Jananas

On one of our winter cottage trips, Nancy (the lovely owner of Log Cabin Yarns) gave me a bag of raw, unprocessed fleece from a sheep named Lucy. I skirted the fleece to get rid of the really icky parts, washed and rinsed and washed and rinsed and washed some more to get it clean(er), and then laid it out to dry. I then packed it away in 2 ziploc bags to store it because it needed to be carded.

Yesterday I tackled the first bag of Lucy’s now clean fleece. I ended up with 9 batts of fiber! Here’s a photo to give some perspective on the size of the ziploc bag versus the amount of space the batts take up. The floor looks dirty because most of the last of the vegetable matter came out when I was carding it (eep).

I don’t have a project in mind yet for this fiber. I have to finish carding the second bag and then spin it all up. However, it will be enough to make a bigger project.

Its been pretty exciting to take a raw fleece and turn it into something spinnable. It’ll be even more exciting to see it turn into yarn and then into a knitted object.

I turn 29 at the end of the month. Rather than gifts or a night of drunken debauchery, I’ve decided that I’d like to raise money for charity. Specifically, I’d like to raise enough money so that the Soi Dog Foundation * in Phuket, Thailand can spay/neuter one dog for every year I’ve been alive.

At $20 a dog x 29 years**, that means that I need to raise $580 in order to reach my goal. That could mean 29 friends each donating $20 or 58 friends each donating $10. Every donation will help me get that much closer to my goal, so please drop $5 into the hat if that’s all you can spare.

Donate here (the Soi Dog website & PayPal info). Feel free to pass the message along, any help is greatly appreciated.

I’m doing this old school. I can only track my total if you let me know what you donated. So please comment, or send me an email to jana at jananas dot com, or a twitter message, or hit me up on facebook, or something. Individual donation amounts will not be published here unless you give me the okay to publish the info.

RAISED SO FAR: $670, 115% of total // GOAL: $580 raised for Soi Dog by July 28th

We adopted our dog Gucci from Soi Dog in December 2009. I also donate $20 a month to Sponsor Joy, one of the many dogs currently being cared for by Soi Dog.

* Soi Dog is an amazing organization. They started in 2002 and have spayed/neutered more than 28,000 animals since then. They purchased land where they built a permanent shelter (they house upwards of 200 adoptable dogs and more than 50 dogs that need permanent care). Gill, one of the founders, was voted Asian of the Year as a result of her hard work and dedication (so dedicated that she lost her legs as a result of an infection she contracted while rescuing a dog). Soi Dog’s relentless efforts have directly contributed to Phuket Island being declared the first Rabies free province in Thailand.

Basically, this rescue group is about as awesome and awe-inspiring as you can get. They have achieved a huge amount and made a real difference in reducing the suffering of local dog and cat populations. The amount of neglect and abuse suffered by these animals before Soi Dog stepped in to help is difficult to even comprehend – this is a great explanation of why they do it although I’ll warn you that the photos are graphic.

** The actual math is that if you donate $1 a day for a year you can help spay/neuter 24 animals. That works out to $15.21 to spay/neuter an animal. I’ve rounded up to $20 to cover PayPal fees, etc.

The title pretty much sums it up. We had a really awesome weekend up at the cottage. Gucci went on his first canoe ride, his first barge ride, and his first swim(s). He wasn’t sure about the boat rides and he definitely wasn’t a fan of swimming. He did however love running through the woods. He easily spent hours off rustling around in the undergrowth, digging holes, sniffing things, and following my parents dogs around.

We had a busy weekend. We took my parents’ new canoe out for its first spin. We stopped at garage sales and picked up some awesome books on spinning, dyeing, and weaving. Jason was nice enough to stop by the Black Lamb so that I could buy fiber, which I promptly dyed as soon as we got to the cottage. We saw family and read books and swam. I can’t wait to go back.

We’re having a baby shower for a coworker tomorrow. I wanted to make her something rather than just dropping money into the pot. This is the Just a Little Undershirt pattern from the Fall 2009 Interweave Knits.

Its knit in organic cotton and is super soft to the touch. I can’t wait to gift this along.

This past Friday I was at my tattoo artist’s studio getting some work done (pictures will be forthcoming once everything is healed up). He has an awesome little private space filled with his own art work, fun flash, memorabilia, art work, and fun pieces.

My favorite was this taxidermied squirrel. It came with the miniature beer cans. Caitlin, I’m looking at you.