Bag it

I must admit to procrastinating about my Spinning Study Group project. It's been so long, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd forgotten that I was in a spinning study group. I haven't forgotten, I just was avoiding it. I had to rewash my merino wool as I hadn't gotten all the grease out of it and I didn't want to do it. Well, we had a meeting last Saturday and I had to come with something done - some sort of progress.

So, at the beginning of last week, I started washing a batch at a time in a bowl in my kitchen sink. I boiled water for 2 soapy washes and 3 rinses (okay, sometimes 4 rinses because I got a little carried away with the soap). Anyway, I got the wool clean and took it to the meeting to use my friend's motorized carder. The batts come off the carder and look like little loaves of wool:



I fell in love with this wool all over again. The batt on the left came off Nancy's carder and the one on the right came off my hand cranked one. Aren't they lovely? They're fluffy and soft and I can't wait to get spinning. Maybe I can spend some time with the wheel this weekend.


Here's my other project right now:



That is one side of my Tour de France beaded knitting bag (second side is up to the pattern area at the top). I have some silk fabric on order from Aurora Silk - okay I ordered some weld too. I have in my mind exactly what I want for the lining of this bag and I can't find it in any of the fabric stores around here. Sooo, I ordered the weld and I'm going to try my hand at fabric dyeing.

However, do you see my problem illustrated in the photo? I ordered a frame from Bag Lady and mis-calculated. When I looked at the measurements on the website, I was thinking that the measurement was taken across the top of the frame only. It's not. It's a measurement from one end to the other (which makes perfect sense, I just didn't think of it that way). Since I don't want to make the bag fit into this frame (I think it would be a little scrunched), I need to order a bigger size. I hate when that happens.

Incidentally, I had a dream that Sheryl Crow saw this bag and wanted it. I told her no. She begged and pleaded with me. She may even have shed a tear. I told her to go away. Delusions of grandeur? Ummmm, yeah.