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.