Fiber Crazy Yesterday! and New Tutorial!

Oh yesterday was a good day. I washed half a Shetland fleece, I dyed two pounds of Romney in beautiful fall colors, and I finally got around to writing up the dyeing with kids tutorial! Busy day!

Here's the tutorial: Dyeing with Kids

Results from Dyeing with Hannah! Ooohh . . . Aaaahh

I'll have pictures up soon of my new colors to play with. But right now I have to get ready for a spinning play date!

Fancy Kitty Drum Carder

I love my husband. He is a wonderful father, partner, provider and builder. He can make anything with his bare hands and all our kids think he can fix anything they may have broken.

He even made my spinning wheel. I think it deserves its own post, so I won't go into too much detail, but just know that it's beautiful, reliable and spins like a dream. I rely on him for all our house work, car work and farm work; he really works two jobs (the office and home) and does them well.

However. (yup, I had to start with "however") This past Christmas he decided to make me a drum carder, and I cringed. My reluctance did not at all come from a lack of confidence in his ability. Absolutely not! I knew he could make me a drum carder. One that would be bigger and better than anything I could buy. It would be electric and able to make 5 oz. batts!

No, my reluctance came from his inability to gauge time. Sometimes I'd like to live in Mike's alternate-time universe. I would get soooo much done in no time at all! Not only does he over-plan his time, he also takes his time doing things very carefully. We call it "lacking a sense of urgency" around our house.

At this point, I'd like to refer you back to the long list of things I rely on Mike for: house, car, farm, etc. We had just had a baby, we were planning to move (again), all of his tools were in storage or at his parent's house and he thought he could make me a drum carder for Christmas. I love him for that. I really do. But I still cringed.

And so began the Great Drum Carder Battle of '10. I won't go into all the bloody details, but it ended in a truce and the purchase of my Fancy Kitty Kitten 90/120 Drum Carder this July. The carder Mike started for me is in the basement and will be finished, with a motor, when he has time. Hopefully in correspondence with the first shearing of our sheep--I'll need it!!

So this is it:

Fancy Kitty Kitten 90/120 with BrushWith piles of batts all around. I think I'd had it about 2 days at this point. (you also get a glimps of my spinning wheel)

And here's a sad state of affairs:

Kitty in her corner.See Kitty in her corner?

Close up of KittyI blocked her in with the ottoman and a toy basket so that I could concentrate on carding while she played. Cruel or good use of resources?