One goes out...and another

comes in. I am a bit discouraged - I admit it. This gets old really fast, people dumping their unwanted animals just any old where - no food, no water, no nothing :-(. I mean, what would be SO hard about taking their unwanted animals to a freakin' shelter, for crying out loud??? Are they afraid of "what people would say" if they used a shelter? That's what they're FOR!

"What people would say" is a whole LOT worse when they find an animal's been dumped! At least the poor animals get fed at a shelter. But they don't get fed when they're in the middle of a freakin' field! Figure it out, you selfish jerks!

I sometimes fantasize about slapping the irresponsible jerks into next week, after having starved them for a couple of weeks, first.... I find myself grinding my teeth into powder...

As well, my poor Meems has been sick as a dog (no pun intended!) almost this whole week with a hideous sinus infection. She rolled out of bed around noon today looking almost human. Her eyes were a bit unfocused, but at least the fever's gone, thanks be to God!

We finally found a Forever Home for our sweet, goofy little Brittany foster girl, Ginger. Yes, she really did lay like that. ALL the time :-) Isn't that a hoot? That denotes GREAT hip sockets, btw - probably no hip problems in later life. But I miss her so much! We all do, and the day's been kind of a bummer all around.

She left early this morning on her long journey to the North, all the way up to Michigan, where she will have 3 other Britts to run and play with. She'll have a 10-acre wooded area and fenced yard to run and play in (lucky little girl!). I can't help but worry about her, though: is she scared because her Family (us!) isn't there anymore? It makes me sick to think she might be scared. We took one of Dave's old t-shirts and rubbed it on ourselves and the other dogs (they miss her, too!), and sent along her big Barbie sleeping blankie (Meem's old comforter) with her and lots of treats and toys. I sure hope she will be happy and not miss us!

ANYWAY...we already have our next foster here. We don't know his name, of course, because his former owner apparently abandoned him up near Salina when the dog proved to be gun shy. Damn all "hunters" who don't know squat about being a REAL hunter! This poor dog had no collar (of course not) and is very thin, though thankfully not skin-and-bones like most of our rescues are.

It looks like the poor young fella was on his own for a good week before a REAL hunter found him, cowering under his truck, terrified of the gun shots. This was a hunter who used to raise his own Brittanys (and still has 5 of them). He took him back home to Andover with him and contacted American Brittany Rescue to let us know he'd found a dumped Britt who needed a home, then fed & watered the poor dog. Kept him overnight until we could get him (thank you, Larry!)

This poor baby is so scared of people, he just cowered and shook when he got here this afternoon. That means only one thing to me: he had to have been beaten and abused by his former "masters". Just give me a rubber hose and 15 minutes alone with him/them in a locked room. That's all I ask. Hell, I'll settle for TEN minutes.

We FINALLY got him to take a bit of turkey this evening (he loved it!), but he still won't look at us - doesn't dare :-(. He lets us pet him, but he just freezes, not responding to our strokes or anything. I could just cry in rage for what was done to him. He's around 2 years of age - this young'un should be silly, bouncing, frisky and into everything. He should be driving me distracted by tearing up everything he sees. That's a normal 2-year old Brittany: just plumb crazy. Not this pretty boy, though. Maybe he'll warm up to us a bit later tonight or tomorrow.

I've got to arrange for his neutering and chipping, asap. Boy - next week is already looking mighty busy! Forget the Christmas knitting - it ain't gonna happen. No way. *sigh*

I had SO looked forward to some relaxing spinning. But stayed tuned...I'll get back to the wheel soon. I've got about 4 of 8 oz hand-dyed Merino spun up (from April of The Gourmet Sheep). Lovely colors - not really pastel, but not dark, either. It should Navajo-ply up into a beautiful yarn - I hope! Yes, I'll get a photo posted - after the batteries are charged. I swear, those batteries don't hold a charge worth anything! I wish I could afford a plug-in power source for it!

Apple Blossom - a Reprise

Okkkaaaay ... remember those photos of my current work-in-progress (Apple Blossom merino roving) that just 'disappeared' into the aether the other day? Well...! There they were. Big as life. Right on my camera.

Even though we'd deleted them. Even though the camera swore up and down that its card was empty. Even though they were downloaded onto my computer, never to be seen again...

There they were! Sheesh. SO...for an update and a photo upload of what I had gotten done:


Yes, I know. They're blurry and the photo-coloring seems (to me) to be slightly on the 'yellowish' side. I don't know what's wrong with this Canon S5IS, but probably nothing; ten-to-one, it's operator error...or just bad lighting. The bobbin is now full to capacity as I've only 2 feet left of roving. I'll try to post a completed pic as soon as I can (after I've plied it).

Cormo...to die for!

I've just finished plying up my 2 bobbins loaded with Cormo (Corriedale x Merino registered cross). It turned out so beautiful that I used its photo for my blog header.

I've now got over 1000 yards of sock-weight yarn (fingering weight) and it is glorious, gorgeous, squooshy stuff! It's in one, continuously-spun length - no breaks, no weak spots, even! I'm half-hoping nobody buys it so I can keep it and knit me some fab socks from it (like I don't have enough socks already?!). A whine: it's just that that's all I had of the Cormo - 8 oz of pin-drafted roving - and I didn't save any for myself (which was *really* stupid!). My dd, who is learning to use a hand spindle, swiped the last 3 feet of the roving, so I don't even have any left-overs! I'm already experiencing Cormo Withdrawal... This is terrible.

Spinning Cormo is a HUGE treat, whether using a wheel or the hand-spindle. This heavenly stuff is SO incredibly soft, it feels like a Summer cloud. At times, I would have to look at my hands to make sure I was touching the stuff - wow. The fiber is long enough that the spinner doesn't have any problem spinning worsted, which is the method I used in this skein. Actually, while I did use the worsted, short forward-draw method, I allowed the twist to 'snap' into the drafted length rather than smoothing it down with my fingers. I wanted to see 'what would happen', hoping that the resulting yarn would have the strength of a worsted, but the loft of a woolen. It worked more beautifully than I thought it would - hurray!

I am so pleased that I took a chance to try 'something new' to me in the way of fibers. Thank you, Sue, for being a Cormo breeder and bringing this glorious fleece to fiber-starved spinners everywhere! :-)

WHERE TO GET THIS MYSTICAL, MAGICAL STUFF: This pin-drafted Cormo (plus some fleece later on) came from Sue Reuser at Cormo Sheep and Wool Farm - and NEXT time I order the roving, the stuff is mine...all mine! The shipping from Cormo Sheep and Wool farm is very fast and reliable, so the waiting time is very short.
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Spring Flowers - handspun Sweet-Grass Targhee

I purchased the undyed Sweet Grass Targhee roving this January from Paradise Fibers, just out of curiosity - and 'cuz it was on sale :-). I didn't get around to finishing the 2nd bobbin 'til March...I think. This purchase was truly Providential, as the fiber turned out to be soft enough to use next to the skin (for most people, anyway), SUPER easy to spin (esp. compared to Merino), very lofty and light. It takes up dye beautifully and evenly, always supposing the dyer knows what she's doing... I don't much enjoy dyeing fibers (I just hate cleaning up my messes), but most of all...I have almost no space in which to do it. It's NO fun dyeing up fibers in my tiny, no-counter-space kitchen! I have to spread out the sheets of newspaper and plastic wrap down the length of my kitchen floor, leaving myself little room to squat and apply the dye - NOT an amusing diversion, I assure you.





Anyway, what I got out of the Targhee was about 597 yards of 2-ply, somewhere between sock and sport weight. If I sell it, though, I will probably only list it as about 520 yards, as the fulling process seemed to greatly shorten the skein (darn it!).



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Desert Twilight - handspun Merino

I purchased this dyed Merino roving from a seller at our local Fiber Festival. Usually, I work with naturally-colored fleeces and rovings, but Spring was finally in the air and I so much wanted some color to spin! I spun it straight from the roving, more thickly than normal. I decided I wanted a heavier yarn to make a really colorful something-or-other that didn't require skinny yarn!

The top skein is 239 yards and the bottom is 225. It is a 2-ply, 100% Merino yarn, spun worsted for strength, but fulled to bring out the 'fluffiness'.