What?

Yes, this is all you get today folks. This is K3, just shy of 5 months old. Sure do miss him. Can't wait for June when they will be here to visit.

Knit Happy!

Washing Fleece

Surprisingly I am enjoying the fleece washing process. It is going to take forever tho, I am surely not going to win any speed prizes. I'm on the third batch of the day and I will have maybe 1/2 of a pillowcase (standard size) full when today's last batch is done. That's with the clean stuff lightly placed inside. Of course I am doing smaller batches in the kitchen sink and not the bath tub. Trying to preserve the lock structure (and have no desire to be on my knees... getting back up is a bitch). Drying photos were taken and will upload them later (love the hot tub cover... I don't have to bend over much). The final batch is still in a tub in the kitchen sink in hopefully it's final rinse water. The big bag of dirty stuff dosen't look any smaller. hmmm...

Spinning on a spindle while out watching the fleece dry. More interesting than watching paint dry... the grey and black colors just seem to shine while out in the sun. I don't think the photos did justice to the beauty of the color.

Spring Fair

So, I was just supposed to be volunteering at the Shepherd's Extravaganza, but I was followed home by a Romney Fleece. A beautiful dark charcoal grey in color. I seem to have my eyes caught by the darker colors. Next year my pusher ...um friend... is supposed to steer me towards the lighter colors. I am thinking blending with some of my darker fleeces as well as some for dyeing.

I am going to attempt to process this one myself. Yes, I said that last time too. But I really, really mean it this time. I even started on it this evening. Got a double handful of the wonderful sheepy stuff and washed it up. Had it outside on a towel for the last 30 mins of today's sunshine and plan on doing up a bit more tomorrow. Supposed to be close to 70 degrees tomorrow, I can sit outside and spin or knit while I guard the stuff.

I washed my cream shawl as well this evening. I swear that it was dirtier than the unprocessed fleece. Three Soapy water baths to get that rat bastard clean. The water was so dirty that I am surprised that I haven't ruined any clothes by wearing that filthy thing. Oh... and it is also no longer cream. It had a date with a full bottle of Spruce dye when it was fresh out of its final rinse. It is still outside in the wind laying on the hot tub cover. Had to lock all the animals inside as I came back past the window to see Ichabod our Black cat rolling around on his back in the middle of my still wet shawl. This is why I have to guard the fleece. They won't steal it, but the cats, all three, will roll on wet wool like it is primo cat weed!

Happy Knitting!

Happy Easter

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter no matter how you celebrate, and a terriffic day even if you didn't celebrate in any way.

We had a quiet rainy day around here. A bit of Knitting a bit of cleaning and a bit of laundry and a bit of messing around on the computer. Didn't cook anything but breakfast, oh wait, I didn't even do that... hubby did, and just had a peanut butter sandwich for supper. Bed time in just a few minutes. Maybe enough time for one more row.

Have Knitty Dreams!

Don't know how to read a calendar

No spinning guild tonight. It is next week. I just looked at the calendar and realized that tho it is indeed the second week of April, it is NOT the second Tuesday... yet. ARGH!

Oh beautiful sunshine.

So happy to get off from work earlier than normal. Spent 3 hours outside knitting and reading. Love days where it is possible to just sit back and relax for a bit and not have to do anything for anyone other than yourself. I did let the neighbor's dog come over and play with Fisher tho. She heard us in the back yard and begged at the gate till I let her in. They didn't play too long, they decided that naps in the sun were better than chase.

Spinning tonight!

Back to Work...

On the grey fleece as of today. I am spinning this batch up much thinner than the last. My aim is for a light worsted weight when navajo 3 plyed. I really want a sweater out of this fleece. My first attempt yeilded a bulky weight that I just wasn't happy with, at least not for the purpose for which I intend. That result was made into fingerless mits that now belong to my mom. She saw them and asked if I would make her a pair. Told her they were hers if they fit her. :-) They did, so she's got something to keep her mits warm when she sits on the back porch with her coffee in the mornings.

I am also not going to spend the better part of the day on the weekends (yes, there will be several weekends needed to get enough yarn for a sweater as slow as I go) camped in front of the spinning wheel as I did last weekend. That was a bit of a mistake. Once I had stopped treadling, and was just sitting there prior to getting up, I realized that I couldn't feel anything below my knees. Felt like I had been traveling all day with the buzzy legs afterwards. Probably spent a total of 3 hours spinning so far today, and will do a bit more later on before bed time. Thanks Rachel for having the group of us over to your house again for spinning and social time. I really enjoied myself. Loved getting in some baby snuggles with your little sweetie too!

Don't have a pattern in mind for the fleece-wanna-be-yarn as yet, but do think that a cardigan will be more useful than an actual pullover. It would definately get more use. I have plenty of time to decide on a pattern. Just so all my bases are covered I will spin till I have about 1,500 yards. (should be about 300 yards more than I need.) The cardigan I am working on now will use approx 1,100 yards.

Still working on the edging of the pi shawl. Did a few repeats of the lace edging this morning and realized that I am finally at the 1/4 mark. Only 108 pattern repeats to go... lol.. that's 432 stitches left to bind off. I am using Barbara Abbey's #1 very narrow lace edging, 8 rows to the pattern, and 4 stitches bound off per each pattern repeat.

The Braids Cardigan is one row shy of splitting up for the yoke. Have to finish up the last wrong side row before I can continue. Need to get that part done after supper tonight so that I will have some easy car knitting for tomorrow morning. If I can't get it ready tonight, there is always the sock that lives in my purse to work on. These are hubby socks. I dyed the yarn special just for him. They are at the heel flaps so won't be long before they will go to live in the sock drawer.

Off to deliver the socks for Grammy Emm and Grampy Pete tomorrow morning. They are our next door neighbor's grandparents. We purchased our truck and 5th wheel from them when they moved into an assisted living facility. We pop in and visit with them every few weeks usually, tho it has been awhile since our last visit due to our own travels and visiting family.

Knit Happy!

Happy April Fools Day

Today all you get is a Grandbaby photo of K1, K2, & K3.

Now off to Knit a bit.

Happy knitting!