Wellington Fibres visit

Even though I'm totally hooked on Shetland yarns, fair isle knitting, and the like......I still like to visit interesting fibre related events if the opportunity arises.

Today was one of those days -- the DH was busy, it was a beautiful (cool) Spring like day, and Wellington Fibres was having an open house! So off we went (my neighbour Theresa and I, and Daisy of course!).

This weekend was the official opening of their own spinning mill on their farm just outside of Elora. The Angora goats have been busy producing kids. Everywhere you looked where these little white goats -- on top of the hay, squeezed between boards, on over and under just about everything! The photo to the right is a mother goat (just what is the proper name for a female goat anyway?) with her two kids -- I'm assuming they are kept separate until they are a little older?

Here's a photo of some kids which are a little older -- you can see how mannerly they are -- basically standing in their dinner! There was a large area in the barn just full of mother goats and their babies -- I couldn't get a photo because of the crowd of people watching the kids cavorting!

Wellington Fibres will now be producing their hand-dyed mohair/wool mix yarns in various weights on site in their own custom spinning mill. The small mill is perfect for custom spinning orders -- so if you've got some fibre that you want spun, contact them!

Gerda Update -- I finished the first sleeve this morning before setting off to Wellington Fibres. Brigitte asked if I could explain how I tidy up my ends. On the body in particular, I weave in the new shade before the end of the round, and weave out the old shade at the start of the next round. Photos of this are on my FI 101 course pages on my She Ewe Knits web site. There is a page devoted to weaving in/out the yarn ends. I'll also take photos of any hand finishing I do on Gerda -- I don't weaving in/out the yarns on a sleeve -- I find the rounds too short to make this appealing -- so I just cut of the old shade and start the new one -- finishing up the ends later. I also actually carried up the shades on the two-color garter stitch borders -- unusual for me, but it worked well in this case - I'll explain why when I show you the photos.

If anyone can tell me how I can respond direct to the comments on this blog -- please do so. Right now I get notified in my e-mail with the content of the comment, but I can't respond to the sender -- most annoying!

Happy Sunday!

Anne