Ta da!

This is my handspun, handknit pea coat, made out of Romney wool from a Kentucky ram I know personally. My journey with this fleece began in May of 2004, when I scooped the fleece off the shearing floor and claimed it at Albert Petersen's farm. The ram weighs 300 lbs, the fleece was 12 lbs before washing and somewhere around 8 lbs after it was professionally washed and carded by Stonehedge Fiber mill. The coat itself weighs in at just under 4 lbs on my kitchen scale. The buttons are from Vancouver, Canada. We bought them while on vacation in Dec. 2002. (see, you can never tell when you'll need the perfect button!) The pattern is from Vogue Knitting, Winter 2003/2004. Considering how cryptically short the pattern was, it is amazing how long this took to knit...the yarn was bulky, the needles were 7's, and I knit a very dense fabric.

This photo was shot in our dining room, in front of one of my spinning wheels, a Great Wheel from Orange County, North Carolina, just outside of Chapel Hill. You may note the relieved and happy expression on my face. Now I can just wear the coat instead of lugging it around and knitting it. What a relief!