Dirty Dirty fur

Dirty Fur
So much has happened recently. It will take a few posts to cover everything. And I am sure that more oddness with occur.

I started this blog because I thought my life was just too silly not to share. Four or maybe five years later – nothing has changed.

I am branching out into a new fiber hobby. Spinning my own yarn. Dude gave me two trash bags of first and second cut alpaca fur. His cousins have pet alpacas.

It is filthy. These animals are not being raised for their fur but as pets. So no care was taken to ensure that the fur is maintained, relatively clean, etc. i was assured that the alpacas were white but the contents of the bag of dirt, burs, sticks and straw was tan in color.

I pulled out a huge arm full of filthy fur last Spring.

I washed it in my tub with some cheap citrus scented dish soap. That was a interesting. There was so much dirt , vegetable matter (VM), and grit that I feared for the pipes of my 87 year old house. But I had started and I could not stop. I filled the tub seven times before the water took on a beige color. I cleaned the hair trap 20 or so times to permit the water to flow out of the tub. I was so tired, I did not think I would finish but I knew that it would be long time before I pulled another armful of fur out of one of those trash bags. I will never use the tub again. Since my municipality has converted to automatic trash pick up, i will use one of the old cans to clean the fur using lingerie bags.

I dried the fur on the balcony. Of course, while it dried and I was at work Mother Nature felt it funny to send a scattered rain shower into my neighborhood. Even funnier, is that she sent pretty strong gusts to blow the sun umbrella out of its clamp. Nice…. The neighbors watched the umbrella fly around the backyard. I know this because the teenager met me at my car to share the funny story with me when i arrived home that day.

Latter, I bought sunflower seeds and filled the birdfeeder. No more storms or gusty winds after that. Mother Nature looks out for her own.

I picked the fur while on the balcony to allow the fur and straw to fly around for the birds to gather for their nests. See, I learned. I gave back to the animals

Dude asks about my progress with the Alpaca yarn at least twice a month. He claims that his cousin wants to see what I have made with it. He admits to me that he promised them that I would make them a blanket. I suggested that he not pimp my talents ever again.

During our trip to GA to visit my sister, he offered to help me prepare the fur. Good thing he got sick. There was no way, I was going to fool with that fur on vacation.

A few weeks back, I took the washed and picked yarn to a spinning group meeting. The gals demonstrated carding to me.

They also asked me if I cleaned the yarn before carding it. Several commented that perhaps this yarn was not worth all the prep work. Some suggested that I was only committed to preparing the fiber because I wanted to impress Dude. Many asked if Dude was worth all of this trouble. This went on for HOURS. They had turned my efforts to expand my fiber artistry into a lame attempt at gaining favor with my boyfriend and his family.

I persisted and look what I madeabout a dozen or so rolags.

I started spinning it last week. I promptly broke my spindle by trying to force the shaft into the whorl as it appeared in the picture. I am guessing that the shaft was poorly made and it was clearly too big. I am going to wait until the next spinning meetup and have the gals help me.

Driving in my Sleep

I have been having a new reoccurring dream theme. In these dreams, I am driving a car. It is a stick shift. the gears are shaped like this

Gear one and three are at the top. Gear two is on the bottom on the left. Gears four and five are on the right. In these dreams, I have a hell of a time trying to drive. And for some reason, I am always the one who is driving to an appointment and we are late. I have not been able to google an analysis of this theme. It is disturbing me.

Not to mention that I had a variation of the dream during yesterday’s Sleep Study. It was my third sleep study. This time there were tubes coming out of my nose (2) going down my pant leg, stuck to my stomach, on my neck and on my jaw. Those tubes were new to me. I guess they were checking for snoring, teeth grinding, leg movement, breathing, and sleeping position. This time, unlike the previous studies, I spoke in my sleep. This time, unlike the previous studies, I was video taped. Ugh.

I am waiting on the results. I have learned that I move my legs in my sleep due to low ferritin levels that I have probably had since my last study in 2008. I wonder if my leg movements during the study coincide with my nocturnal five-speed driving adventures.

Crafty Update

A hat and scarf set has been completed for one of the nieces.

Takes a bow It was fun working with this yarn. I had to model this myself.

And one for the nephew I talked Dude into modeling it for me.

and the other nephew There is a hat and a scarf there.

and a scarf for me This one was knitted. I am working on the hat and gloves.