More yarn

I told ya'll that I had dyed some roving with the same pink and green kool-aid as the little sample I used in my sock and now I have the yarn finished up...here is what it looked like on the wheel and all done:

Think this will end up being socks for Abigail (I think I'll have enough, we'll see).

Oh and in order to have enough empty bobbins to do that yarn on I had to finally get off my butt and finish off the very very first yarn I did on my spinning wheel- some straight up white merino that was given to me by the lady that sold me the wheel in order to have something to show me how to use the wheel with. I used Black Cherry kool-aid for this one:

Oh Merino is so soft! Think I'll make a cabled hat with this yarn.

Fingers Crossed

Someone came to look at the house today. For the 2nd time. They are waiting to see if the offer they made on another house is accepted but we are number 2 on their list if that falls through. While I don't usually wish for failure, I do today. So please, let the bank accept the other offer and let them come buy our house. I am so ready to unpack my life (even if it means packing it ALL up first).

This is the way we wash our wool...

So I have been spending the last week washing wool. It is done. Well, the washing is - there is still a bit of work to do to get it ready to spin.

If you have no interest in wool, feel free to click away otherwise, if ya wanna know how it gets from sheep to sweater (or sock or blanket or whatever) read on.

On Saturday (of last week) I bought a fleece at the Spring Fair.

I brought it home and layed it out on the kitchen floor. It was already 'skirted' (someone had gone around and taken out all of the icky bad clumps on the edges of the fleece) but it is always prudent to do your on checking. You can see the shape of the sheep if you look for it...The bit up on the Seahawks mat there in the top left corner is what would have been on the right front leg of the sheep.

A gratuitous close up of the locks:


The locks are about 4 inches long. Next they got divided up - ended up with 4 58qt tubs of wool prewashing (weight about 6.75lbs).


Next the locks got a dip in soapy water for about a half an hour. I got smart after the first batch and bought some tuelle to use as a net for moving, draining and drying the wool.


After a couple of rounds of soapy soaks it gets a rinse soak and then I spun the wad of wool in the tuelle to get the water out (washing machine is much more efficient tho) and then spread it out in the yard to dry:
Next comes the waiting. and waiting and waiting for it to dry. It washed out to be a pretty brilliant white.
I spun up a small sample from the locks just as soon as they were dry. I didn't take pics of the spun yarn until after I got out the kool-aid. However, after a dip in some kool-aid baths and a heat set in the microwave this is what my samples looked like:

That is Lemon-Lime and Pink Lemonade for anyone who wants to know...
Of course I had to see it knit up so I made another key-chain sock. The sample was just enough to get a sock out of (I had about 6 inches of yarn left over):


Overall I am really happy with the wool I bought. I ended up with a 73% yeild of the original weight..so 4lbs 14oz. I split this fleece with my friend Andrew and we are just playing around with the fiber seeing what we get when we try different things. Andrew carded the trimmings from his son's haircut with some of his wool and spun it up into a course yarn. Personally I love the color blend but won't touch it because it itches to high heaven. I think it would make a great rug but I think he is going to make a belt out of it. I have also combed some of my wool into roving and dyed those with the same colors. I can't wait for them to be dry because I really want to make aroving braid just to see it all done up pretty.

God Damn It!!!!

For the love of Mike!
So...just before our Vegas trip our oven craps out. Last week we had to replace it (bye bye 500 bucks). Flash to today.
Scheduled furnace inspection $59
Really needs service so change that $59 to $199.
Needs a part replaced. add on another $104.
Oops there is another part that needs to be replaced (if it fails might blow up the house). $143
Add tax.
FUCK!
Now all we need to do is replace the dishwasher and maybe this fucking house will sell.

Some more stuff

I have been crafting some more as usual.

Finished up the socks for Eldon:

Currently in the works:

A bear...no photo yet. I'll get it posted when the bear is born (no photo's mid-gestation - that would be weird (Alexis I am talking to you)).

Progress on my Navajo ply-as-you-go sock yarn:

A pair of socks for me in a colorway that I am totally in love with:

And another pair of socks for me using the two at a time method:

On the wheel I have some singles from some roving that Brian bought for me:

Oh, I made a spindle out of a dowel, a cup hook and a toy car wheel: Total cost was less than $1.50. This spindle is perfect for spinning my little samples on when I have my 'good' spindles and wheel full of ongoing projects:

That being done I hand combed together a couple of rovings I had and blended the colors to make a nice purple. I had just enough to make a sock to fit my new keychain:

Can't wait to make dozens of these little (one of a kind) socks to change out as I see fit. Right now I am totally in love with the sock that is on there because it is from my very own handblended, hand spun yarn. These will be perfect for using up my little samples of handspun. I also think they would be adorable keychains on thier own (withough the little sockblocker) or Christmas tree ornaments.

As you can see I have a lot of knitting and sewing and spinning to work on, anyone want to help out (and by help I mean do my dishes and laundry)?