Friday, March 05, 2010

Blue Sky in Morning

When I woke up this morning and looked out the window, I was stunned to see something I hadn't seen in quite some time - blue sky! First of all, let me say that it was not an early wake up. I had driven two hours last night for an hour-and-a-half weavers guild meeting, then tried to finish The Pillars of the Earth after I got home. I had to throw in the towel at midnight, but I am thrilled to have joined this guild. It's small and everyone has a pretty substantial commute, but at least I'm in the company of seasoned weavers. I hope to be one when I grow up.

I was just on my second cup of coffee when my neighbor Sandy called to say, that since it was such a delightful day, she was going to walk over the sewing notions she had promised me. I decided to meet her half way, and long story short, ended up walking four miles with her. I am so sore tonight. She's half my height - how does she do it?!
It was such a pretty morning, that I think everyone was out. The wolves were in their exercise pen. Ian had driven out and picked up the dogs from me much earlier because a fox hound hunt was in progress and he was worried that Sammie might chase the horses. I was sans dogs at this point, and actually I wouldn't have walked this far with Sandy, if I still had them with me. They are terrified of the wolves. They do command respect. Our dogs would do well to be terrified of coyotes, but alas, they are not.
I think everyone was out, doing something to celebrate the blue sky. Ian and neighbor Harry were cutting and splitting firewood and I could hear evidence of the hunt in progress. Where is the hunt in this photo? Just follow where Zaria is looking. Click for big on red speck. Actually, that's the foot of our property and it's been years since I've been down there. The terrain is rugged, it takes too long to get there and I have no reason to do it anyway.
I took the alpaca samples that I've finished over to Mim's today. I wanted to be sure that I was doing the right thing by the breeders who have submitted them. This was my favorite sample but I was trouble by the outcome. It had some sunburned tips that nepped, but the fiber kind of fell apart in the preparation. I was confused.
We were chatting as I added scores and wrote comments. She was playing with the locks, flicked off one of the tips, and agreed with my assessment. I had put a lock to the "ping" test and it was sound, but the lock that Mim picked up, didn't pass. It disassembled in her hands - each tug produced a break. We tested random samples - some were good, some looked like this. I've gone back through my completed samples and this is the only one to produce this result. I'm so sad for the breeder. You know this is an expensive animal and it offered up so much potential. It's the first shearing so we hope that it was a change of pasture or feed, and that the next fleece will be sound. It's such beautiful fiber. Oh, and the blue sky? It didn't make it past lunch.

11 comments:

LA said...

Zaria is so intent on the group out riding! Do you use your llama fiber to spin?

Life Looms Large said...

I'm shocked to see sun and blue sky here this morning. So nice!

Fox hunts, wolves....lots of canine adventures around you!

Glad you've found a weaving guild, even though it's a long drive. Our guild (since it's big) does a great job offering workshops and classes. I'm curious about whether this smaller guild that you've found does something similar.

I hope our sun lasts past noon!

Sue

Jody said...

That looks like a rose grey colour...my favourite. I know that alot of the cria tips will break off but the rest should be sound. Shame...it's a lovely colour.

bspinner said...

Looks like a lovely morning for a walk.

I love the photo of Zaria look out over your property.

beadlizard said...

Did the fiber shred or did it have a distinct break line?

Love this post.

Epsom salt bath directly after a long walk will help immensely.

Leigh said...

I wish we had somewhere around here to do some walking! Our roads are narrow and often the shoulder is not in a walkable condition.

Sounds like that alpaca spinning has taught you oodles. I have to confess I'm a bit envious. :)

~~Sittin.n.Spinnin said...

I was so aggravated that day! Or maybe it was the next day for us, but we had the same thing happen, beautiful blue sky and sunshine, then clouds, wind and humidity. Ugh.
I am so ready for nice weather. We used to have a couple wolves, they were beautiful. I love watching them move, so furtive but so graceful.

Robin said...

That's such a shame about the fiber. The pictures were beautiful. Expecially loved the silver shade. Glad you got at least a glimpse of the blue sky. Hints of more to come, maybe?? You have wolves in an exercise pen???????

Benita said...

So, explain the wolves to me. Exercise pen?

It's really is too bad about that fleece with the breakages. It's a lovely color.

I love that blue sky - We've had blue skies for three days now, and it was just so lovely to look at.

Marion B. said...

It is sad indeed that the fleece is not good enough.
But the sky looks great.

Anonymous said...

I too am curious about the wolves! We had a beautiful sunny weekend here as well and it was so nice to be outside in a t-shirt! You asked about the deer here - there are white-tail (in the photo) as well as mule deer (though I don't see them as often).