Road Trip.

Today Moomin and I went for a long drive to Rennes. It's an hours drive along unfamiliar roads to a big city. What would persuade me to go on a journey in my still dodgy car? Wool! Of course ;) I put out a call on FB for fiber in France and I've had a great response with varying types of wool being offered. This wool however was something a bit special, over 50kilos of good Angora wool, well, the lady selling said it was good!
It's a difficult moment when you drive a long way, meet someone in a car park and feel obliged to buy what they're selling. I could have walked away and not regretted it, however, at the bottom of some of the bags I saw soft glistening fiber. Was it worth a risk? Well, I must have thought so as I bought it, eeek!

 Even though I was sore and tired, I had to wash a small bucket full to be sure I hadn't made a mad mistake. Fae always loves to help me sort my wool :D

 A tremendous amount of dirt came out of the fleece and it's pretty nice.
I followed instructions from Namaste farms on Youtube for cleaning Angora and I won't do it again. I'm normally very careful and gentle with the fleece, but the instructions were to use lots of really hot water, soap and keep the fleece moving. Well, for me that's a sure way to cause the fiber to felt, but the instructions were explicit that all would be well. It could have been any combination of factors, like my use of the washing machine to spin dry the wool, but there were definite felted portions of the wool and next time I'll stick to my usual method. I'm also buying a small spin dryer to get the water out as it just goes in one direction and not back and forth like a washing machine!

 Back to the spinning wheel and this kind of ugly yarn was at the top of my fiber bag and I wanted something yellow to spin so gave it a go. I have no idea why I bought it because it's just not my normal colour!

 It's actually really pretty when it's spun and in the sun looks like pure gold. I've found a lovely shawl pattern that I want to try with it, but I'm heading back to the UK soon, so it's going to have to wait a while.

While in Rennes, Moomin and I celebrated our journey with a long walk around Ikea nearby. We finally found the perfect bed slats (who sells beds without the slats? Ikea, that's who!) so that Moomin could sleep in comfort for a change and then a whole lot of nik naks found their way into our greedy bag. I even treated myself to a tiny orchid, I adore orchids <3

I fell in love with this kitchen and went back to it a couple of times before deciding to take a few photos. Moomin suddenly pointed out that this kitchen is very like Susan's from Desperate Housewives. Well, that's it then, now I really want it :D