Well it has been a busy few weeks. My studio looks as though it has been taken over by piles of fleece from various walks of life. I did manage to squeeze in time to create my latest free weaving project available through Schacht Spindle Company by clicking here. This is a set of cottolin picnic roll-ups - essentially a placemat/napkin type thing with a little pocket for your silverware. You just pop your silverware in the pocket, roll it, tie it and you're ready to go. I'm a bit fan of being prepared for eating at all times, so this project was completely selfish in that respect. The great thing is that it's just plain weave on a Cricket rigid heddle loom. Very, very simple to weave.

 
My super fabulous guild has a new website thanks to member Dave Daniels. It's waaaaay better than our former life as a Yahoo group. Check out the latest post with Margaret Russell's beautiful bamboo scarf dyed with freeze dried indigo. 
 
And speaking of my super fabulous guild, I started washing the wedding alpaca yesterday. I had some leftover tulle from my veil, how appropriate, which I decided could be made into a perfect fleece holding washing pocket thing. So out came the scissors and the sewing machine, and voila! I can slip the fleece into each pocket from the side, pin the sides in place and wash away while still keeping my locks in order. I created a center seam so that the pockets were of a manageable size, and it is the exact width of the bathtub which helps keep it from moving around too much when it's soaking. This is about 2/3 of the fleece from 2 1/2 year old Tuxedo. Next week I'll continue to wash and start carding. By the end of August I hope to have it all ready to spin.
 
And if that's not all, the aforementioned Margaret Russell, received some Soay that hadn't been rooed, or hand-plucked. Soay periodically release a protein that causes a weakening in their fleece. It will begin to peel back, and can gently be removed by hand without shearing. I'm fascinated by this rare breed. The staple length of the fleece is quite short, but it's wonderfully soft. I brought home a small sample to test spin, and at this stage it has been washed and carded. There is still a bit of debris floating about, but I find that I can work most of this out when spinning.