Busy Week

Tuesday I started packing up all my stuff to get ready to go to the Chilli Cook Off on Saturday. Wednesday, I was making labels for items that didn't have them yet as well as taking pictures of those same items.

They yesterday I recieved my box of White Cormo Fleece (3 lbs). Compared to the Australian Bond Somemore Fleece from Gleason's Fine Woolies, this fleece was/is really dirty and full of VM. I knew it would be though, so I'm taking my time in really getting this fleece clean.

Last night I washed up 11 fleece locks to see how clean it would come. I am using the same technique I used on my Australian Bond Somemore Fleece. I had 2 1/2 buckets of Goop left over from Australian Bond Somemore Fleece. Last night I used up the 1/2 bucket on the 11 fleece locks of Cormo. I rinsed out the Goop twice before putting it in the Suave Clarifying Shampoo for 10 minutes. Then I rinsed out the fleece in clear luke warm water 4 times, squeezed out the excess water and laid them out on a towel, and blotted them with another towel. After that I laid them out on my racks to dry over night.

Today I carded up 9 Fleece locks from last nights washing and now have 3 batts of really nice, soft, white cormo fleece. The other 2 locks I've set aside to card tomorrow. I also washed up 18 fleece locks today and they are now drying.

I have done a little bit of spinning in between all the packing, making labels, and washing of cormo fleece. I managed to get another skein of 2 ply lace weight yarn plied up on Tuesday, then washed and hung it to dry. Yesterday I wound it to measure out the yardage, ounces and grams. I hope to take a picture of it tomorrow and add the yardage, ounces and grams then.

All washed up

I did it;............I finished washing up all of "Somemore's" fleece today. This fleece arrive last Month on May 23rd. I didn't start washing any of the fleece though that day, I waited until May 24th to start washing.

The next 3 pictures are of all the fleece I have carded into batts. Now I get to have even more fun spinning up these batts. I soon will have my 6th skein spun up.

Two Buckets Full now

Well, I did it;...........I filled up the second bucket up with carded fleece. I did get to wash up some more fleece lockes today since we got back early from hubby's Dr's appointment. I might come close to my goal of having it all washed up by this Thursday but I might go into Saturday and Sunday (since Friday my hubby has surgery to remove some skin cancer). I am going to have to empty out a large bucket I was using for storing books to put the rest of the carded fleece.

I only spun up 1 batt today though, but hopefully tomorrow I'll get to spin more, besides wash up more fleece and card more fleece. I'm still enjoying washing my fleece, carding it and spinning it. I'm even looking forward to possibly (in the future) ordering more fleece. I never thought that this process would be so much fun but, in my oppinion it is loads of fun.

Filling up new Bucket

Today I carded up all 30 pieces of fleece, that I washed yesterday, your not going to believe this but, the bucket is almost filled already. I told you yesterday that it's not as big as my other bucket. Once I had all the fleece carded up, I then went and washed up more fleece, so that it could dry overnight. I don't know if I'll get to wash more fleece tomorrow or not as I have to go with my husband to Worcester for his doctor's appointment, it will really depend on how long his appointment is and what time we get home. However, if I can't wash more fleece tomorrow at least I'll get today's fleece carded and maybe even some of the batts spun up.

I don't know how many batts, I spun today but, I did fill up 1 bobbin and then started filling up the second bobbin. I'm thinking about filling up a third batt this time and then plying up the 3 singles to make a nice 3 ply sock yarn. My second project from this wool will be a pair of socks. I need to finish up my first project before I start on my second project. I know that filling up a third bobbin will give me time to do that though.

New Bucket to hold more batts

I bought a new bucket, so that I can store more carded batts. When I bought it I thought it was the same size at the bucket that's full of batts already. However, when I got it home I found that its not as tall, nor as wide. Oh well, it will still work to hold batts! I also bought another rack to be able to wash more fleece and lay them out to dry.

I washed up 30 pieces of fleece and laid them on my 2 racks to dry and then went upstairs and spun up the other 1/2 of the batt that I didn't finish yesterday. That's about all the spinning I did today though, since I did get started until late. Tomorrow I hope to spin more and card up all the batts I washed today.

Skein #5/Ostrich Plumes Scarf

Well, I finally plied up skein #5 today, washed it and hung it to dry. I also washed up somemore fleece again today and carded up yesterday's washed fleece. I need to buy another big bucket to put my carded fleece in, as its now starting to overflow with carded fleece. I am spinning as fast as I can, but life has had a way of interrupting my spinning time. LOL My bag of Somemore's fleece is getting low, but I still have plenty to wash, card and spin.

When my fleece arrived last month on May 23rd, I told my hubby I wanted to try and have my fleece all washed and carded by June 23rd. Now that today is June 17th, I am beginning to think I won't make my goal (not from the lack of trying). There have been a few days where I couldn't wash any fleece, since I was out with my hubby for his doctor's appointments. I am very close though to having it all washed and carded. I have about 1/4 of a bag of fleece left to wash.

My Ostrich Plumes Scarf is getting longer, I've been bringing it with me to knit on while hubby is at his doctor's appointments. I've knitted 22 inches so far on my scarf and I've only used about 1/4 of my skein of yarn.

All dry and ready for a label

Well, I rewound skein number 4 today and I couldn't believe my eyes;..........this skein actually weights a little more then my other 3 skeins and has more yardage to boot.


405 yards
2 7/8 oz
80 grams
17 wpi

I am very pleased with this yardage as I have never came close to this before with any of the skeins that I've spun over the years. I've had 300 and up but not 405 yards. My bobbin was so full that there was know way of getting any more yarn on it. I was trying very hard to get as much on my bobbin without it spilling over and getting tangled on oriface; and I did it. LOL

I didn't get to take a picture of this skein today as its raining very hard out and when I use a flash it washes out my picture. So since I have taken several pictures already of my yarn in the past, I figured that you didn't need to see what it looked like again. However, once the weather turns nice again I'll take a picture of it and post if everyone wants to see it anyway's.

I'm still knitting on my {Ostrich Plumes Scarf} and this morning I measured what I have knitted and I now have 9 1/4 inches knitted. I pretty much have this pattern down in my head now and really only need my notes to check on when I reach row 20. This is so that I can keep track of where to offset the second half of the pattern.

Skein #4 is done and now drying

I finished plying up skein #4 today, then washed it and hung it to dry. I washed more fleece again today and carded up yesterday's washed fleece. My bucket is filled with carded batts and is now starting to spill over the sides of the bucket (the bucket isn't very big). The bucket hold 6 carded batts without spilling over and I think I have 7 maybe 9 batts over and above that. I can't seem to spin fast enough to keep up. Before I start spinning tomorrow I'll card up today's washed fleece and then I'll have 6 more batts to add to that pile. LOL Plus I will wash more fleece tomorrow as well. I think I spin up 3 to 4 batts a day, sometimes 5. I'm having way too much fun with the whole process.

I've taken my first skein of yarn and started knitting up a scarf using the {Ostrich Plumes} pattern. I've knit 7 inches in 2 days. LOL

Its been a while since my last post

Its been a while since my last post, but I've been so busy washing, carding and spinning, that I completely forgot to post anything.

I plied my third skein up yesterday and then washed it and hung it to dry. Today after seeing if it was completely dry, I took it outside and took this picture. Then I came back it and rewound it to figure out the yardage, etc.

380.5 yards
2 3/4 ounces
78 grams
and 17 wpi.

Then I went back to washing up more fleece, carding and spinning. I have filled up bobbin #1 again for the 4th time and have bobbin #2 almost filled, so don't be surprised if I post again soon with another skein. LOL

My second skein

Well, here it is all washed and dried. My second skein from Somemore's fleece. I took this picture this morning outside to show of the skein a little better. This skein weights: 2 5/8 oz
76 grams
390 yards
17 wpi

Since taking this picture I've washed up more fleece locks, carded more fleece locks and started spinning again. I almost have one bobbin filled yet again, but remember there was some left over spun singles still on it to give me a head start.

A Second Skein is now finished

Just finished filling up these 2 bobbins again for the second time. Both bobbins weight 4 5/8 oz filled, but the empty bobbins weight 2 oz. So I really only have 2 5/8 oz per bobbin.

Once I finished filling up these 2 bobbins, I then started plying up the yarn and filled up this bobbin with 2 ply lace weight yarn. Brutis my one of my shih tzu's wanted to say hi, so he sat pretty for this picture. I have since wound off the yarn onto my niddy noddy and washed the yarn, which is now drying.

I washed up more fleece again today and those are drying as well.

Spinning was a little slow today

I started carding some of my washed fleece today after Hubby and came home for his doctor appointment. I carded up 12 fleece locks and spun up 9 of them, before the thunderstorm came in. I then closed all the windows in my spinning room and turned of all the fans and came downstairs. Since nothings going on tomorrow (that I know of anyway's), I'll start washing up more fleece locks and then card and spin more wool.

Spinning time was short today.

Today's spinning was very short, I only carded up 7 fleece locks and spun them up. The reason for this was due to having to go to Worcester with my hubby for his Hand Doctors appointment. I didn't get involved with washing any new fleece either.

Washed up more fleece today

I washed up more fleece today and carded up more wool, then spun some of it up. I filled up the first bobbin for the second time and then started filling up the second bobbin. I still have a lot of fleece left in the bag to wash, card and spin, but that's okay. I'm enjoying the process of washing, carding and spinning up raw fleece. I'm trying to decide on which scarf pattern I would like to knit with this first skein. I have 3 patterns to choose from, but I will make a decision.

My First Skein finished from Somemore's Fleece

Yesterday I finished plying up my first skein from Somemore's fleece and I wound it off my bobbin into a skein and washed it. Today I took a picture of my fleece after I rewound the yarn to figure up the yardage, ounces/grams and wpi.

Yardage =372.5
ounces = 2 3/4
grams = 78
wpi = 17

I carded up some more fleece today from the fleece I washed yesterday and then started spinning again. I also washed up more fleece today and its drying right now.

The bobbin on the left is the bobbin finished filling up today with the fleece that I washed yesterday and carded the morning. I weighted that bobbin to see if it weight as much as the first bobbin but it was 1/8 oz shy of weight the same as the first bobbin. Then I weighted both bobbins together to see what they both weighted and they weighted 9 1/8 oz. Now my bobbins weight 2 oz empty so I subtracted 4 oz from the 9 1/8 oz and I figure that the yarn I have spun weights 5 1/8 oz.

When I finished spinning up all the carded fleece from yesterday, I went down and washed up more fleece. I wanted to make sure I had fleece to card and spin tomorrow after I came home from church and buying groceries.

Once I had washed enough fleece for tomorrow, I then went back upstairs and plied the two yarns together. I filled my bobbin as full as I could get it, then I wound it off onto my niddy noddy and washed the yarn. Its hanging to dry right now.

First Bobbin filled

Yesterday I was really close to filling up my first bobbin, but had to stop and wait until more

wool was dry. This morning I took the wool, I had washed yesterday and carded it up into a batt that weighted 1 5/8 oz. Wednesday's batt was 3/4 oz and yesterday's batt weighted 1 3/8 oz. So the total oz I've washed and carded since Wednesday totals 2 3/4 oz so far.

Before I started spinning though on Wednesday I weight my first bobbin when it was empty and it weighted 2 oz. Today after I finished filling up the first bobbin I weighted it again just to see how much it weighted when full and it weighted 4 5/8 oz. So if I deduct 2 oz from this for the empty bobbin I have 2 5/8 oz spun up of singles.

I still had more wool to spin up, after I finished filling up the first bobbin, so I put on another empty bobbin and started spinning again. When I finally finished spinning all the wool I carded this morning I had filled my second bobbin about 1/2 of the way full.

I washed some more wool this afternoon, so tomorrow I'll be carding and spinning again. I might even finish filling up the second bobbin tomorrow and start plying my yarn.

Today's Spinning almost fills first bobbin

Today I carded and spun up the 18 locks of Somemore's fleece, that I washed yesterday. My first bobbin is very close to being full. Before I started spinning I weighted the batt I had carded from these 18 locks and the batt weighted 1 3/8 ounces and yesterdays batt weighted 3/4 ounces. So I've spun up 2 1/8 ounces so far of Somemore's Fleece. My bobbin when empty weights 2 ounces, so I'm figuring that my bobbin weights 4 1/8 ounces right now.

I washed 18 more locks of Somemore's fleece again today. This way I can card and spin more wool. I haven't even made a dent in the bag of fleece yet, but that's okay. This way I'll have wool to spin for quite a while to come. LOL

This morning I brought out Somemore' bag of fleece and washed up 18 locks of fleece. They are now in the drying stage. Then I took the 16 locks that I washed yesterday and wanted to see what they weighted before carding. They weighted 5/8 ounces before carding, but after I carded all 16 locks, the batt weighted 3/4 ounces.

This is what the locks looked like after I carded them into a batt. Then I just couldn't resist sitting at my spinning wheel and spinning up this batt.

This is what the first batt looks like all spun up. You can see just how thin my yarn was spun, by looking at the penny.