Sunday, May 24, 2020

Save 'Em 2 Save 'Em, Chapter 1: Jacob

A couple of weeks ago I started listening to knitting podcasts for the first time in a while. 

Since 2016 or so I have been mostly a political podcast listener, but something about the state of the world made me want to listen to something a little less fraught. 

I can't remember who it was that mentioned the Shave 'Em 2 Save 'Em initiative, but I was immediately taken with the idea. 
Here's a little info about the program. 
Also, here's the website if you want to know more.

The long and short of it is: they're trying to encourage knitters and spinners to use the wool of rare sheep breeds so they don't die out.
It's a pretty cool project, which started last year in January, and goes until 2021.
There are incentives to work with a certain number of different fleece types, and it's going to be my favorite rabbit hole, I can just tell.

Last week I was cruising around Etsy and found some likely subjects. Along with many other things, our local fiber festival was canceled for safety so I felt no qualms in indulging.

The first package that arrived was 5 ounces of Jacob from Gypsy Mountain Farm.


It was nice and clean, almost no vegetal matter.
I seperated the two colors out to card and spin.






The yarn came out slightly inconsistent, between fingering and sport weight. I would estimate that I got around 300 yards from around 4 ounces of carded wool.
I decided to make a diagonal shawlette, using various charts for lacy stripes between garter stitch sections.


The fleece was about 2/3 light to 1/3 dark. I did my best to evenly distribute the darker yarn throughout.


My skills as a selfieist leave much to be desired, but here's the scale of the finished shawl.


A few takeways:
I LOVED working with the Jacob. It's a very soft and lofty wool.

The colors work well together (go figure) and I almost made a stranded project. Next time I order some Jacob I will definitely make some Norwegian mittens or a hat.

It's super fun to go from a bag of fleece to a garment in a week, even if the chores get seriously neglected, and I look forward to more Shave 'Em 2 Save 'Em projects flying off my needles as this year progresses.


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