Wool Washing & Tomato Plants

I had quite an audience today while washing wool. With the wind, I thought it was on the chilly side, but my spectators (heavily furred and wooled as they are) hung out in the shade.

Dierdre watched attentively from her lookout under the deck. About a dozen sheep lounged under the cedar tree, most surveying me with interest, including Herbie, whose fleece I was washing.

While the wool soaked, I repaired part of the garden fence that came down over the winter. I wish Dierdre could have helped; I could have used an extra pair of hands, and Mark wasn't home. I'm sure she would have tried, but pulling on woven wire fence with her teeth seemed a bad idea to me.

I finally bought a couple tomato plants at the farmers' market yesterday: Silver Fir Tree, a Russian heirloom variety, and yellow pear. I haven't planted them yet, but I sure hope the weather continues to warm. It got down in the 30's for a night or two last week.

The wool I just washed is still drying, but the pictures below are from the same fleece.

Prescott Highland Games

I attended the Prescott Highland Games last Saturday as a vendor. I also demonstrated spinning with great success. It's always fun to do so. A fair number of people have seen spinning wheels but very few have observed them in action. People are astonished at both the simplicity and the complexity of the process: in my hand I held wool, and a few moments later, it had become yarn on the wheel's bobbin. To many of them, it's almost magic.

Dierdre made it very clear she wanted to go with me to the Highland Games. She jumped into the back of the truck and sat there while I loaded it.

Unfortunately, she had to stay home. It would have been too complicated to take her. For one thing, they had sheep herding contests, and she definitely would have felt she should be in charge (oops, make that participate).

Below are some of the items I wove for the event. The first scarf and the bags are MacColl tartan. The second scarf is a Robertson tartan.

http://www.highcastlecrafts.com/bags.html

http://www.highcastlecrafts.com/scarvestablerunners.html