Got my animal fix. :-) The alpacas are becoming more appealing to me all the time....I love the hummy/whiny sounds they make and the expressiveness of their faces. And sheep....are still fairly interesting. Maybe not as much as the angora goats and alpacas, but not as complicated, either.

Almost done filling the second bobbin of Shetland laceweight singles. Then I can ply the two bobbins and hopefully still have a reasonably thin yarn. After that....goodness, how on earth will I decide what to spin next? I got about half of a fleece from a dark CVM/Romney cross lamb today and a some lovely long lustrous white longwool (a crossbred mix of three different longwool breeds) and a little bit of some beautifully colored and shaded Wensleydale.

Am thinking about doing some more dyeing...I have onion skins (the store would not let me buy these and had to call a manager to find out what to do!!! They finally decided that it was ok to just give them to me). This would make a golden yellow color. Yellow is not one of my favorite colors...except when it's paired with blue or violet. This blog has a showing of the array of colors which can be obtained from onion skins. The quiet green color (from red onion skins on alum mordanted wool) has some appeal, too.

I like bright colors...particularly in the blue/violet/magenta range...and for painting I can't imagine using only quiet colors. For wool though...the natural vegetable dyes seem to harmonize with the softness and texture of the wool better than the more exuberant hues. Mohair is an entirely different story. Shiny, lustrous mohair looks great when it's been dyed in intense colors. I don't know about alpaca yet.

If I want to learn how to shear, the class I would need to take lasts for a week, not terribly far from here...and the only way to get truly proficient at it is to practice by shearing a LOT of sheep.