spaazlicious

I've heard there's some sort of holiday going on today, but in the brief period I have been among the unemployed, I have lost all track of the days, so I could be wrong.

Here's a fleece update:

I followed this tutorial to the letter using my washing machine, a buttload of Dawn dishwashing liquid, and separating the fleece in half into two military surplus mesh laundry bags. There was still a lot of visible dirt and debris after several rinses, so I soaked it overnight and repeated the process the next morning. I got some more dirt out, but was still left with this at the end:




The tips of the fleece seemed to curl over and trap dirt:




And there were some sections which felt different to the hand, check out the crimpy-dimpiness here:




And numerous bits which were shorter than the rest of the staple (a half inch in length or less) which I believe are called "second cuts" and are a Bad Thing because they are unusable. Here's a weird puff, where they kind of mixed with some longer staple, although mostly they are easily identifiable as they rolled into themselves during the washing and rinsing process.




It looks almost felted there, but the bits separate quite fluffily.

All this reminds me of my wanting to spin this in the grease, but it was just too poopy, and it kind of ticks me off all over again. The consensus (and thank you guys for all the advice) seems to be to e-mail her before leaving feedback, but I don't really know what to say. I don't want to return all this after all this work, but I know I wouldn't have purchased this if the product description and picture actually matched the product. I don't know what a fair per pound price for a poopy Finn-Dorset fleece with second cuts present is, so I don't know what to ask for to give her a chance to make me happy. I want to give honest feedback, because as a buyer I depend on other people's honest feedback, and I did look through her feedback before bidding and it seemed specific and positive. But I don't really have anything positive to say --not even about the shipping, because to clarify, she shipped two days after she said she would ship it, it arrived ten days later. Shee-it, I should probably just send her what a just said right there, eh?
Anyway, wah, wah, who cares, lesson learned. Only buy fleece you've fondled in person.

I have another question for fleece experts: What's this weird dandruffy-looking stuff?

Finally, an FO

I guess I can't complain about somebody sayin' they'll do something "tomorrow" and then not doing it...here's some pics of the finished Sirdar hooded sweatshirt:


Conehead.





Looking distinctly Mr. Creosote-ish.




"Know the warning signs of a stroke."

("Sudden [...]loss of balance or coordination" [not so sudden, more like life-long, in my case])


Detail of mini-pocket
(I made it just big enough for my wallet and keys




Detail of my crappy shoulder seaming and pocket.



I totally forgot to have him take a pic of the back. But it's the same as the front, 'cept it's got one more cable pattern repeat and my @ss in it. So you ain't missin' nuffing.

So, just to recap the details, it's the Kid's Hoodie (y?) from the Sirdar Family Denim book #283, using Lavold's Angora which I love love love. I think I must have used about 14 or 15 skeins. Since I made the mini-pocket, I didn't have to get into the two extra skeins I got (though it was close, I seamed the mini-pocket with scraps I cut off from my long-tail cast ons) and I might use them for gloves, or socks, I dunno. Maybe I'll make a Mondo Pom Pom for that reservoir tip of the hood.

Dyejobbie jabberwocky

Hey, I'll bet this colourway looks familiar:




I'm just a "one trick pony, one trick is all that horse can do" kind of kid when it comes to what colours I like to spin up for myself or my family. This is about 14 oz. of the superfine merino I bought from Solvang Village SpinWeave way back when on the mini-trip with Jen. The blog last saw it like this after being savaged in the dog spree:




As you can see they didn't really damage it, just unrolled it and harassed it a little bit. I separated roughly two ounces of the most harassed parts and dyed the rest.

I'm planning to spin this up to make a scarf for my brother. Maybe some fingertipless gloves and a hat too, though we'll see. A man in a matching set looks a little over-mothered, if'n you ask me. Which you didn't. But I'm generous with my opinions like that, no need to thank me.

Anyway, it's amazing the difference between this and the BFL. The BFL almost feels like Brillo in comparison. I'll bet it'd be a real system shock to go between this 80's merino and Churro (ooh, or Karakul, erk!). Amazing the wide and wooly spectrum that's out there.

What's your favourite wool? Or favourite fiber overall? Since I don't mean to be ovis-centric.