New Wheel, new roving, SHEEP!

While I was out and about Saterday afternoon, I stopped at Susan's Fiber Shop in Columbus. Someone had mentioned in one of my groups that her new room was lookin very nice. Indeed it is! Her new addition is very homey and welcoming with sheep at the back doors to boot!! I love how it is set up now. There is a place to sit and watch the sheep if you are so inclined too. Most of Susans sheep have dropped thier lambs and this cuttie was sittin right at the back door. It was a wonderful day to travel out there.












And while I was out there, Susan helped to fix that darned clankity that was happenin on my Kiwi. Seems that when I oiled the treedle hindges that the oil seeped into the wood around the the screws and softened the wood so that the action of treddling stripped the wood around the screws! That was causing the hindges to be loose and make noise. She also noted that the metel peice conneting the wheel to the treddle arms may need replaced sometime. Thanks for fixing it!

Susan also told me you should NEVER oil the ball barings in the center! I did not know that and of course the spinning wheel manufactures don't tell you these things so that you end up ruining the wheel and buying a new one. HUMPH! Ashfords manuals are all pictorial so there is no mention of this.

But I did end up buying a second wheel, a Louet s51 DT. I went in intent on getting a s10 ST but it was not as smooth running as the 51, and I am more than ready for an upgrade! The only thing I am not liking about it is the tension is not adjustable other than having to lace the flyer OR buy the $77 hi-speed flyer which I will do eventually. I cannot spin the Yak down an aquantence sent me to spin up for her (Nice lady too. She is just as dorky as I am! She told me if I would spin up the fiber for her I could keep half the yarn I get from it. WOW. But I have ordered yak down for myself so I will probably end up just sending it all back to her when it is all spun and plied.) The flyers hold a lot more than the kiwi which is a plus and it is sooooooo much more quiet when spinning! I brought it home and started spinning on it and the BF was amazed at how much more quiet it was. LOL
Susan is great with layaway. We were able to work out a deal where I could take the wheel home while still paying on it!! Susan, you made my weekend!!! She is one in a million!
(PS I am so loving this autosave feature on Blogger!!!)

In the last picture is what I am spinning on the Louet. It is a merino and silk blend hand painted/dyed roving. There was a lot in the braid I bought and it was cheap!! Twenty bucks for a whole lotta roving! I am loving it too...OOOOo it sparkles and is soooooooo soft! I think I will knit it into the candle-flame stole that is on knitpicks.com (free pattern BTW). I told Susan I am so gonna wanna buy more of this and she said she will be getting more inthe future. I rarely buy handpainted rovings because I can make them on my own, but merino and silk is a nice blend that I cannot do on my own without a drum carder. Of which I will eventually get the same way we arranged to pay for the louet. In this way, I will be able to afford all the spinning equipment I could ever need!!

I bought a few more progressive and hard house music off Beatport.com and now that I am broker than broke (LMAO) I will go spin some more!

Until next time...

More pictures of Lotti, my adopted lamb

Picture postcards arrived in the mail today from the farm where I adopted Lotti from. I don't have a working scanner so I took pictures of the pictures so the quality went down a tad. The two adult lambs are her parents, both are part Merino. And along with the photocards was a note on how she is doing....

"It's lambing time and so far there are 22 new lambs on the farm. Lotti's mother Belle had twins again. One black and one white, again. The black one looks just about like Lotti. There are 6 more ewes to go! One last night, Theresa, surprised me. I tried to pull her lamb that was breach and it's legs were not in the right place, I couldn't so I called the vet. By the time he got here she had managed to deliver the lamb on her own, and two more! He said that they usually cannot deliver them in that position either. Go girl!

About Lotti: She was born at 6:30 AM on Februrary 11, 2006. She was a twin and weighted 10 pounds. Her mother is Belle, a merino-columbia-lincoln cross. Her father is Arthur, a blue faced leicester-merino cross. She was a favorite from the beginning. She was so cute when she was borned everyone just loved her. My 1st grade daughter did a report and poster on her, and she has been spoiled ever since. For some reason Belle's lambs are always especially friendly, and Lotti was no exception. In fact there are times that she is a little too friendly. Sometimes when I am out in the barn yard doing something she comes and will not leave me alone unless I scratch her. She will come and paw at me until I do what she wants!

I've noticed that she is very interested in the new lambs. She will go into the lambing jug with them if I am not careful to close the gates. Their mothers frown on her joining them. I am sure she will have a good time when they get out and she can play with them. She still has her lamby personality and likes to run and bounce. And of course you've seen the photo of her being king of the mountain. I will email more photos as I take them."

Until next time...

Adopting Lotti: a Merino/BFL lamb!

Her name is Lotti and I hear she is quite the character. Lotti is the black yearly on top of the hay in the photo. Forget the crowds, go to the top of the mountain! She has a Merino Mum and a BLF father so her fleece should be soft and crimpy!! I've never delt with natural colored fleece before so this will be something new for me to try. Her adoption fees are $15 a month, or $150 for the year and this includes washing of the shorn fleece and shipping! Wow!

I was a little late on the adoption so there were not many sheep to choose from that live at a local fiber farm, Windridge Farm, here in Wisconsin. Turns out the farm is only about a half hour away, so I can pick up the fleece and save on shipping come sheering time! The lady who I was talking through email about Lotti says she always could use an extra hand, so there is something I have yet to try! So I offered to come out sometime during spring break to help out. I've never worked on a farm before so this will be interesting! Another adventure...another year! YIPPIE!

Until next time...