A Daily Dose of Fiber

I skirted and prepared over 30# of alpaca fleeces this weekend. They will be sent off to the mill for processing into a worsted weight yarn which I will dye. While preparing these fibers it was fun to imagine the personality of the individual animal they came off of. From the dirty juvenile to the pristine queen.

Ready to start

Onto the skirting table where as much trash (sticks, hay, stuff) is removed as well as any fiber that is not good quality (second cuts, guard hair).

Then into the tumbler. Here the sand, more debris and short cuts fall out.

 

Beautiful “clean” fleece. It will be washed and further separated at the mill.

 

All bagged and ready to go

 

And now I am off to a three day Spinning Colorwork for Knitting workshop with Lynne Vogel at Harrisville Designs. Very cool.

Peace

Cynthia

Nature: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

I enjoy the nature around me. I have often written and shared photos of what is growing in my garden and what is visiting my garden. Sometimes what happens in nature saddens me. I know there is a natural order of things. 

This evening I was sitting in  my office and noticed a lot of noice in the back yard. I finally got up to look out the window to see what was going on. I noticed robins flying around the back, squawking and carrying on. Then I saw the hawk. The robins have nested in my trumpet vine and this weekend I saw the baby birds being fed. When I went out to get a closer look I saw three wide open mouths waiting for food. I tried to get photos but the nest is a little high for me to get a good look but I did get this picture:

After the hawk flew off I went out and saw the nest is now empty. I am sad. I wonder if birds grieve. This hawk (or a hawk) has visited before. There was a nest in the Weeping Cherry near my walk way. One night we were sitting in the gazebo and heard a racket out front. We saw the hawk sitting on top of the tree with two robins dive bombing him. We went out and the hawk flew off with one robin in close pursuit. Two days later there were downy feathers on the walkway and the nest abandoned. I was sad. 

Turkeys were roaming the lawn when I left for work this morning. Did you know Turkeys have day care? One or two adult females will stay with all the babies while the other adult females and the one adult male go out to eat.

There are lots of deer around this year. Tonight after dinner David and I were cleaning up the kitchen and heard a “sneeze” in the back yard. We went out with a flashlight and saw a deer jumping over the wall back into the woods. They love hostas. Ask me how I know.

On to knitting: I am finishing the first sleeve of my February Ladies Sweater. If all goes well, I will finish the second sleeve this weekend. I am very excited to be done because it is a great sweater but also I vowed not to start another project until this sweater was done………………. I have lots of projects in mind to start next. The new Interweave Knits arrived and I picked up Vogue Knitting at the store on Sunday. I don’t think I will knit a project from either of these next, but there are several that have possibility for future projects. I love the hat on the cover of Vogue and the hat on page 74 – definitely possibilities. There is a great poncho shaped shawl on page 70 (they call it a rounded triangular blanket shawl) that is interesting, I am not really a poncho wearer, technically it is not a poncho but it reminds me of one. In IK there is a sweater on page 44 I like, but I would lengthen the sleeves.  The Berry and Bramble Cardigan on page 46 I would make the button version and not the one with the sash. And the Every Way Wrap on page 48 is a definate addition to my project list. If only I could knit 40 hours a week instead of work!!!!!!

I was a vendor at an annual fair in town this past weekend. A little girl was wandering in my booth and told me she was going to school soon. I asked her if she was going to kindergarten or first grade and she could not answer. Then I asked her how old she was, she said “My birthday is dangerously close.” She will be five on her birthday in October (her mom came by and filled me in). This little girl was so cute. The other thing she said was when she picked up a skein of hand dyed yarn, she said “This is some pretty colors.”

Please visit my shops: www.nightingalefibers.com and www.nightingalefibers.etsy.com. New items added.

 

“There is no sin punished more implacably by nature than the sin of risistance to change.: Ann Morrow Lindbergh

Peace

Cynthia