Ssssomebody Ssstop Me

So I couldn't go to Maryland for that which will remain nameless. I sent Zira and am eagerly awaiting her report. Instead of stewing in the juices of my own resentment, I went insane with a newfound addiction - FLEECE. I've bought five fleeces and am bidding on another on Ebay. I can't help myself. I'm totally in LOVE with the process. I call it the "Cinderella factor". You transform these sometimes dirty, smelly, greasy blobs of fluff into the most beautiful, gossamer beings. However, my obsession was put into check by my darling husband last night while he watched me cleaning the third of the five fleeces that had just arrived in the mail. Excerpt from our conversation...

DH: You know, there are these places and I know we don't really have one here in Salem but they have them in Richmond and Virginia Beach. Maybe you've heard of them. They're called YARN shops. And you're not going to believe it but they carry wool in the form of yarn that's already been washed, spun, and even the twist has been set (he was showing off his newly aquired fiber knowledge of the process). I can take you there and buy you some. We really CAN afford it."

IM: (not looking up as I admired just how soft the newly washed Corriedale was) Uh huh. So what's your point?

DH: Do you do this because you can't afford to buy yarn?

IM: No.

DH: Why play with gammy, dirty wool then?

IM: Because the pleasure is in the process.

DH: Hmpf.

IM: Its sorta like with you there are these places where you can take the cars and have them washed, vacuumed and dried in a matter of a few minutes instead of several hours (which is his weird hobby as of late).

DH: (smiling and changing the subject) So what was the last knitting or spinning project that you actually finished? When are you going to finish my vest?

IM: Doh!!!!

Good point, touche. I haven't finished too much of anything. I have serious fiber ADD. I have knitting knick knacks all over the living room floor (its a wasted room in my opinion since no one uses it) AND all over the place in my still unfinished knitting ashram. There's dirty fleece sunning on the family room floor and clean fleece drying on the kitchen counter. Rogue and the DH sweater have yet to be completed (no use rushing since fall is several months away) and several felted projects are scattered in bags. I need some serious fiber focus. It doesn't help to read about all of your fiberexploits from this past weekend. And it also doesn't help knowing that my grant funded position might be up in a few weeks. I'm stashing now for potentially leaner times. Or so I keep telling myself. Boogie explained my addiction best in her latest post. I'm a junkie too. Sign me up for a little of each please.

Here's a little sample of what I've been playing with. The photos don't really show the fawn color of this beautiful corriedale. It really isn't that dirty or greasy and just needed a light wash.

Raw fleece and some sorted batches that were waiting to be washed:


Close up of the crimp on the fleece


Washed, dried and a few combed locks (the gray swatch is from another corriedale fleece that I played with over the weekend).



Don't I sound like I know what I'm doing. I'm sure that I've botched the lingo or didn't explain something properly. Anyhoo, I'll have a ton of corriedale that I now need to decide what to do with. I love to felt with it (which is originally why I bought it) but am unsure if I can do that to it. For now, I'm content to just play with it :)

For those of you who went to that which will remain nameless this weekend, Zira was in the trusty company of dear Heather and her sister Kelly. Thanks again for letting her tag along. I've seen a couple of Zira sightings in blogland but no official submissions to the contest. If you've seen her out there or have photos, email me your links so that I can start posting them. Have a wonderful week and enjoy the beauty that is spring!