Anyway, after many hot, late night, after-hours sessions at my husbands office (graphics program), and learning how to use a light box, I am now having a lot of fun with making a lot of creative little things for my shop.
Now that LumLum Tree is up and running, I decided to keep up the pace and embark on a couple of other things to use up what-ever-little brain space and free time I have...
For Mother's Day, my husband scored three huge bags of raw wool for me. Now, when I say raw, I MEAN RAW. Basically, the property where he does his wood firing, is surrounded by a sheep farm, and it was shearing season. So, to say "thank you for not killing me for having to leave you so long, at home alone with the kids" he talked the farmer into giving him some of the Fleece. the farmer raises the sheep for Mutton, so he has no interest in the wool really ... but he does set aside some of the prettier fleeces, and those were the ones he gave my husband.
I spread it all out on a sheet to see what kind of condition it was in. I have NO IDEA what kind of sheep the wool came from, but some of it was beautiful!
Yes Sir, Yes Sir, 3 bags full!
(I could not believe how much the wool looks like dead animals laying in the yard!)
One for my master
One for my dame
and one for the little boy who lives down the lane.
Now, personally, the white one is pretty, but I think the Little Boy Who Lives Down The Lane is going to get screwed by this one, because this fleece was just plain gross. It had a short staple, was full of hay, grass, dried sweat, and poop. YUMMY!
Not really knowing what to do, and knowing that I don't have enough time in my life to process all of this wool by myself, I decided to have my husband drop off the two dark colored wools to the Illinois Wool and Fiber Mill to have them process it for me. Luckily, my husband was "going in that direction" and did not mind dropping it off for me. I really like staying local, and this family started this wool mill up just recently. How often do you get to have a wool mill so close? I guess the demand for a wool mill in this area was high, because they have a four month backlog. Hey, I don't mind. I love to hear that they are having so much business, and I am going to need those four months to get through my knitting and spinning backlog before getting this new fiber in the house!
While my awaits processing, I have embarked on yet another adventure ... SILK WORMS! A lady in my Spinning Guild ordered more than she needed, and offered them up to a good home. Several other Guild members, including myself, took on the little orphans. The boys and I have loved observing the whole egg-caterpillar process! We are not quite up to the cocoon stage yet, but we are going on daily walks and stripping local Mulberry Trees of their leaves. I have decided to go the caterpillar friendly route of letting the moths emerge form the cocoons, in hops of still being able to produce some nice, perfectly beautiful, and usable, spinnable silk fiber. IF I can get the hang of how to keep the silk worm eggs (eg., breeding the moths), and handle the silk fiber, I would also love to have enough silk processed to add silk spinning hankies to my Etsy shop at some time in the future!
I have so many irons in the fire, that I need a larger fire!
