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.

Handwoven Shawl Day 10

Well, I finished my Handwoven Somemore Australian Bond Shawl today. I washed it and hung it outside to dry. I think I made it a little too long and probably could have made it a little wider. Oh well, I didn't really have a pattern to go by, other then the pattern that I wove into the shawl.

I wove on this shawl today for 3 hours and 18 minutes before I finished weaving and started taking it off the loom. Whenever, I weave another shawl, I will know how wide to make it and how long too. I still have some yarn left over from the 5th skein. I need to rewind that yarn and then figure out, just how much yarn I did use in this shawl. I will have to post that tomorrow though when I will take another picture of the shawl. The different shades of the fleece really give this shawl a nice shadow pattern IMO.

Handwoven Shawl Day 9

This skein is actually my sixth skein of 2 ply lace weight yarn. This skein has 358 yards, and is 2 1/2 oz or 72 grams and has 17 wpi. I had washed this skein a while back, but got involved in weaving on this shawl that I forgot about it. Then after I started weaving and was getting close to finishing up the 4 skeins I started with for this shawl, I knew I needed to get busy and figure out the yardage, ounces, grams and wpi, for this skein. So today I did just that, then made up a label for it (mainly for my purpose), so I wouldn't forget this information and would have it for later, when I needed to total my yardage for this shawl.

Once I did all this, I began weaving and got into my weaving zone (LOL). I did have to back track a couple of times, but this was because I was switching shuttles and had to make sure that I had the pattern going right. After 2 hours and 37 minutes of weaving, I had my 4th skein completely finished and skein you see above wound on the shuttle and 4 rows wove with the new skein. The apron rod is now showing on the back roller, which means that it won't be long now before it starts to move over the back beam.

Handwoven Shawl Day 8

Yeah, I fixed loose weft thread, and got busy weaving and playing catch up. I wove for 3 hours and 16 minutes today and I'm now half way through skein #4.

The shawl is really moving along quite well and my front roller has quite bit of the shawl wrapped around it.
The remaining warp that is still on the back beam is slowly being moved off the roller as I weave. I don't know yet if I'll have to wind up yet another skein for this shawl. I do have the skein for it if needed, I just haven't figured out the yardage and grams yet.

Handwoven Shawl Day 7

Today was an Oooopsy day. I started my day with cleaning my house, doing laundry (in other words being a good girl). LOL Then I dyed some polwarth roving and had to hang it to dry in guest bathroom shower. Once I did that I went to my spinning/weaving room to weave and everything was going okay;.............until I saw a loose weft thread 72 rows back (this was back almost to where I had started weaving today). So I began the process of taking each of these rows out 1 row at a time. I had to stop because it was starting to drive me nuts. So tomorrow I'll go back to it with a better frame of mind and finish taking out the remaining rows, and then begin the process of reweaving those rows and move forward.

Handwoven Shawl Day 6

Yes, I know its Sunday and I really shouldn't be weaving today, but I just had to come upstairs do a little weaving. I started out winding up skein #4 into a center pull ball and then weaving with the remaining yarn from skein #3. Once I had skein #3 all used up, I began winding yarn onto my shuttle from skein #4 and started weaving again. All in all I spent 1 hour 16 minutes weaving today.

Handwoven Shawl Day 5

It was another hot one today and I had all the windows open in my spinning/weaving room and my ceiling fan going as well. That helped to keep me cool during the 2 hours and 3 minutes, I spent weaving on my shawl today and even then I didn't quite finish using up skein #3. You can see in the picture I still have a little bit on my shuttle. I have skein #4 laying out to be wound into a skein tomorrow. I have the treadle pattern pretty much memorized now, but still forget sometimes as to which row I just finished. So I have the treadle pattern written down on a piece of paper and taped to my loom. I always try to end the treadle pattern at the end of a pattern repeat. This helps so that when I come back to my weaving after taking a break or the next day, I know where to start weaving.

Handwoven Shawl Day 4

Today after I finished dying some roving, I headed upstairs to my spinning/weaving room and started weaving on my shawl. I only spent 1 hour and 37 minutes weaving, as it was just too darn hot to weave today (92 F outside). I have almost gone through my third skein of yarn on this shawl. This first skein was used as the first half of the warp (121 threads), and the second skein started out as the remaining warp threads ( 71 threads), and the rest of the second skein went into the weft, which I finished using yesterday. Yesterday, I started using the third skein in the weft. I will probably finish up the third skein tomorrow and start using a fourth skein.

This picture here shows the shawl now has wound around the front roller. I think its has only wound around the roller once. I still have quite a bit of warp on the back roller, so I'll be weaving for a while. I love weaving on this shawl and look forward to going upstairs to weave, even in the heat. LOL

Handwoven Shawl Day 3

I went up to my spinning/weaving room this morning and started in weaving on my shawl. I spent 4 hours and 52 minutes weaving today. There were times though that I forgot where I was at on the pattern and I'd have to take a few rows out and then redo it. I think I did this about 4 or 5 times. It was really hot here today (91F), so I had problem's with the threads sticking together, when I'd raise different shafts. I'd have to separate the threads before I could throw my shuttle. This picture doesn't really show the pattern on the shawl, so I took another picture from a different angle.

This picture shows the underneath of the shawl, as it comes around the front beam to wind around the front roller. You can see some of the pattern on the top, but really see the pattern (which is the reverse of the pattern), from the underneath.

Handwoven Shawl Day 2

Today started off with warping up 4 more threads, to give me a total of 192 warp threads for weaving this shawl. Then I once I had all 192 warp threads threaded threw my reed, it was on to threading my heddles using a 12 stitch "A German Bird's Eye" weaving pattern and then tying off both the back and the front of the loom. This shawl measures 19 inches wide on the loom. The picture to the right shows everything tied off and ready for the weaving to begin.

Once I had the warp tied off, I picked up my shuttle and started winding on enough yarn to start the weaving process. I then tied up my treadles in a 1 & 4, 1 & 2, 2 & 3, 3 & 4 pattern. The treadling is what helps to make the pattern. I'm not exactly sure just how much I wove today, as I didn't measure it. This was 7 hours and 15 minutes of warping, and weaving today.

Threading my loom for a handwoven shawl/stole

For my next project with some of my Handspun Australian Bond Somemore Fleece, I thought I'd weave a shawl/stole. I want this shawl/stole to be 18 1/2 inches wide on the loom, so I've measured off the area on my loom, to show where to start the threading and where to end the threading. I've already threaded 121 threads through the reed, and I need 67 more threads, to finish off the width. This will give me 188 threads on this shawl/stole.

Once I have this done, I will start threading the heddles for the design I want to weave. Then all I will have to do after that is tie off the back and front of the loom and set up the treadles. Then I can start the weaving process. I will take pictures when I have the loom warped.

Somemore's Waving Ribbon Socks Drying on the line

After washing them in Eucalan Lavender Wool Wash yeseterday, I hung them up in my shower to drip most of the water out. Later I decided that I'd hang them outside on the rope I dry my rovings on. It was 86F yesterday and so they dried fairly fast. I kept coming outside to check and see how they were drying. Around 4:30 pm I took them off the line and tried them on my feet and yes they now fit prefectly. These socks felt wonderful on my feet and I just know that my feet will be toasty warm this winter.

Somemore's Waving Ribbon Socks finished

I finished the socks this morning, then washed them by hand and having the hanging out to dry. I will post pictures of them later when they are nice and dry. I did try them on before washing and found them to be a little loose on my feet. This will probably go away after washing and drying them. Since this is the first time, I've ever spun a 3 ply yarn from fleece and knitted socks from I found it to be quite enjoyable. I know my feet will be warm and happy this winter.

Now I just need to finish spinning up the remaining batts into 2 ply lace weight yarn. I've begun warping some of my handspun 2 ply lace weight yarn onto my warping board. I have 1 warp finished which has 121 threads in it and I've started winding for a second warp. I haven't quite decided on a weaving pattern. Although, I have thought about an 8 stitch Rosepath pattern, stilling deciding though.

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.

My Bucket Overfloweth

You've probably heard the saying "My Cup Overfloweth". Well, now you've hard, "My Bucket Overfloweth". Here it is to prove my new saying, 37 carded batts of Somemore's Australian Bond Fleece from Gleason's Fine Woolies. I will have 5 more batts to add to this tomorrow and still have 1/4 of a bag of fleece left to wash and card.

I sat down and spun up 1 1/2 batts from the 37 batts in this bucket today, so now there's only 35 1/2 batts. I really need to pull out another bucket this size and start filling it up now. I really love how this fleece spins up like butter. It's really very soft and fluffy as batts and the yarn is soft and squishy as well. It knits up really soft too.

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.