Bad Hair Day?

Not mine.  The sheep.  What with all the unspun wool laying around the living room, I got the idea to do this.

Someone online suggested I sample before I decide exactly how I will handle this Border Leicester I just finished washing.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  But seriously?  NOPE. Not even a little bit.  The fibre is just too fine.  It went on in clumps and stayed that way.  I did try spreading it out with my fingers but in order to get even a little onto the carding drum I was spreading it so much that I may as well have been flicking.  This shot is me, trying to get the fibre that did load, off.  Sorry for the blur.

I did try flicking next.  It seemed obvious.  

It does produce a lovely fibre, but you would have to hold each little locklet separately and brush it and there are thousands of little locks.  See the next photo.  The above is one little curl.

Time to try something completely new.  I pulled out my combs.

I have tried them once before but I wasn't very impressed.  It seemed like a lot of work for not a lot of result.  I think I had a fibre that didn't really like combing because today, with this Border Leicester?  Wow.

I filled an entire big sweater storage bag with airy poufs ready for spinning in half an hour. It isn't going to be a fast process.  That was only about a quarter of one of my screen bags, but it produces more ready fibre in a much smaller amount of time than flicking would.  And the result is equally heavenly. Putting your hand in the bag of this stuff after combing is like touching warm clouds.  It is just glorious.

You can see the curly fibre before combing, sitting in the middle of a pile of combed.  It is just so different combed than the tight sweet little curls it starts as.

There is lots left to comb before before this part of the job is done, but I dream of spinning it already.  Just can't wait.

As you may have noticed, my shifting to a new writing time is going much better this week.  My camera is with me all day and that seems to be keeping me on my toes, thinking about what  I am doing and focusing in on this moment in time.  It is a much healthier way to live.  And it has been a true blessing to have something to help me fill the more challenging hours of the evening. 

Plus my dishes are more or less done by the end of the day.  Not sure how or why that is happening.  Don't even want to think about what that means...