I've Crossed Over to the Dark Side

I took advantage of the above average temperatures last week to groom Kai the Brat outdoors. I prefer to dry the dogs outside. If I dry the shelties indoors in my grooming room the forced air dryer that I use will deposit dog hair all over my house no matter how much I try and contain it. One clean, much more naked dog later I took a look around my yard. I am normally very glad to leave the blown out undercoat for the birds and squirrels (it is amazing how much a squirrel can fit into its mouth) and not have to vacuum it up from every corner of the house for the next 2 weeks. This time, however, my reaction was different. All I saw was beautiful, clean, fluffy fibre that was just begging to be combed and spun. So I gathered up as much of it as I could before it got mixed in with leaves and twigs. I got a good 3/4 of a grocery bag full.

I don't have my own combs yet, but I will borrow my sister Susan's. She has spun with her sheltie undercoat and it turns out beautifully. A skein of cormo/sheltie that she entered in the "I Made It On My Schacht" contest is in the finals.

I actually finished a pair of socks. They are made out of Panda Cotton, colourway 2301 Rosewater. I used the Spiral Galaxy pattern from the book Sock a la Carte for the body of them. I think that they are actually prettier in person and even better when they are on. I love the feel of the cotton/bamboo.