while I'll hit up Etsy and see what nice things are out there to spin. THAT was my real downfall yesterday. I found some yummy merino and silk that would make beautiful scarves for my dad and his wife. (Yes I promised myself that I wouldn't make handmade gifts this year. Yes I realize it's only 4 weeks until Christmas and the wool hasn't even shipped yet, let alone been spun, knitted, and mailed out. Yes I realize I'm crazy for even thinking I can get these done in time), then I found some really pretty merino and tencel and..... I think you see where this is going.

It's all the wools fault I tell you. If it would only stop asking to be washed.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Photobucket

This thing is getting to large to manage. It's 73 rows (so far), nearly 7 feet long, and still fuggly. But I knew that wasn't going to change. So far I've been a good girl and have only worked on this afghan since I started it. I'm still itching to get the loom warped, and there's the counted cross stitch wolves I've got going, the card woven straps I want to weave, and the table top covers I want to embroider, not to mention all the wool that still needs washed and carded before I can spin it.... heavy sigh.

I've taught my daughter how to crochet now. I tried last year but she wasn't interested. Now I've given her a skein of very fuzzy soft-as-a-bunnies-butt yarn and she's working on her own scarf. Maybe I can talk her into crocheting her own afghan too. That would be one less for me to do.