Time flies...........

How does it go" Time flies when your having fun." Well I don't know about that but it sure has been flying here. Life has once again thrown me a bowl of pits. My husband had to have more surgery on his leg. Seems the screws that were used to attach the plate to repair his leg broke. Causing the plate to move out from his leg. So on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. he had more surgery to repair that, all new hard ware and I am not sure what else they did. He was in surgery for 4 hours. He came home Thanksgiving morning. Now we are looking at another 6 months of recovery time.

On the knitting front my needles have been doing double time. I finished another Multidirectional scarf, 2 felted bags and 1 sock from the sock yarn that my spindler secret pal sent me. I am still working on the red vest, so far I have only had to frog once. I am hoping to start on a pair of socks for my father and one for my brother and I am still thinking that I would like to make hats for my nieces. But time will tell. I am going to limited on time because I will be working at the local ski area with in the next week. It will be cold enough for them to be making snow. Off to do some more knitting.

Surprises in the mail

Saturday I recieved my first package from my secret pal from the spindlers list. What a great package. There were 2 skeins of sock yarn from Knit picks, 2oz. of merino tencil blend roving a silk cap, a candle and a yummy bar of chocolate. I love the bummer sticker. Thank you so much Secretpal. I sent out my first package to my pal on monday. I also sent out some of the Alpaca yarn that I have been custom spinning. I really enjoy spinning it but it is time for a break from spinning that for a while. I started on my christmas gifts. In the spring I purchased some Highland wool from Elanns thinking I would get an early start on my Christmas gifts. What was I thinking. I found a vest pattern that I really liked in the Folk Vests book by Cheryl Oberle. I choose the Clock Vest. So far it is going well. It has been a while since I have made a large wearable item. Hopefully I will get it done in time for Christmas. LOL.

Stop the Merry-Go-Round

I want to get off. What a summer it has been. Since my last post in July, life has gotten even crazier if that is possible. DH is improving daily. Thank you all for you comments and concerns. It is nice to know that there are a few who do read my blog. Mid August, a group of friends and I held our Hot and Hazy fiber day. The name did it justice. It was very hot. What a lot of fun we had. David Paul from Merlin Tree was there as well as Janet Lynn of The Wheel Thing. Mary Pratt brought some of her fleeces to sell. We all so had some local vendors there as well. The only thing that was a little upsetting was that we did not have the spinner turnout that we wanted but what a lot of fun. The week following that was fair week. Carla and I spent the week at the fair spinning for a friend who raises Alpacas. She was promoting her store and the Alpaca industry. During that week my father in law was hopitalized with kidney failure. He is improved and just as orney as ever. It has keep us busy. My husband now drives him to dialysis three times a week. Now fairs are over and I am off to work at the corn maize for the fall. Unfortunately the weather has not helped. All it seems to be doing is raining. Is it possible to be suffering from sun deprivation?!!!!! LOL. I did make it to Rhinebeck. I was afraid I would not. Money has been pretty tight. But I had a great time. Came home with 3 new drop spindles and some camel down. One spindle I do have to say is for my daughter. I purchased her a Bosworth Feather wieght purple heart wood. She picked up my moosie that I had gotten this summer and she had so much fun spinning on it that I thought she should have her own and I could have mine back. It is a wonderful spindle. It has gotten me to spin more on a spindle. I also bought a BW mini for me and a porcilean bottom whorl. I am currently spinning alpaca for my friend. She has commissioned myself and Carla to spin her fiber for her. What alot of fun. I can't think of a better way to spend rainy afternoons then spinning. Well I should be off to do some housework and laudry. (they never seem to end) Now that my merry go round has slowed down some perhaps I can work on my blog some more. Maybe even get some pictures on.

Time to make Lemonade

When life throws you lemons, you just need to make lemonade.

Can things get any crazier. I have been attempting to post for months and my computer or blogger will not let me. So many things to write about. Were to start. I guess the best place to start is with the most dramatic thing that has happened.
Last Friday I went to work with DH ( he is a self-employed carpentar). He was setting the roof trusses on a barn and needed an extra pair of hands, mine to be exact. I was the ground person, guiding the trusses to there right spot. We had 2 more trusses to set when he fell from the peak of the roof to the truck bed of the crane. He broke his right femur in the fall. Saturday morning he was off to surgery to have pins and a plate put in to repair the brake. Wednesday afternoon he came home with crutches and walker. He lost alot of blood during surgery and from the brake. His thigh and knee are very swollen and that makes it even more difficult for him to get around. He is not to put any weight on that leg for 8 weeks. I have a feeling that it is going to be a long summer.
On a better note. Melissa and I are planning a fiber day/spin in. We are getting help from some of our other friends as well. We are hosting it at a local corn maize. It promises to be alot of fun. I just hope that with all the planning that I have put in to it I will be able to attend.
On the knitting front, I have been working on a pair of socks. The first one is done and the second is well on its way. It was something that was easy for me to work on while sitting in the hospital. Not much spinning has been getting done. There just does not seem to be enough room in the living room for the wheel. And to be very honest I am just to tired.
Well duty calls. I will talk to you all soon.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow were has the time gone. I can't believe that it has been a month since my last post. Life has gotten so crazy here. Spring does that. Many things have happened. Were to begin. At the end of April some friends and I helped out at the County fiber tour. The weather was not the nicest. It rained on Saturday and Sunday was very windy, but we had a good time. When ever we are doing any kind of public demonstrations we always to some dyeing. This time we used Safflower, Dandilions, hibiscus and Koolaide. The colors were great. The kids had a great time going out in the yard and collecting the dandilions. I do have to admitt that with the demonstrations, I have gotten better with a drop spindle. We did learn some new things too. How to andean ply and to navijo ply. They are not as hard as I thought.
Remember the baby blanket that I have been working on forever. Well it is finally done. It turned out beautiful. I am so proud of myself. My first major handspun project. I am hoping to start the flower basket shawl next. My goal is to have it done to wear to Rhinebeck. I have some light grey coopsworth that I think I am going to make it out of.
I want to thank Liz my secret Pal for a wonderful last surprise. She sent me some beautiful multicolored yarn for socks. A sock pattern, soap, a yummy scented candle and chocolate. Thank you so much. It was alot of fun.
The baby shower went off with out to much of a hitch. My son decides at 5:30 that he needs to go to the emergency room because he has some metal in his eye and it is bleeding. I send his father afterhim and finish getting my stuff together for the shower. DH takes DS to the ER. He had a metal sliver just under the surface of his scleara in the corner of his eye. The whole corner is bloodshot. We have been going to the Doctors everyday to keep an eye on the swelling and for infection. Mothers Day this same son takes a tractor down over a 7 ft. bank on the edge of the road. He did not get hurt . Thank goodness but I really think that he is trying to do me in.
Now for some exciting news, 2 friends and I are going to be putting together a web business to sell our fiber things. We will have drop spindles, fiber felting kits, knitting needles and many other things. I will let everyone know when it is up and running. We will also be going to the big Dressage event at Saratoga Race course. They are having a llama and alpaca show as well. We have been invited to join a local alpaca breeder to share her spot. She has a store were you can buy alpaca products and some of the things that we are selling as well. It should be alot of fun.
Well I think that I have covered everything.
I promise I will be better about posting.

The Sun is shinning!!!!!!!

Can life get more hectic. I am frantically working on the baby blanket, it is almost done. Just need to sew all the pieces together. I am happy that it is going to be done with time to spare. The baby shower is May 14. Now the major planning for that begins.
I have also been spinning as well. I finished up the grey mohair. I am in love with that fiber. This is just one mohair fleece that I purchased at Rhinebeck that came from Hill Shepard. What a wonderful fiber. I put my drum carder to work as well and did some blending. I used the Polypay/angora roving and some logwood dyed superwash. The polypay is a light grey. It turned out ok, I am not sure that I really like the polypay. The skein that came from it is alittle on the rough side. The roving spun up with slubs and even though that was my intention alot of them came on there own. Now I am spinning the romney. It spins very quickly. It is alittle courser than I am use to but I think that it will make some nice yarn.
Things on the home front have been crazy. DH is working on a building to house the horse. She will be coming home with the next month or so. My job is to find a companion for her. I just can't seem to make up my mind as to what I want. Angora goat or sheep. DH would perfer neither but............ Also on the animal front, the ducks are fornicating all over the place. We have a nest with over 40 eggs. I don't expect them all to hatch but you never know. My youngest son is preparing for his 4H pheasants. They will arrive the middle of next month and at the end of summer he will release them. He is also going to raise Turkeys. We will be having baby bunnies with in the next week as well. So life springs eternal on our little homestead.
Along with all of the home happenings. Our 4H group has been asked to do demonstrations at a local farm for the Washington County fiber tour. We will be doing some drop spindle spinning and spinning with our wheels. Dying will be another of our demonstrations. The owners are going to be shearing one of there Alpacas as well. It is going to be great fun.
Well I am off to do some house work and hopefully some more spinning.

Jennifers shawl  

Gifts from my SP4. 

Happy Spring

I have a severe case of spring fever. I can't wait for the snow to finish melting and to warm up more. So many things to do.
I have been spinning and knitting like a wild woman. I am trying to get my baby blanket done for the baby shower. My sister and I are planning it for the first weekend or so in May. I had 6 of the 7 panels done when I realized that I would not have enough to do the lace edging. So now I am back to spinning some more. It is a good thing that I really love this fiber. BFL that I purchased is just so soft. In between spinning that I spun some of the mohair that I had gotten from Rhinebeck. That skein is finished 444 yards. Now to think of something to make with it.
Melissa and I have been asked to do demonstrations the end of April for the local county fiber tour. We will be at the corn maze. For my followers this is the same place that we were at in the fall. We will be doing the same kinds of things. I am hoping to have some skiens spun so that we can dye them. As well as fiber. We are going to be shearing an alpaca. Then cleaning the fiber and spinning it. The kids in our 4H club will be doing demos too. My secret pal is great . I recieved the interweave scraf book in the mail last week. I have 2 scarf patterns picked out that I want to make soon. I just need to go find the yarn or spin some of my own. I have added some pictures. (finally figured out how to add pictures again. ) One is a picture of the skein of yarn and the book from my secret pal, the other is of my daughter Jennifer with the purple poncho that I made for her. Have a great Easter.

Time for Spring!!!!!

Once again it is snowing here. It seems that we have had more snow this month than all winter. We went away the last week in Feburary with the kids, snowmobiling. Everyday we were there it snowed. Well I guess I should not complain to much. When it snows that means there is no yard work to do and I can spend my time spinning and knitting.
On the spinning front, I am slowly getting the BFL spun to finish the baby blanket. The baby shower will be coming up soon and I really need to get that done. Last week my fiber from the processors returned. They did a wonderful job. I am absolutly in love with the mohair. It is a grey (like a salt and pepper), and just as soft. I can't wait to spin that. Also there is polypay/angora blend that is a light grey. There is about 3 lbs. of that. I have an idea as to what I want to do with some of that. Then there is a white romney, it is not as soft as I was thinking it would be but I think most of that will end up in the dye pot.
Besides spinning, I have been busy knitting as well. I am still working on my Irish hiking scarf, it is about 1/2 done. I made a scarf for a birthday gift for one of my daughters friends. It is blue varigated boa yarn with a blue solid cotton yarn you use for dishcloths. It turned out really cute. I also made a hat and booties for a friend who just had a baby out of kiogu yarn. Now I am working on a secret project. I am hoping that it turns out the way I want it too.
I recieved a package from my secret pal last week. Thank you secret pal. The box contain this lopi varigated yarn, some Lindt truffles and this huge bath fizzy. They are great. It is hard to keep the kids away from the chocolate but I am trying. I will try and post some pictures, I have not been having very good luck with that as latly.
Well I am off to watch it sonw from my spinning wheel. Have a great day.

It is hard to believe that February is almost gone. Spring is around the corner (or that is what I keep telling myself). I have been busy with my knitting. I started the Irish Hiking Scarf, out of some yarn I had in my stash. I also started a felted vest for my sister for Christmas. It is progressing well. I finally finished my daughters poncho. I did not think that I would ever get that done. Now I will have to get a pic of her wearing it.
The 3 fleeces that I sent to Wooly Knob are done and in the mail. I am hoping that they come today. I am anxious to see how they turned out. I already have plans for the Mohair. I hope I can get it spun in time to make a Christmas present with it. My DH thinks I have lost my mind. I am excited about getting the fiber and making plans for it and he is thinking " Where the hell is she going to put that!" That was after I told him that we needed a companion for the horse, when she comes home. I am still trying to decide what it is that I want. Sheep or Angora goat. It is a hard choice. I don't think that I can get away with getting both. Seeing that I already told him that we are getting 25 pheasants to raise and release from 4H and I am getting Turkeys to raise.
Two weeks ago I tried to teach the girls in my 4H club how to knit. They all attempted to knit. Some had better luck than others. It was hard for me to teach them. I knit contennital style. That is the way my grandmother taught me. I have tried the English style and was unable. I hope that they went home and practiced. Tonight we are going to make knitting needles. I think that will be alot of fun. I have some great ideas for them. It might even make a great secret pal gift. It is funny how many things can be used for knitting needles when you start looking around.
Winter vacation starts next week for my kids. My DH and I are taking the kids snowmobiling for the week. Each of us has snowmobiles, it is about the only family thing that we do. My DH is a carpentar and works all summer so winter is our time to have fun. We are going to the Tughill Plateau. Just off of Lake Onterio. They get lots of lake effect snow. Hopefully I will remember to pack my camera and have pics for you to see. I am off to pack. Talk to you next week.

Knitting like crazy

Since my last note, my needles have been very busy. My first felting project was a sucess to some extent. The pattern was from Knit One, Felt Two. I used grey Patons classic wool yarn and stripes in maroon. I even used needles larger than the pattern called for. Finished the knitting and threw it in the washer 'just like the directions said". If any one knows of someone with a head the size of a large grapefruit let me know, I have a beautiful grey felted hat for them. LOL. My kids were very supportive and laughed there fool heads off. DH asked if I was going to give that to the cat to wear. My thoughts are atleast it looks like a hat.
My other project that I started was a Christmas present for my sister. I found a felted vest pattern in Felted Knits book. Made a big order to Elanns for the yarn. Decided that I am going to make them for my mother and sister in law as well as one for myself. 45 skeins of Highland yarn came the other day. I have the vest started. Sometimes you are apprehensive about trying something that you order online. I am one of those people who really likes to feel what they are buying, but I had heard so many good things about this yarn on the blogs that I tried. It is wonderful yarn. I am very pleased.
Still plugging away on my daughters poncho. It is not all that exciting and I am having a hard time working on it. Pictures to come in a day or 2 of my projects.

Never Rains ...........
DH went snowmobiling last weekend. I was looking forward to a quite weekend. I knew that Saturday was going to be crazy but not Sunday. I was hoping Sunday just loungeing around in my pj's drinking coffee, watching movies with the kids and knitting. NOT. I returned from taking my oldest to work to discover the dog chain in the middle of the road and the ducks gone.
Dog was in the shed were he was hiding. He had been injured, I believe by a car, and the ducks after looking for them half the day finally came around late morning. The dog is much improved but he had me worried Sunday morning. Hopeful he has learned his lesson that those ducks are not to be messed with. I also lost 2 of my rabbits because something scared them. DH came home earlier because his riding buddy was sick. My point to all of this is NO knitting was accomplished.

Today it is snowing like crazy, I keep expecting to see the school bus come down the road,but not yet. Well I am off to make a cup of tea and do some spinning.

WOW.... it's February!!!!

Were did January go? I am glad that it is gone. The weather has warmed up. In the mid 30's yesterday and the same for the rest of the week. The sun was shinning. I was getting alittle bit of spring fever. I am hoping to open some windows and let the house air out alittle today. Everyone was sick last month and maybe some fresh air will help clean the bugs out. LOL.
Joshuas socks are done. He wanted them for school today. He is having standardize testing and they can wear slippers, he took his socks. I am still working on my pi shawl. It is progressing slowly. Some frogging will have to take place later. My pattern is just not matching up. In the mail last week I received a ROAK from Maggie. 2 knitting magazines with some cool patterns in them. Thank you Maggie. Yesterdays mail brought my "Love Ewe" exchange. Some beautiful red Romney and Alpaca blend fiber and two heart shaped sachets from Rita in Maine. I not sure what it wants to be yet I will have to think on it.
SP4 starts today. I received my pal on Sunday. My thoughts all weekend have been on the list of questions. Here it goes.
1. Are you a yarn snob. Not really. I prefer to use wool or a blend, but if I need to use acrylic I will.
2. Do you spin? Yes I do and I love it. I am always looking for new fibers to try. My favorites are Blue Faced Liecester, Alpaca and Mohair. I don't ccochet.
3. Do you have allergies. No allergies.
4. How long have you been knitting? My grandmother taught me to knit when I was 8 and I have been knitting ever since.
5. Do you have an Amazon wish list? No I don't.
6. What's your favorite scent? Hydrangea is my favorite, but I like them all.
7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Yes, Dark chocolate is my favorite.
8. What other crafts do you like to do? I also do some decorative painting, sewing and gardening.
9. What kind of music do you like? My favorite is Celtic, next is baroque ( Classical) , as well as classic rock and country. My computer can play CD's. I am not sure about MP3's.
10. What's your favorite color? I like almost any color. I am not fond of neon or really bright colors.
11. What is your family situation? Do you have pets? I am married, and have 3 kids. 2 boys and a girl. We have lots of pets, a horse, dog, cat, 25 rabbits, 15 ducks and 2 pheasants at the present time anyway.
12. What are your life dreams? This is the question that gave me alittle trouble. What I would like most I think is to have a fiber shop. Selling fiber, wheels, yarn and have classes. I want it also to be a place where people can come and spend the morning, afternoon, or evening working on a knitting project or spinning and just having a good time.
13. What is your favorite yarn to work with? One of my favorites is Alpaca, the other is Merino, but I like most.
14. What fibers do you absolutely not like? The new designer yarns. The eyelash especially.
15. What is your current knitting obsession? I quess that would be socks. The work up quickly and they are easy to take with you.
16. What is you favorite item to knit? I enjoy knitting most anything. Smaller items are nice because they go faster.
17. What are you knitting right now? Currently I am working on a baby blanket, Pi shawl and a poncho for my daughter.
18. What do you think about ponchos? They are ok. I am not overly fond of them.
19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? I am comfortable with both.
20. Bamboo, aluminum or plastic? I really like the wood needles, I have a set of DP Brittany's that I love. Aluminum is next.
21. Are you a sock knitter? Most definitly!
22. How did you learn to knit? My grandmother taught me. I knit continnetial.
23. How old is your oldest UFO? 3 months. Only because I need to spin more fiber for it.
24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird? My favorite bird is a Bluebird.
25. What is your favorite holiday? I quess that would be Christmas. I really go all out for it.
26. Is there anything that you collect? Santas, blue and white dishes and drop spindles.
Now I am off to start my frogging on my shawl. Keep knitting.

What great fun computers are!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well the vacation is over. I took my computer to be fixed. The gentleman fixing it, plugged it in and doesn't everything come up the way it is suppose too. I felt like such an idoit. So now I am back on line and the computer is working great.
I started a pair of socks for my youngest son made from Sizzle sock yarn. He also wanted a hat so I have that started too. I know, I have two projects started at once, and yes it is driving me crazy. I don't normally do that. As Melissa says I am very "anal" about having more than one project going at the same time. I have my self geared to finish than start another.
My spinning wheel is diffently not feeling left out. I have been spinning like a mad woman. Hopfully I will get aleast one skein done to start my Pi shawl. Then I will have 3 projects going. OH NO!!!!!!!!
I want to send out a Thank you to Mande for the certificate to Adiago Teas. I have some of there Roobios tea and it is wonderful.
Secreat Pals 4 starts soon, the deadline for sign up ends the 21. She is up to 300 people. I just have to figure out now how to put the button on my blog.
Have a great day. It is good to be able to be back on line again.

I am disabled for now

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I will be off line for a while. My computer decided that it need a vacation and had the nerve not to ask me. Melissa was good enough to let me use hers, so that I could let everyone know that I won't be around.
I should have lots of news when I come back.
Talk to you all soon.

Heart dishcloth 

Diagonal scarf 

Another week gone

I can't believe how fast the week has gone. It seems like it was yesterday when I last posted. Well the boys are finally happy. We got SNOW. The snowmobiles came out of hiding and they went riding this weekend. Unfortunately the snow will not last long. The temps for today are going up to almost 60. That will take care of the snow. They did have a snow day yesterday due to the ice that came through during the day.
Thanks for the comments. I did finally get my dishwasher working. After last week, it was worse than when I called them to fix the leak. I also had to call them on my new dryer. Just a week old and I turned it on Monday evening and I had sparks and smoke come out from the bottom of it. I was too the point of tears. I was so frustrated with all of the appliances and with DH he was not making the situation any better. All are working well now.
The baby blanket is coming along. Since my last post I have 1 1/2 strips done. I also made my daughter a garter stitch scarf from purple velour yarn. She won't take it off long enough for me to get a picture. It was done on size 13 needles, and was done in 1/2 an hour. Real quick.
Yesterday was a goof off day. With the kids home not much in the way of house work got done. I did get some knitting done. A diagonal scarf made from Trendsetter yarns by Dune.
Not sure what I am going to do with it but I have some things in mind. I also made a heart shaped dish cloth for the" Love Ewe" exchange that I joined. What a lot of fun that was to make.
One bobbin full for the Pi shawl. On to the next. I keep thinking that maybe I should just go buy some yarn but I don't know. I don't have anything made out of yarn that I have spun. My goal was to have spun and knitted a shawl and have it done to wear to Rhinebeck in the fall. Yeah right!
The best news of the week was that I was accepted into the secrete pals 4. I am looking forward to checking out my new pal. I have some great ideas for stuff to send. Well I am off to chop some ice off the walk.

Attempting to snow

I am so glad that yesterday is over. As I mentioned yesterday, the repairman came to fix my dishwasher. Well, it needed a new valve and a new motor and then he shorted out a wire and popped the braker. Went to turn it back on and had sparks and smoke. Now it needs to have new wiring from the braker to the machine. When he came to the door, I smashed my foot in to the leg of the couch and I think that I broke one of my toes. It is now purple and aches like a tooth ache. How ever I did manage to get some spinning done yesterday. I did not realize that it took so long to fill a bobbin when spinning something as fine as I am doing.
The weather is dark and gloomy here today. Snow showers, but the best is yet to come. I would not mind so much if it was just snow. Snow would make everyone happy here. We have 6 snowmobiles and do alot of family riding. Snow is better than Christmas here.LOL.
I hope to get another section on the baby blanket done today. I forgot to mention that it is a shell design. The pattern is calledHeirloom Knit Baby Blanket. It was on a free web site. Very simple and seems to be working up fast.

The Mode Dea socks, not sewn together yet. 

The start of my brothers baby afgahan 

Washed red Mohair. 

Christmas break actitives

Since my daughter was sick. I had some time to play. My brother and his wife are expecting there first child in May. I started an afgahan for them out of some Blue Faced Liecester. It was fiber that I purchased this summer and spun. I loved spinning it and like working with it even better. It is perfect for this blanket, it has a beautiful luster and is very soft. I have pictures following. The blanket is done in strips and then sewn together and then an edging is sewn on three sides. I have 2 and 1/2 strips out of 7 done.
The Mode Dea socks are done kindaof they are not sown together yet but that will get done. I really like the yarn. The pattern was easy to follow as well. I am not quite sure who the socks will go to yet. I might even keep them for myself.
One of the other pictures that I posted was of some Mohair that I washed over the weekend. One of my new years resolutions was to learn how to wash some of the fiber that I purchase. This was one of the 4 fleeces that Melissa and I bought at Rhinebeck. It was suppose to go to Wooly Knob with the others but the box was just not big enough. So I put it in the washer. After 6 rinses I think it is going to be alright.
To Gracie and Amie, Anytime you want to come and play you are welcom. Thanks for reading.
Time to go, the repair is suppose to be coming to fix the dishwasher soon (I hope) LOL

Pi shawl wool. 

Welcom to the New Year........

I have many hopes and expectations for the new year, hopefully it will start better than the year ended. Vacation week was busy. Along with it being busy my daughter had the flu (or that is what I think it was). She nearly passed out on Wednesday when she was at riding lessons. Her instructor thought that maybe she just did not want to ride,but I reassured her that was not the case. I week is programed around lessons. We count down the days until we have lessons. Now that we have a horse it is even worse. She is feeling much better today and even made it to school. I have the whole house to myself( the silence is deafening, but nice).
While Jen was laid up on the couch it gave me time to do some things. I join theEZasPi KAL. I even talked my friend Melissa into it. I ordered 2 books because I knew that I could get her to do it. I started spinning what I am going to make the shawl out of. Last fall, Melissa and I purchased fleece from Mary Pratt. A local sheperdess and neighbor. One of the fleeces was a Corriedale cross that is dark grey. When we sent it to be processed we also had some silver colored alpaca that we had blended with it. It spins so nice and I have lots of it.