Fleece back

I got my fleece back from the mill.  It turned out amazingly gorgeous!  I'm really happy with it.  I have some roving and some that was just carded out into a cloud for making batts.  But you can spin right from the cloud, which is nice. 

One of the first things I did was take out a nice big ball of the grey roving and dye it up.  I don't have pictures yet, but I dyed it a rich red with black spots.  I plan on listing it next week under the colourway name "Ladybug".

The white fleece was pleasantly surprising.  I cannot believe how white it got.  It's really pretty incredible.  The cloud will be heading into the dyebath in the next few days, after which time it will go through the carder to be mixed up with other wools for batts.  I think it will mix very nicely with some silk and nylon for sock batts.

3 down...

I finally sorted through my fleeces in the garage.  One of them is thoroughly bad and is worthless for anything but mulch.  It's an old suffolk cross that I was given 2 years ago.  If you would like mulch for your garden, please let me know.  It has lots of sheep manure attached to it.

I had 3 fleeces that were still excellent.  One had been sorted last fall, and I took advantage of the GORGEOUS (!!) weather today to sort the other two.  I called the mini-mill upon completion and asked when I could make an appointment to bring them over.  It's only about 20 minutes away.  Well, they suggested I bring them over today, which I did.

I've got about 2 kilos of wool.  1.5Kg is a grey dorset, and the other 1.5 Kg are two different white fleeces.  One of the white fleeces is a dorset, the other is unknown.  The two white fleeces will be mixed together.  I'll get half of each back as a cloud for spinning, the other half will be processed into roving.  I am looking forward to seeing the end results.  I've seen the work this mill has done and I am generally impressed.

I'm pretty excited!!  Can't wait to see the final result.

Blogging while busy

It's pretty sad.  I have become the worst sort of absent blogger since becoming pregnant.  There are a few reasons for that. 

Mostly, my absent blogging has been due to two major factors. 
Reason #1:  I just haven't been knitting as much lately.  The truth is, I haven't been able to sit for the length of time required to knit, so my knitting has suffered rather badly.  I've even gone to Sip 'n' Stitch without knitting in my purse!  How horrible is that??

Reason #2:  I never wanted to be one of those pregnant woman who talks about nothing else except her pregnancy.  IRL, it's very sad, but I became exactly that sort of woman.  I don't know what it is, but this whole pregnancy tihng seems to be taking up 100% of my time and energy.  Growing an entire person in just 9 short months is exhausting.  Who knew?!

I've been asked a few times how long I plan on waiting before trying for baby #2.  I just want to get through baby #1 first.  Maybe in about 5 years when I forget what being pregnant is like, I might repeat the experience.

Honestly, I am blessed.  I know I am!  I am very excited (if somewhat terrified) at the prospect of becoming a mother.  It's incredible to hold a life inside you and feel it move and know that this little life is a part of you.  At the same time....owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!

I hit a few incredible milestones over the last few weeks.  First, I have started to feel Little One moving around in there.  Baby tends to be active mostly in the evening or after I've done too much.  It's about 4" long right now, maybe a little more.  The movements are just quick fluttery sensations deep inside.  They can't be felt from the outside yet.

Other milestone this week was my very first experience with Braxton Hicks contractions.  I just loooooove how they are described as "painless".  Very funny!  It didn't help that I desperately had to use the washroom, which by all accounts can make the B.H. contractions stronger. 

People presume that when you are a knitter, your little one will be decked out head to toe in precious handknits.  I really want to do that, but my project list is still a bit of a killer.  I'm finishing things, though, and not adding new things, so hopefully I'll manage to kick out at least a little take home outfit.  Maybe a sleeper and hat or something similarly adorable.

H and I start our prenatal classes tonight.  I finished my last purse project, so I've got to start on another fairly big project...the fall Little Seasonals project.  Watch out!  It's going to be fantastic!

P.S. Stay tuned for the Summer edition of Little Seasonals.  Coming soon!!