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Last time I dried some spun wool I tied it to the clothes line and tied a weight to the bottom. This worked well at keeping the yarn straight, but it unfortunately put a fold in the skein, this I didn't like. Soooo. I had a brain wave about how to solve the problem. I mentioned to DH what my plans were and he said "Hey we have some of that pipe down the back". Yeehaa. So I cut two wedges out of the plastic plumming pipe as you can see in picture #1 so that it could be attached to the clothes line by twine, but be secure and not move (pic #2).

So then I attached the second rope to the pipe then I added my skeins of home spun wool.  Which is a simple process, just unhook the ready made loop from the slot and you can add your yarn.

Mmmm a slight problem with the skeins being different lengths, so I cut some more plastic pipe into lengths about 30cm long, cut a little wedge out of each end

I could then weight each skein individually.  In this case I used an old plastic shopping bag and some freshly picked mandarine's.  But I can use what ever is on hand at the time be it kids toys, lemons or even garden rocks (as long as it is not too heavy for the skein it doesn't really matter).

I am so excited to finally have my hand carders.  I took a drive down to Gerringong which is about 30 minutes south for me to a lovely little shop called Glenora Weaving and Wool.  They are situated high up in the hills about 3km off the main road. Oh what an inspiring place. There, the owner Christine has her own sheep, the most wonderful view of the South Coast and her shop. She stocks yarns and fibres of all types, roving in so many colours, knitting and weaving supplies as well as Ashford products.  My carders are so lovely and much easier to use. In the photo below is some Mohair that I carded last night. Soooo nice. I can finally get to spinning.

I have decided to finish a baby blanket that I started a while back. I stopped when I ran out of pink yarn and couldn't match or buy any more. It is now a multi-coloured blanket that is starting to look rather pretty.

I have a lovely yellow that I purchased today to add to it.

Finally finished and modelled here by two lovely ladies

Margaret on the left and Anne on the right

It is so fluffy and soft, it feels like a cloud.

I used my Vintage Red Cedar Leather Backed carders with paired teeth and nearly riped my arms out. A wonderful lady in England advised me that these were awful to use, but I decided to try any way seeing they were my only option.  Well I am saving up for a new set of carders because these really are awful to use and I nearly ripped my arms out of their sockets, so did DH.

Funky fun with colours and words.

You put in a url, either your own or someone elses, it takes random words weights them and puts them into a random pattern. The more the word is used the larger the font, yada yada yada. You can select direction, language, colours and much more. Fun little tool.

It's called Wordle

Both Miss 6 and I enjoy on occassions Cruskits for a snack. I purchased a new box yesterday to fill our container. Imagine how surprised I was to open the box and find less.  The cruskit on the left came from a packet that was purchased about 5 weeks ago.

The cruskit on the right was purchased yesterday.  This is not the first time I have noticed shrinkage, so I thought I would document it this time. Soon we will need to be slicing cherry tomatoes to top our bickies.

Well today I was able to start washing some of the angora that I was given. It is a long process and needs to be done in definate steps.

Step 1. In very hot water (so hot you can just bare to put your hand in) soak the mohair for a few hours, but do not let the water go completely cold. This is to loosen the dirt trapped in the fleece.

Step 2. Gently remove mohair from the water and drain. I used tule to reduce the amount that I needed to handle the mohair. Too much agitation or rubbing of the mohair will cause it to felt.

Step 3. Fill the container/tub/sink/bath with very hot water again and this time add detergent. You can use dish washing detergent as this helps to remove the grease and body fats from the goat. Resubmerge the mohair into the water and leave to soak for no more than an hour..

Step 4. Simple repeat step number 3.

This is the water after one wash.When tipped out there was alot of dirt and bits of vegetation in the bottom.

I purchased some 1 ply yarns a few months ago to make a multi-coloured bag.

The problem I came across was plying it, and by hand that was a nightmare. Now that I have my spinning wheel that feat is no more. Last night I sat happily plying away. I was surprised at how comfortable I felt.

Still a long way to go to get an even ply, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

I am such a lucky girl. Apart from the fact I now have an Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel, I have been given 4 garbage bags of Angora Fleece.  Hopefully you will see some lovely items popping up here real soon made out of what I have spun myself.