A Ball of Yarn

     For five years I avoided eye contact with the spinning wheel.  The purchase was made lovingly by my husband with good intentions and visions of colorful fiber.  Reality set in shortly after we brought it home.  I thought it looked better as home décor instead of a useful tool.  In the back of my mind I knew I had to tackle that spinning wheel eventually.  It just felt too intimidating. And taking care of the sheep was much more fun.

     As the mountains of wool stacked up however, I realized the time had come. Plunging in (not very eagerly), I took a spinning class, asked tons of questions and set to the task.  It took one very kind and patient fellow shepherdess to finally make the process click.  After I understood, I never looked back.


   With the amount of fleece to choose from I decided on a champion  ewe named Jellyby.  Her color is Red and White Bioget.  Although being partial to  her two tone color, I decided to dye her wool with black walnuts.

                                   

                                          


      I employed my son to harvest buckets of black walnuts.  He was a little distracted with pine cones but we finally filled a couple of buckets and boiled the rich, dark brown color from the walnuts for an hour. 

                       

      After soaking the wool in clear water to better accept the dye, I put the wet wool into the walnut dye and simmered for an hour.  I wanted a rich color so I left the wool overnight in the pot.

     After a gentle wring I set the wool outside to dry.  The final product was a beautiful fawn and deep brown variegated wool.  After carding,  it was ready to spin.  I choose to do a thin spin and a two ply weight perfect for a pair of mittens or scarf.  I can't say it wasn't time consuming, but the rewards are tremendous.  A true testament to buy and live local.

                                          

                                      Inspired by nature. The yarn is on the lace at the left :)