creative reflections

On starting to wash my next fleece (grey) there were little bitty pieces in the fleece.  Bits of... bugs?  NOOOO!  Consulting and searching online led to "Hubby our freezer is full, do you have room at the lab in the -80?" NO?!  Well, then, must buy a wool-dedicated freezer now.  Who DOES that?  Ummmm.  Yup. That's a tale for a story night, like maybe at Halloween. Long story short: good price, frustratingly time-consuming trip, just fit in the vehicle, got it home, hauled it inside, lugged it down to the basement (well, slid it down the stairs leaning it on my back with hubby holding it from above, just in case--he would miss me/doesn't want the time and frustration of the ER/so loves me :) ), and on opening it up it was... dented.  Grrr.  Not worth the effort of lugging it back to the unhelpful store.  Moved it to a plug (there are precious few down there) only to find the cord was not on the convenient side (sigh), then the cord wou...

I did it, I bit the bullet and started to wash the fleece, step 1 in the process of “what am I going to do with all this loot (3 fleeces)?”.   Was anxious about unintentionally felting it, so was careful to not agitating it much. Method :   After consulting some experts and reading online, I took a deep breath and put 3 Rubbermaid bins in the yard.   Put hot tap water in the first with some Dawn dish soap, agitating the soap some.   Got 2 small adjustable window screens, split the 2 halves, put a layer of wool on one screen put the other screen on top of it and set it in the soapy bin, gently lifting up and down a couple times, put a lid on the bin and let it sit 15 minutes.   Filled a second bin with only slightly cooler water than the first bin and again added some soap and agitated it some.   Then lifted the 1 st screens with wool out of bin 1, letting the water drain into the bin, and submerging screens and wool in bin 2, lifting/submerging slo...

Treasure trove.  Mmmm...  But the pictures just don't do them justice.

So what do you do when you fall in love?   Keep being drawn back to the object of your attention, dwell on it, draw it close, take it home?   So have started many encounters, one such on a hot summer weekend when my eye caught, at ground level, a glint, a hint, the tiniest suggestion of the fleeting edges of heaven’s iridescent clouds.   Not a golden fleece but a shining ivory, reflecting sunlight like a jewel.   I kept finding myself walking past it and thinking what would I do with a fleece?   Please!   But the more I dismissed it, the more surely it drew me back. The vendor, like a knowing grandmother seeing a child's eager, longing eyes, patiently watched this ebb and flow.   When at the end of the event I finally determined I’d wed myself to this exquisite find, I found the vendor packing up.   Had I missed my opportunity?   Had someone else claimed it?   Slightly panicky I asked if she still had the fleece.   Yes.  ...