Washing wool... continued

Below are pictures of my washing exploits. I'm not convinced I'm doing it correctly ...

First, we put the wool in netting packages, lock by lock, and safety pined them down:


Then I put them in about 130 degree water with ORIGINAL Dawn dish detergent and let them soak for about 20 minutes, before repeating with clear water for rinsing:


(on this day, I put it on my electric griddle to keep it warm. For reasons you will see below, I didn't my second day.)

As you can see, it looks pretty funky. I have no idea if that's correct, and am concerned that I'm lightly felting it somehow. As you can see in the picture below, the edges don't look right.

So today, I washed in water never more than 130 degrees, put in the water and WALKED AWAY for 20 minutes (no pushing back down in the water, or swishing water), and the last two packages I did, I loosened the netting so it wasn't touching the ends. Here's those results:

Better? Suggestions? What do you think?

I'm Baaccck!!

Hello All!

I can't believe it's been over 2 years since I last posted - I am a baaadd blogger. But, I've decided to try to keep this up as a list of the things I am doing and things I've learned now. I'll try to be better.. I promise!

Here's my latest project:



A big BEAUTIFUL Cormo fleece from Ellie at Angel Crossing Farm owned by Patricia and Victor Loun. The fleece is 8.6lbs, and as you can see takes the entire living room floor at my mother's house.

It's come just in time too! My dear mother just had hip replacement surgery and is NOT the type to take this laying OR sitting down, but (and all you fiber-holics can drool) loves to pick wool. For those of you non-spinners, that means taking lock of washed wool and painstakingly separate the fibers from each other to make spinning easier. SO, I didn't buy this fleece for me, but rather for my mother. Really! I'm so selfless :).



I taught her the new method of washing preparation I watched Judith MacKenzie McCune do at the 2011 Madrona Fiber Arts Festival and learned from ThreeSheep's blog and article - thank you ThreeSheeps! Also, the people from Ravelry. I'll post the results later this week.

Inauguration Day!

Shoreline Community College staff and students unite to watch the historic event..

2009!!!

Sorry I've been away... It's terribly difficult to blog when what you are making are for people who read your blog!

Here's a quick picture of the newest additions to the family - they now live with my Mother, Sister and two Daughters. I hope to someday be able to share my patterns for the sweaters...

(sorry about the sideways... I have to figure out how to change that...)

Tour de Fleece, 2008!

I joined the Tour de Fleece group in Ravelry, where we are to spin each day the Tour de France is running... here is the roving I'm currently spinning:



This is my first dyeing project - I took a class at The Weaving Works on June 28, the hottest day of the year, but I didn't mind. I'd been waiting for this class for 2 months, and was so excited. My two goals this year was to learn stranded knitting, and to learn to dye (and not be afraid to do so). This is 4 oz of Superwash Merino (meaning the wool is quite fine, and is washable).

So my goal for TdF is to spin sock yarn with my own hand painted rovings... this is what I have as of day 2 (on my new Ron Antoine bobbin!):



I'm pleased with my progress, but I'm such a beginner!! Maybe by the end of the Tour I'll feel more confident.

My first swap

I know I haven't posted for a looonnnggg time, but I just HAD to show this - the box I picked up from my mailbox today was from my wonderful swap partner "NadKnitBlog" in Germany.

For those of you who are not familiar with swaps (and up until recently, that included me), think of a pen pal.. only bigger! This swap was organized by a forum I am a member of in Ravelry (a fibre addicted persons website). The forum is called "Caffeine Addicted", and we sent our names into the organizer with a completed questionnaire of our likes and dislikes, and that organizer matches you with someone else. I got to send a box to my buddy in Italy, and my buddy from Germany sent this! All that is said is to send yarn, a mug (or cup) and the caffeine of choice, but we are free to add what else we want and she went OVERBOARD!! Whee!!! My sister and I plan to have a tea and chocolate party tomorrow! (the coffee is all MINE!!!!!) The yarn is from her LYS (local yarn shop) and the coffee is Fair trade and only sold in her state of Saarland.

Thank you NadKnitBlog!!!

I'm back....

I apologize profusely - I've been very bad with my blog. sigh.. no excuses.

I've been cheering on my daughter in her push to make the 2008 Olympics - what a ride! She's an archer, and totally blows me away when it comes to her ability to concentrate for days at a time. She wasn't even planning to try for this Olympics, but a coach insisted she go to the first tryout (to pick the top 16 women in the country) and to our shock she came in 11th! so the race was on.... that was September. Jump to April, and forms/passports/ack!! and off to Chula Vista for 3 days of competition. She didn't make the top 8, but did a great showing and now we can relax and concentrate on normal competitions (like nationals, worlds, etc ACK!!)

She definitely didn't get this from ME!

Ok, back to knitting :)

I'm now up to 4 little norwegian sweaters and took a little break from them to make some socks... here's the sweaters:





I made my first "pullover", and was pleased with it.. I find for some reason it is a bit more difficult for me, maybe because I didn't have the guide of the middle of the sweater (the front) and I wasn't too sure about putting in the collar. But, it's my first and I feel good about that.

I'm also working on my second pair of socks ever, "Baudelaire
, by my very favorite sock designer, Cookie A. I also joined a few sock forums on Ravelry, and even a sock "Pentathlon", where we will make 5 different socks over the year, with 5 different techniques.. I'm looking forward to it, and have purchased my yarn for the next 3 :). I'll put up a picture of my Baudelaire when they are done. Got one done... working on the next!

I also joined my first "swap" - kind of like a secret pen pal, for those who are not familiar with that phrase in knitting. You list a few of your favorite things in an email to a moderator (colors, what's on your needles, etc) and the moderator matches you up with someone else anywhere in the world. This particular swap is for the Caffeine Addicted group, so we are exchanging yarn, a mug or cup, and either tea or coffee... I'm having a lot of fun shopping for my "swappee" :) :)