I do fully intend to relate my train riding experience up to lovely Eugene, Oregon and back, and even post some scenery pictures. And pictures from the Black Sheep Gathering as well. I promise. I do.
Two things happened when I returned from BSG; seeing all the fleece (fleeces? is there a plural for fleece, or is it like sheep, or deer?) instilled an intense desire to really work on my spinning technique, and Wednesday after I got home it was time to put my old dog, Plato, to sleep. That one zonked me some. It wasn't a surprise, but it did hit me a bit harder than I expected. Plato had lovely soft hair, of a very spinnable length, and off and on over the years I've collected bits of it and I've decided to start spinning with it.
My 16 year old son thinks that's creepy, but I think its a great idea. Hey, its spinnable fiber, all of it was collected while he was alive, and once I learned to spin my intention has always been to spin the stuff. Its not like I waited for him to die so I could start this project.
I'm sure I've thrown out, swept and vacuumed up far more Plato hair (coat, fur, fluff) than I've saved, I'm sure but it looks like there is at least 400g to work with. Its washed, and I'm sorting by color; brilliant white, light tan and grey/black and so far I plan to blend in some matching alpaca to up the volume and color intensity. The plan is 'so far' because I've never worked with any of this before, and have no Idea what I'm doing, or how it will turn out.
I'm so sorry to hear about Plato. Spinning his fur is not weird at all. I learned how to spin so that I could make use of the massive amounts of dog hair around my house. I had to put our old Golden Retriever to sleep last year, and I am so glad I have a huge bag of her fur left to spin. (I currently have a Newfoundland and just adopted a fluffy white dog of some sort who also has good spinning fur. I save all the brushings.)
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