Catching Up

Sorry I haven't posted much. I've been slacking off, but I've been pretty busy and just hadn't gotten around to the computer.

The only really big thing that has happened over this last week is that I and several friends visited the Pufpaff Fiber Mill in Nashville, MI. Didn't know Michigan had a Nashville, but low and behold there it was. It was a long drive, but is was fun. We all got to see the sheep, llamas and alpaca. Really, for the life of me, I couldn't tell the difference between an alpaca or llama. They both looked alike. The owner walked us through all the steps of processing raw wool. We saw where she washed and/or dyed it if needed. The drying room was next. It looked a little like barracks with netted hammocks hanging from PVC piping. The wet wool was snuggled in the hammocks. It looked kind of yucky at this point. Then we got to see the carding machine. That was really neat. I took pictures, but of course haven't gotten them downloaded yet. Hopefully tonight. We also learned how to hand felt a small project. There is a fine line between using just enough soapy water and too much soapy water. I, of course, used too much. And squeezed too much too obviously because I had oodles and oodles of suds going. Neither Jess or Elizabeth L. were getting that many suds. It was fun, but I don't know if it will be me. Which may be a relief, as that is one less craft bug that I wasn't bit by. The owner also showed us her patterns and explained how to knit or crochet straight from roving instead of spinning and then knitting. She had this lovely afghan on her sofa that was soooo soft. I bought some roving to attempt a pair of felted clogs knitted from roving. Will see how that goes.

Monkey Update: I have the socks done and everyone done except 1 sewing related item that I was supposed to have gotten done this last weekend. It will get done this weekend as I am going to a Quilt Retreat this weekend and all of those supplies will be going with me.