This is Jackson with his friend Sally; she lives at the beginning of our lane. Every day that Jackson and I go jogging, he looks for his friend. When she comes to the fence to greet him, you can see "happy" written all over him! Below is a good full-body shot of Jackson; it's hard to get one as he's usually running towards me.
Next week Jackson starts "school" and will hopefully make some more friends; I've signed us up for a local four-week obedience course. While more expensive and not as long as some other obedience classes I've looked into, this trainer has decades of training experience up through Schutzhund 3 and comes highly recommended by people I know who have taken dogs through her courses. Let's see, I'll have to add "obedience practice" to my daily to-do list....
I finished the Navajo-Churro and started on the Pitt Island hoggett I selected as my next fiber. These two fibers are about as opposite as possible. The white Navajo-Churro is very white, coarse, long, strong fiber; the dark chocolate Pitt Island hoggett (I finally learned hoggett refers to a sheep's first shearing - its lamb fleece) is VERY soft, springy and shorter. Here's a close-up shot to show the difference (the "frosty" brown fiber at the top of the bobbin is the other Pitt Island roving):
I have come to think of Kathy's sampler bag of fibers as a fibery "Reader's Digest;" an interesting collection of short, informative pieces that entertain and educate me without requiring a huge commitment of time. I love it!
In other fiber news, I've started cataloging my fiber and yarn stash so I know what I have accumulated. After all, you can't spin from your stash and knit from your stash if you don't know what is IN your stash! Pulling it out and recording it should keep me from spending more for awhile - at least until the Black Sheep Gathering in June! :-)
The purple crocus in my front bed are now out in all their glory:
And while they aren't showy, these daphne odora blossoms that just started opening up today emit my very favorite scent in all our landscaping. I wish I could put a "scratch and sniff" spot on your computer screen so you could experience it, too!
That's it for now from . . .
5 comments:
We are still in the grip of winter here, although the irises and daffodils are poking their little green heads out of flower beds everywhere. I havent done anything with my flower bed for a couple years, I should get out there this weekend and dig out my double daffs... they smell soooooo good :)
They actually smell a bit like gardenia, go figure.
It's snowing again here . . . Good on you for cataloguing your stashes. That's one of the best features on Ravelry - I've taken real advantage of it and it makes it much easier to find stuff. :-)
I love the pics of your flowers...am also a little jealous. There is no sign of life for the plants here yet..sigh.
I'm glad you like the taste of some of the fibers, Michelle! I want to thank you for the photos of the beautiful blossoms - much needed color in my white on white world, at the moment. :) Actually, in NZ a hoggett refers to an animal who hasn't had their first shearing until they are about 1 1/2 years old. Hoggett fleeces tend to be softer (from the lamb's fleece contribution) and longer (from the age contribution). Hoggetts aren't really "lamb" but they aren't "mutton" either.
Enjoy!
Kathy, I like the taste of ALL the fibers! It's kind of like eating exotic food; you may not order that dish again, but you're glad you tried it once.
Thanks for the clarification of the term hoggett. When I first joined the Shetland list I saw the term used and asked what it meant, but no one ever gave me an answer.
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