Mountain Sunset Scarf2

Well, I was going to take a picture of my scarf tonight, to show how much further along I am. I think its too late to take pictures right now. I did knit 3 1/2 inches on my scarf today though. So if my calculations are correct, I should have 16 1/2 inches. I just measured to be sure and I have 16 5/8 inches;................okay so I was 1/8 of an inch off. LOL Hopefully tomorrow I'll get more knitting done on this scarf. I will take a picture tomorrow of my progress on this scarf.

I also spun more Australian Bond Somemore Batts today, and started plying up another 2 ply lace weight skein. I almost had that skein all plied up, but had to stop to cook dinner. I hope tomorrow to finish plying up this skein, wind it off and then wash it.

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.

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.

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.

I just couldn't wait until tomorrow

Yesterday I mentioned that I wasn't going to start washing my fleece until Wednesday. Well, I just couldn't wait until tomorrow to start washing some of my fleece.

So around 3 pm today I started setting up my supplies to start washing my fleece. I read on a forum on Ravelry about using "Goop and Sauve Clarifying Shampoo" to wash fleece and thought I'd give it a try. The Lady on Ravelry that uses this technique is "Ohmygracious".

"Ohmygracious" mentions taking some fleece locks and applying some goop to some locks and rolling them into sausages. She says that she lets them sit for 5 minutes before rinsing in warm water. So I did this with 8 locks in my first batch and then rinsed them in warm water. The she mentions about adding some Sauve Clarifying shampoo to some warm water to give the locks a soaking bath for 5 minutes. I then took my rinsed sausages and place them into warm water Clarifying Shampoo bath for 5 minutes. Then she says to rinse the locks several times and then roll the lock in a towel. I did this as well.

After I rinsed my locks several times I then placed my locks onto a towel as well and rolled them up to get as much of the water out as possible. Then I laid them out on my rack to dry and started washing a second batch.

This was fun! I think I'll wash some more tomorrow and if my first batch of washed locks are dry I'll start carding them.