Woolly news

Colin came as arranged on Thursday and sheared the goats.    Luckily the weather was quite warm so we let them stay out for the rest of the day and just shut them in for the night.    We have been at a dog show today so we shut them in in case the rain got too bad.    Also yesterday Mike found one with her head stuck in the fence so we were worried that she might do the same thing whilst we were away and get pneumonia or hyperthermia.  I wish the blog has spellcheck!!  Anyway they all seem fine and we now have two clips of Angora Fleece to sort and decide what to do with.

Yesterday we went to Coldharbour Mill and collected our Alpaca yarn which they have been spinning.  We were very pleased with it but John Arbon, the spinner was not so happy.  He felt that the scouring (cleaning) was insufficient and left too much oil in the fleece, even though we used the company that he had suggested.    We need to find someone else to scour and card the wool for next time.   If we can get  250 kgs together we could send it  "Up North" to be done more efficiently and cheaper.   We are reviewing the way forward on this.

The wool is in skeins this time as Arbon Textiles do not ball the wool and it would have to be sent elsewhere, adding even more expense.     We also had 10 kgs wound onto cones for our knitting ladies to use.   They are a bit dubious so I hope it works.  I will be contacting them this week.

The shop is still a mess because we have not had time to reorganise and restock since we took everything to the Street Fayre.   Must do it tomorrow morning as we are still having quite a few visitors, especially as we have gone on to winter opening of only two days a week.