Happy Surprise In The Mail
Our spring is off to a roaring start with high winds and single
digits in the minus Celcius - the note card samples I sent in to
Knitty didn't make it onto their Cool Stuff page for the Spring issue
(which means they didn't like them) so basically my week was starting
out on a bummer note... then I picked up the mail and found a(nother)
box from my little sis....
Imagine my surprise and delight! Another pair of beautiful new curved
Leclerc hand cards from her MIL and some odds and ends of fleece (all
unmarked)! The dark brown and the marled brown/white are both clean
and just need to be carded. The white is slightly yellow from old
lanolin and will need to be washed and the two yellowish wads are raw
locks which I suspect will take a bit of soaking to get clean. I
couldn't be more pleased! Just small enough to play with and not so
much I'll get tired of it! LOL! Just the thing to lift my spirits
(more work - ha ha!)!
Well I didn't waste any time getting it into mesh bags for a hot
soapy soak! It will be my project for today. I have no idea how long
it will take to dry either - such an adventure! In the mean time I'll
get carding on the browns.
I now have a collection of 3 pairs of hand cards:
Top left, the curved hand cards, top right the flat hand cards, both
LeClerc and gifts from my sis's MIL. The flat pair have fine straight
teeth and the curved pair have fine teeth that are sharply bent about
half way up. They have about the same teeth per square inch (lots) so
they must both be for working fine fleece. I tried Googling for them
but even on the LeClerc website they are not shown so I can't help
but think they don't make them any more. All LeClerc had were ones
with stainless steel handles although I did find some new and used
wooden ones for sale on a number of different sites in the $45 to $65
range.
The bottom pair I got in a box of stuff at an auction sale about 10
years ago - when I still had sheep but long before I took up
spinning. They are the ones I painted a watercolor of because they
have so much rustic character. Their teeth are shorter, thicker and
farther apart than the LeClercs. I have never used them but suspect
if I ever end up with coarse, short staple wool they'll be my weapons
of choice!
So that's all the news for today - I'll let you know how the washing
goes....
Who says "nothing good ever comes in the mail!" Good timing that she sent it on a day you needed a boost!
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