Lots of wool.

I still have some fleeces that needed to be washed. This is Annabelle's. The 1st is before washing. The 2nd picture is after. I'm not the best fleece washer. I just use Borax and blue Dawn. I wash a few times, then rinse. I see a huge difference, but the tips are still a bit dirty.

I plan to dye some of the whiter wool sometime soon. I want to use natural dyes. I also have some Jaquard dyes too. So I will be experimenting. I would love to grow a dye garden too. I want lots of flowers anyway, for the honey bees.

This is some of Amarillo's wool. With some of Sugar, the alpaca. So about 25% alpaca. It's so soft. So this took me a few weeks to do. And this is not even a little part of her wool. There is SO MUCH MORE!!

This is Buttercup's wool. 2 totes full! I just don't know how I'm going to get all this spun up. Plus I have about 16 more fleeces in totes just like this.

This is some roving I bought at SAFF. BFL lamb. It's so pretty. This is just 1 of the rovings. I bought 2 like this. So I have some really pretty tan colored alpaca. I thought I might spin some of that with some white and ply them together. I'll see what it looks like first. But I think the dark blue with some tan would look pretty.

This is some that I bought last year. I can't even remember what it is. But it's really pretty. And long! It's in the washer right now. I think I'll use my combs to get this made into roving.

                                                              Look how pretty this is! I love it.

So, I think I'm fighting a loosing battle here with all this wool. There is just no way I could have all this spun by the time the next shearing comes around in May. It's a little overwhelming, just looking at it all. I think I'll start looking around here for a mill that's close enough to drive to. I was thinking if I could just get it made into roving, it would be so much more manageable fr=or me. Because the preparation is what takes so long for me. I'm not really liking my little drum carder. So I have been using hand combs. You know how long that takes to just get enough for 2 bobbins? A LONG TIME!

Anyway, that's all I've been thinking about lately. Wool. If anyone knows of a good mill close enough for me to drive to, please let me know. I think there's one in Ga. but I just have to find it. And in N.C. And another near Nashville.

So back to washing wool and spinning! Have a great week y'a;;!

Bird house tree.

This tree has been slowly declining for years.  Most of the branches have fallen off. But it gets new leaves every spring though.

We started noticing how much it's leaning now. With all the rain and muddy wet ground, and the huge ant hill, it's leaning toward the shelter.

We have talked about cutting it down several times. But this morning, I saw some birds going in this hole. This is the bird houses for so many birds. They've been making nests in this tree for years. After I saw the birds going in this morning, I said that tree cannot be cut down. Maybe just the top of the tree can be cut off, but not the trunk.

                                                            This is the other side of the tree.

                  The big ant hill. There are no ants in it now. But you can see how much it's leaning.

                              I love old trees. This would be some good firewood. But not for awhile.

Blocking blocks.

I found these today at Aldi. I was so excited to see these there. And on sale for $14.99. There's 26 blocks! For blocking my knitting, like sweaters and shawls. I hope these work.

For all you knitters out there, have you used these ABC blocks before? Are they as good as the ones that at specifically for blocking?

Now I need to look for those blocking pins. Instead of using little nails. Probably not such a good idea.