Shearing Finished

 

I now have lots of English Leicester wool to spin and weave.

 

 

Lots of help on shearing day.

 

 

Happy sheep till we had lots of heavy rain.

 

 

This sheep was on a mission.

Purple Rug

 

The purple rug is off the loom and finished.  I washed the rug and thanks to the breeze this week drying has not been a problem.

 

I spun fleece from my English Leicester sheep and dyed it in a purple and a mix of blue and purple.  I also dyed some grey fleece which I spun. I have also used dyed fleece for texture.

The rug was woven on my Stanley Dann 4 shaft floor loom.

Rainy Day

 

Another rainy day.

I had planned on spending time in the garden but that won't happen today.

 

 

 

I have been listing yarns on Etsy.  I still have a few more to list this week.

This is an English Leicester multi colour mini 25 metre hank.

 

The sheep still arrive at the gate at the same time every morning.

They do enjoy a breakfast of Lucerne hay.

 

 

I have been dyeing 8 ply merino yarns.  More to do today.

 

And finally I have spun some black merino chunky.  Will wind off into 50 and 25 metre hanks.

 

Always lots to do in the day.  I'm now going to weave.  Have nearly finished a rug.

Mini Hanks

 

For years I have hand spun my chunky merino yarn and measured in 50 metre hanks.

Recently I was asked for smaller lengths of yarn to use as highlights/contrasts.

So now I am listing on Etsy 25 metre hanks. As well as merino I am spinning some minis in English Leicester as well.  These have been more popular than I expected.  Soon I'll have some available at the Arts Centre Market.

Spinning and Dyeing

 

Merino Chunky yarn I have spun and dyed.  The weather is still cold and I am happy to be spinning most days.

Some yarn is for the Arts Centre Market in Melbourne and today I am listing yarns on my Etsy shop.  At the end of last week I had dyed merino chunky I had wound into 25 metre mini hanks.  The yarn dried over the weekend and now I'm photographing and listing.

English Leicester Chunky

 



 

More Merino chunky yarn.

Lots of Chunky

 

Busy times here spinning lots of chunky yarn.

 

And dyeing the yarn.

And waiting for the yarn to dry

 

 

Some yarn has been listed on Etsy

 

And some yarn is for the Arts Centre Market in Melbourne

 

This yarn is spun using English Leicester from my sheep.

English Leicester Yarn

 

This English Leicester yarn will be listed on Etsy today.

 

I will take this yarn to the Art Centre Market tomorrow.  I am working with English Leicester yarn in my weaving as well so I have been spinning every day.

End of Summer

 

The sheep are always looking to come into the back yard and eat the green grass under the quince trees.

 

The English Leicester curls are reappearing.

 Its time to feed some hay

 

 



 

End of summer but still hot.

English Leicester Curly Yarn

 

Lots of spinning

 

and lots of dyeing

Good drying weather

 



 

The yarn is labelled and listed on Etsy.

And now to begin all over again.

Merino Chunky is next on the list. 

Catching Up

 

The sheep were shorn in November.  It was lucky the shearing was finished then as a couple of days later David had a serious tractor accident and was airlifted to a Melbourne hospital. His recovery has been slow and he is very lucky to be as well as he is now.

 

The English Leicester curls are appearing already.

 

 

I have been rug weaving.  Today I commencing a purple, blue and grey rug as soon as I have finished my Etsy listings.

Working with Wool

A very friendly English Leicester rare breed sheep.  This sheep has a gentle nature and comes t5o see me when I go to her paddock.

 

Lots of green grass at the back of the house.

 

Some of the yarn I have spun for the Australian Ballet.  The yarn will be used for costumes for Sleeping Beauty.  Can't wait to see what the designer does with the yarn. The yarn on the left is a natural grey, no dye.  The yarn on the right I have dyed but using earthy tones.

Colourful Locks

 

Some of my English Leicester fleeces from the lambs. 

 

The fleece is soft and lustrous and silky

I have one more fleece to hand dye.

 



 

So more colours will be available at Fibre Arts Australia Ballarat Winter School next week.

Fleece Dyeing

This week was a busy fleece dyeing week. Above is a blue, donkey brown mix with pale silver and blue where the colours meet. SOLD

And then an earthy mix of brown and olive. The English Leicester is just a wonderful wool to put in the dyepot. The lustre enhances the colours. SOLD

Used burnt orange together with green and yellow here. SOLD

And I was delighted with this blend of blue, green. purple and the softer shades inbetween.

These are all for sale on the website listed at side of blog. The wool in these colour blends is English Leicester/Merino blend.

Our wonderful dog, Mopsy is going to spend the next couple of months with her breeder. Mopsy is due to give birth to puppies in two weeks. We will really miss her. Guess we will just have to give Darwin double the attention. I will post photo puppies when they are born.