Enjoying Summer

The weather here at the beginning of the week has been perfect summer weather, not too hot but with cloudless blue skies. At this time of year I like to spend as much time outside as possible so I have been doing a lot of gardening and neglecting the housework.

I have a sort of unwritten rule that I have to do all the jobs that need doing and make sure everything is tidy before I start on non-essential things. I think this must stem from when I was growing up and we always had to do our homework and clean our shoes before we were allowed to watch TV or read a non school book. As we got older and got more homework I think this rule was relaxed but even today I still find it difficult to sit and knit or read if there are jobs to be done around the house. Of course this sort of approach means that I don't knit or read as much as I'd like because lets face it there are always jobs to be done.

One afternoon this week though it just seemed too nice to go inside and so I broke the rule and spent some time outside washing some fleece ready to spin. I started to knit a shawl ages ago and then ran out of wool and only need to spin a small amount more but it has remained unfinished for months. Tuesdays sunshine was perfect for washing and drying the fleece.

When I was taught to spin, about five years ago now, we were taught to wash the fleece in small batches just a few locks at a time. My spinning teacher was adamant that whole fleeces should not be washed in the bath! As I only spin wool for my own needs I have so far followed her method and enjoyed the gentle washing process. This fleece was a fawn Shetland and as always I was amazed by the range of colours within the fleece.

This is the shawl looking a bit sad and scruffy, I am hoping that it will look a bit more respectable once it has been finished and blocked.

After my little bit of time off I still didn't feel like going inside so I got out the ironing board and the extension lead and did my ironing in the garden. That way I got to enjoy the summer weather, guilt -free!