Trenchwork

I’ve been doing prep for the group on Saturday.  There’s been this:

Merino locks, ready for washing. There was a lovely length on most of these locks, ranging from 3.5 to 4.5 inches, and they wash up to a nice, bright white. You may have to be a fiberholic to appreciate this, but it’s actually rather fun to sit there and separate the locks out into a log stack like this, watching each lock separate from the fleece in its own individual little log, and even more fun when you see how much those little “planks” fluff up when they’ve been washed and there’s no suint or lanolin to hold the individual hairs together.

And this:

Locks on the top shelf (not counting the previous pic), roughly 500 grams of the other three fleeces drying on the other shelves. Ignore the mosquito candles, and miscellaneous potted plant bits and pieces. (Seriously, potted plants have a zero chance of survival in this house. I either forget them or flood them and the poor things are doomed the moment they come in the door. Now if I could just convince folks to quit giving them to me  . . .!)

I think we’re set. Saturday is D-day. Cross your fingers.

On another front, I’ve come to realize that I simply don’t have time to work an Etsy shop. I don’t know what I was thinking. When precisely did I think I’d be able to create stock for the sucker? I know, I know: the truth is that I wasn’t thinking. I have a nasty tendency to think I can do more than I can—particularly when it’s something I want to do—and given that the coming term looks like it’ll be a full 150% load, it’s better that I have a reality check now than later.  I’ve done the crash and burn thing, and you know, that’s just no fun.  So, I’m leaving the shop there, but I’m not going to worry about doing anything with it. Since I haven’t exactly advertised its presence, I don’t think anyone will be disappointed! It may have its day later. And, who knows . . . Maybe I’ll use it to destash handspun!

I suddenly seem to have acquired a stash, and I truly have no idea what I’ll do with some of it.  I’ve thrived with the spinning of those fibers and haven’t necessarily felt a burning need to actually do anything with them, which means that I’m developing a bit of a storage problem.

Like this one:

Fiber: Panda (60% superwash Merino, 30% bamboo, 10% nylon), hand-dyed in “Blue Moon” colorway from Spunky Eclectic.
Weight: 12 ounces/340 grams.
Yardage: 1706 yards / 1560 meters, with an additional 58 yards/ 53 meters in chain ply.
WPI / TPI: 28wpi, 18tpi, true 3-ply. (Same stats for the chain ply segment.)

This is probably my last proper spin for a little while given the upcoming schedule, and I’m very pleased with it. The Panda is a wonderful blend, and I love this yarn in a 3-ply. It’s round, soft, and Amy’s dye work was just brilliant; even in the 3-ply, the yarn shows the distinctive blue tones which were present in the fiber, and I think it will make for a wonderfully heathered fabric. It’s a good laceweight or very light fingering weight, and with over 1700 yards, there are a lot of options. And much as I like the yarn, the reality is that I have no plans for it. I enjoyed spinning it so much that I’m genuinely satisfied, so it’s going to sit in the stash for a bit and see if it wants to be re-homed or sold.

Oh, and the Feather and Fan shawl?  It’s on row 136.  53 to go.  I’d show you a picture but it doesn’t really look any different than the last time.  Sigh.

PS:  Stalker Cat?  It’s a she.  A she with an alpha streak, a strong sense of territory, and a head and neck like a heavy-weight wrestler.  She’s the female version of Greebo in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels.  But she seems to be doing better, although she’s skittish and not to be trusted; you pet her carefully, with respect, and only for a moment if she’s willing to allow it.  I’m just wishing I knew if she’d been spayed!  I have this mental image of how much fun it would not be to try and rescue a litter of kittens if she showed up with a batch in the kennel run and then turned out to be a strongly protective mother . . .