Actually, that isnt true! I washed raw fleeces when I lived on the farm - well water and septic system. Nary a prob. You now have no excuse not to have plenty of fleeces in your new workroom!

Great list! I havent read A House Unlocked. Must add to my list. I learned where the inspiration for Livelys Consequences came from. Thats right at the top of my Lively list followed by A House Unlocked and her memoir.

What is the feasibility of spinning/knitting equine undercoat? To think all those years of brushing shedding horses and ponies and not even once considering spinning their short fur! I still have mane and tail hair in stash but it's too harsh for gloves tho definitely spinnable. And I do love the dual-coated Shetland fleeces...

-------- I never equated Marble with marble. Another DUH moment! Just remind me to stay out of Rifle. Too funny. Though there is a small restaurant in Rifle where the waitresses pack. Novelty to drive up biz, I assume. I wonder what the food is like but havent known anyone who bothered to check it out.

-------- Gah! Im sure you are all stir crazy inside your head! Im glad you at least have some amusing things. Mindless isnt necessarily a great thing, but if its amusing, at least you can live with that. Living with it is no option since I am still low and dr just doubled my mag supplements. I still have a skein of your wonderful sock yarn to knit and that will make time go a bit better!

The solar dyed yarn is beautiful. Will it fade? Nope - I havent had any trouble with any fading. I have the skeins line drying in the sun right now. C

Incredible - love the white fleece. And what is "toppy"? It sounds intriguing. You know - I just love all the grades of Shetland fleeces and recently crocheted and fulled some of the primitive handspun into baskets. I can't tell you how much fun it is to do that. Wait. I expect you might have a small idea. :-)

Such a wonderful beginning!

Right now I am spinning a primitive Shetland fleece which almost looks blue. The former owner of the fleece is "Seeley" which I am told is Gaelic for happy. I don't know that would work with sit, stay etc commands.

That red! I love seeing it and wish my yard was large enough to have a burning bush in it. And does that fungus not remind you of the rings of Saturn?

Love the description of your mother's "brave, open heart". What a delightful thing to be able to write about one's mother. Just finished reading Kingsolver's Flight Behavior and was amused Carol Ekarius "Storey's Guide to Raising Sheep" credited. Always a connection somewhere, huh? Looking forward to your post on the EPWM. You sat behind us Sunday. Weren't the lambs and kids fun?

Oh Deb. This is wonderful. Especially with shearing season upon us.

I wasn't able to leave a comment in previous post but this is what I wanted to say: "I could do a face plant in those books! And as a friend once said to me when I was hauling my horses cross country to compete "I'm living viciously through you". Vicariously, she meant. Though right now, I feel viciously enthralled in your fall plans. How wonderful. And yes, I'll be donating." M and I want to visit the Shetlands before much more time has passed... you give me more incentive (as always!)

The only fleece left in stash to spin samples of is River Bend Tippy - white fleece bought last spring! Yahoo!!

Yes - this is my solar dyeing spot. I havent had a chance to solar dye this year - and with all those white/silver Shetland fleeces, I could... I just love the yard and soon...back to walking. I used to take my wheel out to this area to spin and of course, the long gravel walkway is perfect for drying fleece.... ...I can remember lots of solar dyeing taking place here, am I wrong? Maybe it is where I imagined it to be? You and M have done a great job of planning how to fit your garden into a narrow yard! And btw, it photographs nicely! A place for everything and everything in its place!

"We are trying for rooing rather than shearing as that gives a better quality but have to catch them at the optimum time to roo but great way to collect from back and neck etc and keep each area separate." Rooing! I cannot tell you how I've thought about this for such a long time ever since first seeing a photo of spinners rooing their Shetlands on an island (courtesy of the Shetland Museum). I so look forward to photos and details of this. And thank you and your friend for this wondrous thing.

Did my previous comment go through? If not... well, I would be interested in fleeces - let me know.

Whats so funny is having to scoot along in Ms desk chair and try to write down the titles without straining my leg. THEN - trying to decipher my own handwriting and not being able to go back downstairs to check spelling. I totally missed my poetry bookshelves - must have been from fatigue! So yeah - a lot of little oddities show up...

Tommy was my big brother. I rode my final endurance ride with him and we sang some of his songs as we trotted through the TN woods. We talked about our grandchildren and horses and music and I just feel a huge hole in my heart.

The assorted stitch patterns are from all the books I have on Shetland lace. I picked a few dozen, wrote them down in the little notebook to knit the colored fleece samples. Now I am knitting the stitch patterns in one long sampler so the stitch patterns which were knit in the colored fleece pop. I have the regular knitted lace/lace knitting sampler on other needles with size 10 crochet cotton thread (from Lewis book) on hold right now.