Pink Fluffy Clouds of Wool !

Pink, fluffy clouds of wool to spin up into yarn.

The morning I took this picture the sun was streaming into our living room belying the very cold temperatures outside. It was not a hard decision to make about what I would do on this morning.

I am going to sip coffee , spin the pink fluffy clouds of wool into yarn, and enjoy the quiet. ( With my cat Blizzard keeping me company.)

Almost Finished ~ To What End ?

Since last November our family has lost 2 beloved parents/grandparents.There has been a lot going on with family gatherings, and as most of you know, daily life still requires the dishes get done, the house is somewhat in order and clean, bills need to be paid.Since I do have a flock of sheep providing me wool with which I make items to sell to buy hay for the sheep, I am always finding myself going from project to project. I have quite a few Wee Little Sheep almost finished.

 

I have a lot of yarn being spun up, waiting to be dyed, and much more wool I am excited to begin spinning. The yarn is almost finished.

I have also set aside quite a few wool felted balls I made from the fleeces of my sheep to embellish with needle-felted designs, such as these ...

...and these. The bright flowers make me smile.The wool felted balls are almost finished. Two lockerhooked rugs are almost finished.

Of course, all my wool projects depend on wool from my flock of Jacob sheep, and several of my ewes are due to lamb anytime from now until mid-April. New lambs almost ready to be born.( this is a picture of a pair of my lambs born in 2011).

Tea time in Blog-Land is a delight for me too. I love Tea Time Tuesdays with all the tea blog parties,and love to participate in them.Lately I have been hit & miss with so many aspects of life I take delight in. That seems to happen when families come together during the extended illness or death of family members.All of a sudden, the routine and taken for granted aspects of our days are changed because more important things require our time and attention. Now though, there is a bit of respite. Time to again clean the house more thoroughly. Time to clean the animal pens and  plan this years' gardens.Time to work on projects needed to maintain order, earn money, or keep up a home . Time to sit with loved ones and simply enjoy being together, because we can. Time to take tea with maybe a cookie or two ( or three?).Time to reflect on life, it's joys, sorrows, blessings, and how fleeting it is.Each of us can truly say our lives are almost finished,even if we have another few decades.If I remember to live my life knowing I could die today, maybe I will be more careful knowing should I die today, any memories of myself I leave my family will reflect the values I exhibited in my day to day life. Will my almost finished projects and doings be all I leave behind, or memories of leaving the busy-ness of this life when it mattered to tend to more important things? Oh that I would be able to say "But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God." Acts 20:24

More Winter Weaving

"I feel within an impulse , perhaps that divine impulse which has moved all races- in all ages and in all climes, to record in enduring form the emotions that stir within." C. Valentine Kirby ~This is a continuation of my Winter Weaving post ( December 29, 2008 ). I wrote about warping ( threading ) my loom. I put 10 yards of warp on the loom. That is, 10 yards of weaving possibilities. I planned to weave one table runner and several segments of fabric to make small purses. With one plain colored warp, there are still endless possibilities for the finished product ! I am weaving a simple weave only, nothing fancy requiring a lot of concentration. ~This segment of woven fabric is done in some of my home grown wool that has been dyed and spun into 2 ply yarn. I combined it with some of the pink Jacob / angora wool I did a post on earlier. The pink, cotton candy looking wool. You can see threads of pink throughout this piece of fabric. ~Here is a segment of a lot of the pink, woven in with some of the novelty yarns I have collected. ~This is the table-runner. The weft ( that is the back and forth weaving ) is comprised completely of my hand spun Jacob wool, with a bit of the pink angora / Jacob spun in. This is a deliberately variegated and random pattern, or lack of pattern.

~Here is the finished table runner, before being washed and blocked. I am going to show more of this weaving in tomorrow's post. I had a lot of fun experimenting with my weaving and will be setting aside time for many more weaving projects this year. ~ Vision of Piers The Ploughman (1360) "Cloth that cometh fro the weving is not comely to were Till it be fulled under foot or in fulling stokkes washen wel with water and with teasels cracched Y-touked and y-tented and under taillours hands."

Blessings: to work with my hands, to spin and weave the wool of my sheep