More on the Jennie Plyer

I realized after my last post that I hadn't mentioned my Jennie Plyer here before, just on Ravelry, so thought I would share more about her. In hopes that Rick would indeed get me what I asked for (two more bobbins for my miniSpinner) for Christmas, I had been looking at Lazy Kate options. I had pretty much decided on the one I wanted online, but drove out to Woodland Woolworks after looking at their website just in case. After all, I would rather support a local business if possible. Most of their options wouldn't accommodate the mS's jumbo WW bobbins or were not very packable/portable, but then I spied a small device on a bottom shelf. I picked it up, checked it for size, and got interested. It looked like a well-made, compact, portable design, so I asked Diane for a price (it didn't have a tag). Disappointed to learn it was more than I felt I could spend, I had returned to looking when Diane stated that since it was her last one and the company (Forsyth) no longer sells wholesale, she'd make me a deal on it. Sold! Even more exciting was learning that it came with its own pouch and more little goodies and tricks than I at first realized!

Yesterday was my first opportunity to put Jennie to work. First I used her as a kate to load her mini-bobbins. Then I used her to ply six singles together, which was an exercise in frustration - but I learned a lot. The wire loops on the center post didn't work well for me; they tended to grab and trap my fuzzy long-wool singles. I might find a dowel that I could put in the center instead, since winding my singles once around the post worked the best (until the wire loops "grabbed" them).

If you're interested in getting your own Jennie Plyer, you can go directly to the maker, here.

So, my mS and I are zooming along, and I am looking forward to working through my stash. Considering that my sheep are busy growing more, that's a good thing! Recently I put a size G coat on Browning, then washed the F he was wearing and put it on his half-sister Bronwen. Here they are uncoated, fleeces mashed but clean:
Browning, top, gets more white fibers in his fleece every year; good thing he's a wether. Bronwen, a fawn gulmoget, has always been lighter but I wonder if she inherited an iset gene from her dam as well. Their dam has moved on to a pet home because her fleece tested at well over 30µ. These two will be tested this spring. Browning will stay regardless, since he is a wether and Brian's sheep; we'll see what Bronwen produces for lambs (along with her micron test results) before I decide on her future here.

That's it for now from . . .