Memento Vitae

Lil bit of needle felting for a weekend :)

I'm knitting a Shetland hap!

This was cast on sometime in February I think, so now 4-5 months progress.

The blue was gifted to me, and the white was bought to match. The green I bought as a white and dyed, and it's my favourite part.

The stripey waves are *chefs kiss* , and it's 2 rows away from starting the border!

Working on some hand dyed cheviot wool braids, from Waratah Fibres. The purple braid is finished now, going to finish the yellow and then ply them both as 2ply from centre pull balls.

106gm braid of Blue Face Leicester and Mohair, dyed by Waratah Fibres

Chain plyed, 270m

Finished "Jumanji" merino skein!

100gm, approx 380m. So approx fingering weight, maybe edging towards sport.

Have I finished all my other fleeces?

(shhh that information is classified)

Dark brown fleeces (top of photo):

2x bags off the same sheep, each 1.1kg. so 2.2 kg of dark brown/dark grey border Leicester. Very soft handle, gorgeous colour. Some weathering in the tips. I've started cleaning the first chunk, it's come out beautiful with some detergent in cold water. Staples approx. 100mm long, sound, very little VM!

It's getting cooler here, and I started well past midday so not much sun to help the drying. Luckily I'm very clever and the oven has a warmer :))

Grey fleece (bottom of photo):

Also border Leicester, also 2.2kg. similar qualities I think, strong and weathered tips, beautifully soft handle.

Piebald fleece (middle right of first photo):

A giant bag of corriedale. I was so surprised by the colours, I half expected it to be Jacob, but that would be a new one for me in this country. It's 3.25kg, and very very soft, almost like merino.

White fleece (middle left of photo):

Practicing my combing with success!

English Leicester fleece, from this post- this is the really clean and non stained section.

Combs are the small wool combs from Petlyn, with the classic tines.

Current wip

Adventures in felting!

Needed more soft mats to protect the dining table, so finally got to use my new olive oil felting soap and work through a little more of this merino stash.

I made a carrot and beetroot, the partner made a fish 🐟

Wash day!!

More details and pics under the cut!