Friday, July 11, 2008

Romney socks

When I moved to New Zealand last year I inherited a few cross bred sheep. I still had lots of wool I'd spun in Australia but thought I'd see how the NZ wool stood up to hard wear because socks I'd knitted with the softer Australian wool didn't like being worn with gum boots. So far so good - they're wearing well. I knitted the heels with a double thickness to be on the safe side. Then I decided to spin up lots more of the NZ wool and try different dye plants on it for some more Fair Isle work. Wool is really fetching next to no money at the moment. My neighbour has Romney sheep with a lovely long glossy staple and she is happy for me to have the fleeces for the use of our shearing shed and the shearer's pay. It's quite ridiculous really when you think what wonderful stuff wool is.
I also brought the spinning wheel I'd bought in Australia and another Pippi wheel that my mother gave me. Both were made in New Zealand originally but are now quite well travelled. The Pippi wheel got a bit damaged in transit and I haven't got round to getting it fixed yet, so I'm still using the other very basic wheel. It does the job at least to my not highly skilled standard.


1 comment:

山頂2号 said...

they are just so well made, mate.
they keep you warm and they make me look great.
definitely the best socks i have ever had.

rick