This spring I purchased a beautiful Jacob fleece from Little House Rugs. The fleece came from "Sweet Pea" and I loved her fleece so much, that Judy was nice enough to reserve the next shearing for me too. Below is the yarn that I spun from Sweet Pea's fleece. Before scouring, I separated the white from gray. When it was dry, I carded it three times on my drum carder and then spun and plied it on my Kromski Sonata. The yarn on the right, was originally white, I dyed it using the black hollyhocks that grow in our garden. They gave a lovely lavender color.
A close up of the hand spun dyed in black hollyhocks. 
It's taken me a little over a month to separate, scour, pick, card, spin and dye the fleece. I was so excited to start knitting with it! This is the Low Tide Crossover Vee sweater that is in the newly released book Shear Spirit. The pattern designer lives in Maine, which I thought was very cool since that's where I grew up. Here is the completed left front (waiting on stitch holders to be attached to the back).
The beginning of the back:
A close up of the stitches. I love the yarn that came from Sweet Pea! It's so soft, you could wear it against your skin!
4 comments:
I bow down to your feet... you hear that, Dana?.... ohhhh Dana? Looks like a certain 'someone' may be looking for 'the' crown... you know the one that starts with 'Q'? ;^D
That's it. I want to grow up and be just like you... all that scouring and carding and spinning and plying.
*****WHUMP*****
I can't even begin to tell you how endearing and sweet that her name is Sweet Pea.
Awww you are too sweet! If you ever want to get a fleece, Jacob's are really easy to process. The scouring on other breeds can be more time consuming, Jacob's tend to have less lanolin so wash up quickly and easily.
Marianne, I totally surrender the crown (who in world could possibly compete with Lara?!?!?). :D She's the spinning queen!
Lara, it's gorgeous - - absolutely gorgeous! (She writes, curtseying).
Double Ditto~
What more can I say?..You're truly a working art(ist)..
Bless your little Sweet Pea..
Wait..Dana surrenders the crown..isn't there room for 2?..lol
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