More fiber fun....and some quilting

As if I didn't do enough spinning at the fair.......here is a picture of post-fair yarn that I spun up. This is Merino that was beautifully dyed. You can see specks of color.....greens, a bit of gold.....nice fall colors. Don't know why I bought this roving. It's not like I really needed any more fiber. I guess the colors just called to me. :) Anyway, I brought home 8 ounces and proceeded to spin it up that very night. There is about 400 yards between the three skeins. Haven't figured out the wip yet, but I'm guessing it is about a worsted weight. The challenge for me was the fact that it was Merino. When I first started spinning I couldn't spin Merino if my life depended on it. Gave me fits!! Stayed away from it after that. Well, I have discovered that experience does make a different (or maybe just lots and lots of practice). This spun up beautifully!! It spun up about as consistently as anything will for me. (I like to say that my spinning is consistenly inconsistent.) I did enjoy it quite a bit and can see spinning a bit of Merino in the future.

It was also back to playing with my Shetland fleeces. I dedided to pull out Cisco's fleece and play with it a bit. He's a nice light fawn color. Very beautiful fiber!! And it dyes up like a dream!!! Not sure how much I will leave the natural color. I'm having so much fun dyeing it different colors. The pink I'm keeping for myself. I have a desire to blend it with a bit of silk and then spin it up. The other three colors will be put on my etsy site for sale. They are 4 ounce bunches. Here's a picture of Cisco so you can see how beautiful he is.

My flock consists of 21 Shetland sheep.......11 wethers and 10 ewes. When I originally started my flock I chose animals for their fiber and their color. I was setting up a spinner's flock. It became a breeding flock for a few years and now we are back to a spinner's flock. No rams here!! In fact, the three ramlings were all taken to the vet yesterday to be wethered. Levi was so happy when we put them in with him. He was bouncing all over his yard. He now has his own little flock to watch over. :)

And for the quilting part of it all......not only did I finish up the first block in the block of the month I'm doing through a local quilt shop.....but I also picked up the kit for block #2. Pictured below is block #1. It's a bit brighter than what I normally do.....but I like it. It makes me smile everytime I see it. Plus it has motivated me to continue working on a quilt that is my own design. And it will have sheep on it. :)