Silk on My Wheel

When I first started knitting I never dreamed I would be able to afford to buy silk. Now that I’m older and have a job I -can- afford to buy silk yarn…but sometimes I buy silk fiber.

This is a doily I made out of leftover silk 2 ply yarn from my sisters wedding present. She was very surprised when I gave her the silk shawl right before her wedding ceremony.

This is supposed to be a string of hearts….yes I know they don’t -look- like hearts. I thought it was a good way to show off the silk sampler I spun up a couple years ago. It’s too big for a bookmark, and too small for a scarf and making it into a belt would be a waste. So its hanging in my spinning room.

Yes, this is some tussah that is sitting oh sooo lonesome waiting for me to finally finish the Shetland/Shetland blend and get started on the Patches Memory project. But it won’t be long as I am now done cleaning the drumcarder.

Time for fiber lovelyness. Here is some silk patiently waiting for me to spin it up. This is from The Silkworker I got a while back from Carol. I think the masses of Shetland was still being spun when I got this. Um….my name is Ellen and I have a stash problem….

Here is some tussah batts that I got from Castle Fibers on Etsy.com. Aren’t they pretty.

Okay, I confess, what is -really- on my main wheel is my Shetland/Shetland blend…sorry no silk in it. It’s my current spinning project for Productive Spinners. If you have trouble with starting stuff and never finishing the group can help you work beyond that. I’ve been a member for about three years now and it has made a big difference.

A New Companion Dog

He did it! Roo the simply awesome Australian Shepherd earned his American Kennel Club Companion Dog (CD) obedience title. This was a dog I was told would need to be worked with a pinch collar. The power of clicker training has turned him around from being a bored, frustrated, screeching dog to being very well behaved and only occasionally screeching dog.

I’ve decided to reward him with a chance to show his stuff on sheep for a herding instinct test. But since his very poor vision out of one eye we will not be pursuing any serious herding titles. I’m afraid that we will really truly have a Sheepwreck and it will be my dog with little hoof prints all over his body.

On the fiber front I’ve been knitting and enjoying making the Pembrokshire Pathway socks! Which are now drying in the bathroom. I snapped a picture of them right before dunking them in wool wash. Made with the Tea Rose sock batts I got from Franquemont Fibers. Abby simply has way with color and she knows my weaknesses…sigh….

Then there is the alpaca warp, ready to got on the Baby Wolf….and more of Abby’s sock blends on the wheel, with Lime and Violet batts and Lisa Souza roving waiting in the wings….so when do I have time for all this?

As pictured in a previous blog post are the Shetland/Shetland blend batts. I am almost done with blending them. Now to spin them and clean the drum carder so I can start on my Patches Memorial project.

Has it really been 4 months already since we lost her? In this picture from 2003 she is imploring me and Jerry to go to bed and leave that silly loom alone! Of course it wasn’t long until she claimed the entire thing for herself. She was a good loom dog. Roo has now stepped in to fill her place. Which reminds me, I have not had a warp on that loom since before we lost her…sigh….

What I should be doing right now though is watching my 6 month old foster sheltie puppy and keep him from tearing up all of the rest of the dogs toys! He is not well liked, but tolerated as all the dogs know he is a puppy still…. Uh no! Off to rescue the kitchen floor…I can hear him digging in the water bowel…..