corriedale

It has been very lax of me (as a knitter) to not declare until now that we have champion Corriedale sheep breeders in the family. Yes, Tim's cousin and wife are the proprietors of Liberton Corriedales and will be at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival on the 1st and 2nd of May.

Jim and Brenda stopped by in Seattle for a few nights on their way across to the east coast and I was the lucky recipient of two enormous hanks of their wool. The hanks weigh about a pound each; I'm not sure of yardage but apparently enough for an adult sweater. I'm not sure whether to experiment with dying the yarn or using it in its beautiful natural state. I could never wear cream so I guess that I'll have to decide whom I'm going to knit for before I decide on the colour!

Actually, what I have to do first is catch up with myself; I still don't feel like I am back on top of things since we left for Orcas Island which is almost a fortnight ago. Since then I've had a cold and allergies simultaneously (that's two grades of snot at the same time - sorry) and house guests for four days. I feel as though I am behind on everything - email, housework, knitting. And when I feel stretched like this what do I do? I retreat into my knitting and sewing and general crafting but in a hectic, frantic kind of way, which just leaves me with more unfinished stuff and feeling more stressed. It also leads to one discount skein of wool turning into a hundred dollar baby jacket ... but more about that later (sneak peek at right).