On Sale Now!
There is a yarn shop that I have been in twice in the last few months called Knit Wits. I went in the first time because I was curious about what was inside. The shop is now in a serious clearence sale. The current owner has decided that being self-employed has run it's course and it's time to move on. There is a new owner but they won't take over until some time the end of May, early June. I heard from the current owner that the shop will be closed for a few weeks while they are remodeling and stocking new yarns.

Since I stayed too long, I ended up helping out the old owner of her burden of too much inventory. I wouldn't want her to have to pack any more of her yarn that what she needs to, so I lent a hand. So I did my part. I have projects in mind for everything.

Since most everything in the shop was 40% off, I bought the last 5 of Whisper varigated lace weight yarn. I want to either do a shawl or 5 lace scarves of some sort. I bought two of these from Lorna's. It's hard to tell from the photo but it has the same colors as my youngest son's camie uniform for the Army. The shop had a knitted hat that I think both my sons would like so hopefully before winter starts here I will have them done. I have only made a few hats so this will help me stretch my wings. These babies are Mandarin Petit and 100% cotton. They will be made into these items... I saw these at Wool Windings and my brain started working on how I could use these for gifts. So I have a project in mind for the Mandarin Petit.

I was in The Knitting Corner last week and Susan told me she has a shipment of brand new Addi Lace circulars. I could hardly wait to buy my first pair since I have been a lot of lace scarves lately. I have been putting them to good use since getting them on this past Tuesday. I have been making another lace scarf from Wallis Knits and those needles are WONDERFUL! I tossed the straights aside and have been clicking away with my 24" #4s. I will have to have more of these!

Susan also ordered me some more Misty Alpaca in and wonderfully dark green. I doubt that any of my chef buddies read my blog so I can post the yarn here. So I will busy the rest of the summer knitting lace. I was even thinking of taking a lace class at The Knitting Corner. How sad is it that I might have to decide whether or not to spend lots at MS&W or take a Beaded Shawlet class. What happened to having my cake and eating it too??

Opps, I Did It Again...
Okay, I sat a little too long at The Knitting Corner one day. A woman came in the shop and sat down at the table. She had a cute pink and white stripped bag. Everyone asked her what that bag was. She said she had ordered it via the internet a few years ago and just loved it. It was small enough for a sock or something really small. Since I have been getting into socks, I thought this would be perfect for long car rides or sitting at the doctor's office, etc. She told us what she remembered the name was, but couldn't remember the site. I dashed home and got right on the computer. I did a work search and found myself one.

I have to say that I am not disappointed very much by what I order over the internet. This is one of the very few times. I was really excited about getting my little package in the mail. It came pretty quickly considering it came from the west to the east.

I opened it up and this is what I got.

I saw it on the internet before I ordered it, but it was smaller and not as cute as the one the woman brought with her that day in the shop. I will use it but I really don't like the name on the side. As one person said to me when I took it to the shop, I was doing their advertising for them. I don't want someone's name on my rear, so why have this. Well, it was too late. I already spent the money. So I will live with it. Has anyone else seen a cuter version?

This bag contains one 50 gram ball (I wound it up myself) and my #1 dpns for one sock. Notice there are no instructions for the socks in the bag. You will have to photo copy your instructions and then fold them up fan style and shove it into one of the pockets. Heaven forbid it should fall out...

We Interrupt This Blog For... It's pretty unusual we get snow this time of the year. I heard on the news that the latest we have had snow is April 11. So we almost broke a record.

This is the view from sunroom, looking at the neighbor's house. My poor little Japanese Maple is trying so hard to put out some truly beautiful purple blooms. The daffs have already come and gone. So here's to spring!

Been There, Done That
This is my second time going out to my friend Mary Scott's sheep farm for shearing day. I consider it a privledge to go and help out. So here are the pictures from yesterday. It took 6 pickers on and off to get through 21 fleeces. Mary's husband was in the sheep barn helping shearer with that part. I helped with the sheep once they were sheared. Getting out the pen is just as hard as getting them back in. Either way, they have a mind of their own. So here is a series of pictures of the sheep being sheared.

Here are the girls and two withers waiting to be sheared. They are herded into a small space and then one by one guided out of the pen to the man doing the shearing.

Here are the two colors of sheep before shearing. The one with the more long face yielded a whiter fleece. The other girl yielded with black fleece or a black with silver undertones. Either way, they were both beautiful. The first girl to be sheared for the day. She doesn't look too happy about any of this but...

Here she is with about half of her fleece sheared off. See how white she is? The fleece that is closest to her skin is nearly as white. It had a really nice crimp too.
Here is one of the black sheep. Isn't that a nice looking black fleece?
This is the dark wool tarp.
This is the end result of lots a sweating, corraling, chasing, clipping, labeling and picking. This is the light wool tarp.
Then one by one all the fleeces are picked over to get out any gross things. The wool is then bagged up and taken to a processing plant that does all the hard work.

No blog article about shearing would be complete without the "naked" sheep picture to cap things off. ...and here they are!