summer project

Old Friend called me the other day to say, "I have some really big news and no, I'm not pregnant." Which would have actually been my first guess. The big news, however, was that she had just become the proud owner of an entire fleece. An entire fleece. Holy crap.


Let me clarify, neither of us spin and both of us are relatively new knitters. But we went to the wool festival a few weeks ago and saw all the spinning and sheep shearing and dyeing and it all looked pretty cool. So she happened to mention this to her grandmother, who is also a knitter and crocheter, and her grandmother said, "You know, your uncle just throws out the fleece when he shears his sheep. I can see if he'll give it to you if you want."


This all sounded pretty casual and hypothetical to me, happening sometime in an undetermined future, but suddenly there's a ginormous bag of wool sitting in Old Friend's driveway. I feel kind of bad posting about this now because although we have started the washing process (we have no idea what we are doing, we're working off an internet tutorial that I'll link to when I do a more detailed post, but we have at least managed to keep it from felting so far) and taken some pictures, I don't actually have said pictures to show right now. But it had been a few days since I last posted and frankly, my life's been pretty boring. The one interesting thing from the weekend was my cousin's very atypical bridal shower, where a.) Indian food was served - yum! - b.)the bride dropped the f-bomb twice and c.)she opened an oil-and-vinegar bottle? cruet? dispenser of some kind and exclaimed "It's a bong!" Plus I have not gotten to do a lot of knitting, so there's not much to show there either.


I will keep updating the state of the fleece as it progresses. And if anybody has any advice, please share!