~Time for another spot on wool...you know, the stuff that my spotted sheep produce . Well, to get the wool to make all the woolly stuff , like yarn, felt, rugs.....well, I start with these. (below) My spotted, Jacob sheep. They're kind of cute aren't they ?
~I am going to show you how I combine fibers to make batts of wool for spinning into yarn or felting. I start with the gray wool, shown below. The gray wool is the black and white wool of my sheep, combined . You know, black and white mixed make...gray ! I dyed some of my gray wool pink. I will be carding ( combing or brushing ) the dyed pink wool with some Angora fiber. The Angora is from a goat, a very pretty, long haired goat. Here you can see the original gray fleece, next to some of the pink fleece and some white Angora.
~Here are batts of dyed pink wool,(the pink rolls of fiber that look like cotton candy) sitting next to my little drum carder. The carder will comb or brush together the Angora and the pink wool.
~Close up of the wool being rolled through the carder. I laid strands of the Angora on top of the pink wool and rolled them together through my drum carder. It is fun. I still think it is like magic to take the wool from my spotted sheep and turn it into amazing batts , just waiting for me to create yarns and rugs and woven fabrics.
~See the flat batt of wool I have loosened from the back of the carder ?~
~I roll the batts of wool off at the back. Look at the batts of wool piled up beside the drum carder. The possibilities are as limited as my imagination...and that is not too limited. I have ideas and plans for this pink wool.
~Pink and lustrous and just waiting for me. This wool calls me from afar. The Angora adds the luster that the Jacob alone does not have.
~I felted a bit of this wool tonight. This is my first time felting and I will write more about that process at a later date. Then, I began to spin my pink wool.....I think after I spin up a bit of it I will weave it into a funky, pretty fabric that I have planned to make into.....
~.....more little purses! Won't they be nice ? I already have some Chinese fabric for lining, and beads and buttons to decorate the purses.
~ I am so happy and blessed to have the opportunity to create things using the wool of my sheep. Do you have outlets for your creativity ? Does your heart sing when you are happily busy expressing yourself in some special way unique to you ? Cooking, sewing, knitting, writing, gardening, painting, photography ? "
Creative work is play. It is free speculation using materials of one's chosen form." Stephen Nachmanovitch
A lady asked me if I could make spotted sheep, and could they be a little bigger than my "Wee Little Sheep". I was excited to try my hand at a new way to make the sheep, and spot them.
I just needed a whole day to work on the little sheep, and finally, a perfect day! A rainy day that was also a day we were able to stay home and had no other obligations. (You have no idea how rare that is for us!) JOY! I fed my animals, had a cup or 3 of coffee and began to work on my idea.
I think these little spotted sheep are pretty cute. Their wool is 100% Jacob Sheep wool, and they are 7" from front to back, and 6" high. So they are spotted and double the size of my Wee Little Sheep. I like the raffia around their neck,it looks like hay, and if you are around real sheep much you know there is always hay or grass stuck in their wool....
I am thinking I need to make some more spotted sheep, they make me smile.
I wonder if we, the Sheep of God's pasture, with our spots, cause Him to smile at us....I know He must have a sense of humor, He DID create me..."A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance." Proverbs 15:13
"Laughter does not mean you are ignoring pain, living in denial, or just not aware of the troubles around you..For me, laughter is how we take a much-needed break from the heartache, such that when we turn to face it again, it has by some miracle grown smaller in size and intensity, if not disappeared altogether." Liz Curtis Higgs (Only Angels Can Wing It)
