summer days

There are three things to blog about.  Two for today, one is a teaser, and the third saved for tomorrow. 
1. After days of record breaking, unbearably hot and humid weather, Mother Nature delivered a couple of the summer's most beautiful days.  Mid 80's and dry.  With a breeze!  Perfect for getting a handle on the bags of unwashed fleece that have been hanging around.  I wasn't planning on washing fiber but Wednesday morning I got a phone call.  A friend had been phoned by an acquaintance, who just happpened to have llamas, or was it alpacas, and she was shearing them that morning and had no idea what she was going to do with the fiber.  Last year, she threw it away.  Oh my!  I bit, llama or alpaca, it was a lovely morning, perfect for a 15 minute drive to look at fiber.  To make a long story short, it was alpaca, and for various reasons, I didn't take it.  But it put the bug into my head to get moving on the alpaca that I already had. 
The first fleece that got washed was some absolutely gorgeous white alpaca.  Check this out.  If I remember correctly, there was about 6 lbs.  I washed it in four loads.

If you are looking for a great tutorial on washing alpaca, try this site. 

Then, I moved onto some brown Montedale I'd split with a friend last year at Rhinebeck.  No pictures, it is in the wash now.

2.  While I was busy doing the million things, the postman came to the door with a package. 

Want to guess what's in it?

Yep!  More of Ken Ledbetter's beautiful spindles.  Pictures as soon as I can get to it.  They'll go up on the Ball and Skein website.  Probably not for a week or so, sorry.  But they are gorgeous.  Of course.