Ply and Boil


I've been extremely tired and achy for the past few weeks. No amount of sleep seems to revive me. I start my new fibromyalgia medication next Friday and I can't wait!

I've been a plying fool here. Every evening after dinner, I try to get a skein plied. I never realized how many single ply skeins I had scattered throughout this house. I've been gathering them to ply and boil.

That is my new procedure. Ply and Boil. I love bright colors and I tend to lean towards them when I purchase roving or fiber to spin. The problem I have noticed is that many vendors either in haste or ignorance do not set the dye. When I would wash the skein to set the twist, the colors bled profusely. I've even had some fiber that would dye my fingers while I was spinning it. That really frosts my cake! So my new ritual is instead of just washing a skein, I boil it. I set up my old crock pots*, wet the skein and put it in the pot with a little wool wash and vinegar. Set the pot on low and go to bed for the night.

In the morning, the HOUSE STINKS! What with the usual animal stink, the fragrance of wet wool and vinegar really wakes you up in the morning. But in the crock pot the wool will be hot and the water clear. All of the dye has been absorbed. I let the skein cool down on it's own as I don't want to agitate it and have it felt. Once cool, I'll wash it again to be rid of the vinegar smell and hang it out to dry.

Bunnies are good. I clipped Ruby and Eloise a bit this past week. It has been really warm some days and even with the fans and AC in the bunny barn, they were uncomfortable. Eloise hadn't molted yet so I didn't get a good length on her fur. Ruby seem ready. I didn't take it down to the skin as some breeders do. I just can't seem to do that. I clipped Isadora's face and a few knots. She freaked out as it was her first encounter with the clippers.

Then there is Henry. Henry has always been a little spitfire. He kicks. He bites, He scratches. He thumps. And we discovered, he chews his fur. Henry was and still is a mess with his coat. He is horribly matted. The mats on his back were actually FELTED. He chews and chews on it. Steve and I got a good portion of his back shaved and we had to go to the skin to do it. But his chest and belly have to be done still and he is having no part of that.

So I made an appointment for him at the vet. He has to go in on Monday night for a well bunny exam and an assessment of the situation. If he gets the okay, I will be taking him in for a sedated thorough shave AND he will be neutered. I think the neutering will help to improve his disposition. I'm just hoping the vet doesn't think he has been neglected and calls the authorities on me!
The other buns will get a knot or small mat here or there on the coats, but Henry was the worst I have ever seen. I feel terribly guilty about it, but he is a terror and I have the scars to prove it.

Ryan has been working steady and usually doesn't get home until later in the evening. He put in a 12 hour day this past week. We finally got to view his grades from the last semester and they were NOT good. We are going over to meet with GK this morning to discuss his future. GK wants him to transfer to a local school, since, as he put it," the kid is wasting money". I think there is a deeper problem and I was afraid it might be drugs. But as usual with GK, it all comes down to money. I dread this meeting. I haven't seen my GK, my ex, in well over a year and that is the way I like it.

Even though it costs us more money, I want Ryan to graduate from Plymouth. It's a good school and he can and will learn a lot. He just seems to have had a very bad semester. He will have to take a heavier load now to make up his failures, but I think he has learned his lesson. The Fs seem to have been a total surprise for him.

What with Steve being sick and all these past 6 months, I hadn't kept in as close contact with Ryan as I had in the past. He was more on his own. I didn't drive up there to check on him. Or take him to dinner or just to visit. I only went up for Spring Break. I think he needs us to make an appearance on a more regular basis to keep him focused.

Ryan has always been a quiet and sensitive kid. He thinks and wonders about everything in the universe. Where as GK, his father, is a very shallow person only concerned with keeping up appearances for the neighbors etc. The money spent for the college appears to be his major concern. As he said to me, "no use throwing good money after bad....."

Keep your fingers crossed that this meeting goes well.

* I have two old crock pots from the 1970s(one is poppy red color!) that I use for fiber and dyeing. They work great and can usually be found at a yard sale very cheap.

It's been way too long since I have been here. I haven't been feeling all that well and I have finally come to realize that it's probably due to the fact that I came off of my pain medicine in early May. I was diagnosed back in 1999 with Fibromyalgia. It's a controversial disorder that causes joint and muscle pain (layman's term for it is arthritis of the muscles), memory loss, disorientation, fatigue and numerous other symptoms. Some medical professional don't believe it even exists. That is a mental manifestation--the pain is in your head! I had been taking part in a clinical study of a new medicine for it. The study ended in May. I hadn't realized how much the medicine must have been helping, because I really ache now. Even Steve has commented that my mood is miserable. Good news is that I have just signed on to start another study with a different drug. I won't receive the medicine for several more weeks though so I have to tough it out till then.

Steve is still the same. Damn fool started smoking again. He won't stop till he ends up in the hospital for a month. I'm so angry with him. He's killing himself and all I can do is watch.

We finally got our website back up and running last weekend. Sorry for the delay. We were really behind in doing the inventory. When we finally did it, it took all day Sunday. I still have some holes in the products that I need to fill, but all in good time. I've decided to no longer carry the Gaywool Dyes. The are expensive for me and they don't move. Honestly folks, there are more places out there to get quality dye at a reasonable price. I only have 4 or 5 Gaywools left and I'm just going to keep them for myself.

We stayed home over vacation. Steve worked very hard insulating and sheet rocking the bunny barn. It's amazing what a difference it makes in there. He also had the propane heater installed and inspected. We won't have frosty buns this winter.

I can't even remember what I did on vacation. I know I planted tons of flowers in our containers. I usually plant in containers as we have a lot of moles in the yard. I picked a few fleeces from a local farm. The wife is mother to a young man that went to school in town here with Ryan and Ryanne. She doesn't spin, but she couldn't just throw out the wool. She gave it all to me for free with the promise that I must dye some of it red and make her a scarf. The fleeces are filthy and need to be shirted still. I'm thinking to send them out for processing to save myself all of that work of cleaning them. I really can't remember what I did every day, but I know I was always busy.

I finished Kathy's socks. I ended up over dyeing them with Easter egg dye as the dye lots of the skeins were different and there was a noticeable line of color change on them. I refer to them now as her mottled plum colored socks.

I still need to finish straightening out the bunny barn this weekend. I already cleaned all the cages this morning. Ms. Eloise is in the house here with us. Her cage requires that I take her out to clean it. Rather than leaving her out there when she can get into trouble, I brought her in here. The dog and cats are keeping an eye on her for me. Don't worry, they won't hurt her. She lived in the house until last year so they are all used to each other. Besides she is about the same size as the cats and I think they are afraid of her.

So I traveled up to Cummington on Memorial Day weekend to attend the MA Sheep Show. I love that little show. Everything is so compact and easy to shop. It's not as spread out as the NH show and it's only about a 2 hour ride from here. I was good in a fiber sense in that I only bought sock yarn. I always buy sock yarn. It's my default fiber purchase. But I was very bad in other ways. Louise was there. You remember Louise, don't you? Louise the rabbit breeder from the CT Show?

Here is Steve with 6 week old Madeleine. She is an English Angora, like Ms. Eliose. She will molt and then I can comb out her fur. Yes, that 9 rabbits now. She was actually too young to go home with me, but Louise felt I could take care of her. Anyone else wanting her bunnies, could purchase them but could not take them home for 2 weeks. Maddy was the size of a hamster or Guinea pig. In our herd of bunnies, we now have 2 English, a German (Ruby), 2 Satins (George & Henry), 3 Giants (Isadora, Tess and Gillian) and a mixed German, English and Satin (Nigel)

Since it is miserable outside, much too hot, sticky and now rainy, I won't be finishing the garden today. It's a good day to stay in the AC and maybe spin or knit. I can't wash fleeces as they won't dry with all this dampness. I could shave bunnies, but that would take an effort on my part, Perhaps, clean the house? Never.