Not walking!

Certainly not in the rain! When it's damp, let alone wet and wild, my lazy lurcher only wants to be in bed and early mornings with a big mug of Earl grey seems to draw all the other household members as well!!! I'm under there somewhere!

So when I'm forced to stay inside, I spin. This was the result of plying 'leftovers' from my bobbins.  Manx Loughton dyed with henna hair colour and supersoft white Romney (my all time favourite fleece!).

And this is Romney plyed with undyed Manx Loughton. Not much wool here, but I'll find a use :D

This was a fleece I bought with great excitement and a good deal of ignorance! It's Polwarth, which is renowned for it's dense coating of lanolin and oil.

I washed it in my usual way, in a small bag with some gentle detergent and a lot of hot water.  Not too much agitation and then a cool rinse. Imagine how disappointed I was to find that the lanolin had just redistributed itself among the fibres and the oil had formed a thick tar on the tips! A lot of research led me to the conclusion that this special fleece needed some special handling. I have something to try and I'll post the next stage when I feel like giving it a go!

Finn tried to assist but was in danger of just creating a pile of felted mess!

Instead I took comfort in this delicious cotton roving.  I managed to get hold of some, despite it not being widely available in this country.  It is soft and easy to spin, although it needs more spin in the thread than most sheeps wool. It needs to be treated like silk with a good strong twist in the fibres. I've had fun playing with it, but this lot is destined for the Etsy shop Here.

Tomorrow is supposed to be dry but windy, so lets hope I can get out for a much needed walk with my camera dog and maybe a companion :D