Trenchwork

It’s been a good day. I was headache-free for half of it, and that alone would have made the day memorable. But to top things off, something came in the mail, I found a 20-liter stainless steel dye pot, and I picked up a couple of slicker brushes to experiment with carding.

The thing in the mail is the Brown Sheep rovings from The Sheep Shed Studio I’d ordered a while ago. I had it shipped slow boat figuring that it would still arrive before the wheel, but the luck of the draw changed that. I’d intended on using those fibers as training material for the Rose, but of course couldn’t wait for it to arrive after the Rose arrived first. So, I now have this:

I have NO idea how Carol managed to cram it all into a single box, and I haven’t dared take it out of the box because the reality is that I don’t have a lot of storage space. It has already grown since I opened the carton. Remind me to tell you the story about my brother’s restaurant experience with a non-stop yeast dough one day. This box of wool makes me think of that story.

This one box includes a pound each of two superwash blues, three pounds of brown rovings, one pound of black-white rovings, and a nearly 4-ounce sample of the red superwash. Not shown in the photo is a pound of white roving, and another of white mohair top roving. It’s awesome. It’s wonderful. I’m itching to start every bit of it. But the thing I absolutely love is this:

I have NO idea what it’s going to look like, NO idea how I’m going to spin it, but I think it’s the coolest thing since sliced bread.

I’m turning into a major fiberholic, and I have some wonderful stuff to work my way through in the learning process. It seemed like a good idea to conduct an inventory, and I have to say that I’m a little bemused to find I have a fiber stash. Curious? Check this out:

• 1 pound multicolor merino currently on Rose
• 1 pound sapphire blue superwash
• 1 pound blue superwash
• 1 pound Ashland-Bay merino-silk
• 1 pound Ashland-Bay merino-tencel
• 1 pound multicolor alpaca-corriedale
• 1 pound silk bells
• 1/2 pound Tussah top sliver (edited:  I miscounted)
• 1 pound white alpaca
• 1 pound fawn alpaca
• 1 pound mohair top roving
• 1 pound brown shetland
• 2 pounds white shetland
• 1 pound white Brown Sheep rovings
• 1 pound black/white Brown Sheep
• 3 pounds brown Brown Sheep rovings
• 3 pounds gotland
• 3 sample ounces of Navajo-Churro (1 each in white, black, grey)

I think I have a bit to keep me occupied. Now would you like to tell me why I’m eyeing this? Especially Circus, Gummy Worms, and Froot Loops?

And where it it all taking me? Actually, that’s a good question. While I waited for the bus today, I killed a few minutes by going into the yarn store. I found myself looking at some of the new multi-colored yarns just to see what color combinations and ply technique they’d used and making mental notes of the ones I really liked. But I had to laugh at myself when I looked at a series of outrageously expensive alpaca yarns and decided that I didn’t like the way they were plyed—they were too loose—and that I could do better. Now how’s that for insufferable greenhorn arrogance?