Washing the fiber!

June was the month I purchased the fiber and July was the month I washed it all. Now it's August! Carding will be happening this weekend--weather permitting of course and it looks like it will.

Here's my method of washing fleeces:

It's a little unusual, I use a cooler. My friend Debbie turned me on to this trick! To start off I have 3 coolers, 1 normal sized and 2 really big. I can usually wash 2 or more fleeces (depending of their size) at a time.

I fill the cooler I'm going to use with hot water and a few squirts of soap (I use 5 Star Soap). Then I place a portion of the fleece (about the size of a gallon jug or slightly larger) into a large mesh laundry bag,
then soak it down with hot water.

You would not believe how much dirt comes out just by doing this first.

Now that I have it good and soaked, I place it in the cooler and close the lid!

After 2 days or so, if the weather is hot I can leave it an extra day or 2 and I open it up and find? Dirty icky water.


I pull out the mesh bags and rinse again with hot water for a few minutes while the cooler drains. Give the cooler a really good rinse and start to fill it up again, this time with just hot water.

Depending on how the dirty the fleece is depends on how many soapy soaks I do. On average I will do 2 soapy soaks. I always follow a soapy soak with a minimum of 2 rinse (hot water only) soaks.

By using the coolers, it really frees my up my time to do other chores I have on the ridge.

I do have to tell you that I'm very spoiled! I have a hot water faucet right off the front porch that makes this whole operation SO much easier.

As for what I've been knitting. Well I finished the baby set!
Currently I've been knitting socks . I have 2 different ones on the needles, this one is for D~. (I don't have a picture of mine though).

Hope everyone has a great rest of their week!

They are DONE!!!!

Well I've done it! I have finally finished them. Granted it has taken me quite awhile to finish them, but they are finally finished! WOO HOO!!!




SEE!!!


I have found some screw-ups, but you know what? I don't care, they are mine and I deserve the right to screw-up on my first ever pair!



I am now starting on a pair of 'sleeping' socks for d~. I'm now trying to knit 2 socks at the same time on 1 pair of circulars. I have just finished casting both on. I have to get back to work now so I can't continue.

I leave you with another look. They feel wonderful!

I hope you all have a great weekend!!!

This is Spring Break?

I had heard that the snow level was going to come down to 500 ft the other day but I thought the weather guy was nuts! This is Spring Break! We should have sunny weather so the kids can play outside in the sun. But not for us on the Ridge! We woke up to this!!!!

As I took these it began to snow, again. Granted it was small wispy flakes but as I sit here I look out the window and it's just coming down hard!

Nice big flakes and lots of them.

This is really beautiful that's for sure.

It went from a dusting......

to this -->






See the flakes?


Here is an update on the 'sock'. I did take a little detour and knitted that beret. The beret was fun, but I'm back onto the sock(s).

The Lastest Happenings....

It's the weekend and I'm glad it's here. I was very productive yesterday on the housework so today I'm able to get this updated. Let's see where to start? Well I suppose the first thing I can say is that the new loom is wonderful! There was an unused warp still wrapped on the back beam and I decided to use it to practice with. I'm not really sure if it's linen or what but it's OK with me. I dug out one of my Handwoven magazines and started hunting for a good, easy pattern to work with. I did find one article that had exactly what I was looking for. So I threaded it up and began to play. Here is the progress so far.

The great thing about an 8-harness loom is that the possibilities are endless, well for me at least. This is going to be a sampler of different patterns and I'm going to make a wall hanging to hold my shuttles--good use I thought.

Next on the update list is my socks. I suppose I should say sock, seeing as how I'm still on the first one. I had such a tough time with the heel turn. I think I had to frog it 5 times or more but I finally got it right and I'm on my way again, see!

Now for Madrona Fiber Arts. I was able to dash up there and have lunch my friend Teyani. She's an amazing knitter and dyer. It was great to see her!

I was also able to see another fiber friend; Ruth who owns The Dizzy Ewe. Here she is at her booth.

Here is another booth just down from Ruth--can't remember the name, figures. Teyani is there, right side in the yellow sweater.

And here are the purchases! Yes, I couldn't resist sock yarn--I'm hooked on socks now. They are very easy to take with me where ever I go!

These are beautiful. The one on the left is superwash merino called Purple Rain from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The one on the right is merino and silk called Haida also from Blue Moon, this skein will be a pair of socks for D~.


This is a wonderful skein of Lace Wing. You can't really see it very well but it is purple and blue superwash merino called Deep Ocean from Angora Valley.

This is a lovely pile of Mill Ends from Bare Mountain. I hope to get 2 pairs out of it. We'll see!

I do have something on the wheel but I didn't get a picture. I'm teaching myself how to Navajo ply. It's not an easy venture. Once I've gotten the bobbin full I'll take a picture and post it.

Have a wonderful week!

Annoucement!!!!

Well, it has been just over a week and I haven't even made my big announcement. A week ago Friday, D~ , d~ & I went to the local auction and you won't believe what I was able to bring home. A Studio of Handcrafts loom [solid oak, 8 harnes), matching bench, a LeClerc 'Dorothy' table loom, Schacht warping mill and a Schacht 14 yard warping board. Here is the floor loom & bench in it's new home in my cozy studio.


The bench was filled with all sorts of great stuff too! There were 12 shuttles of various styles. From wonderful 12" end-delivery shuttles from Schacht (complete with pirns!) to 6" flat shuttles from LeClerc, and all sorts in between. In addition to all the shuttles there was multiple tape measures, sissors, tools and even some of the former owners notes and patterns.

Here is the table loom.
The warping mill and board are still in the garage, hoping to find a place in the studio. My cozy spot is tight on space but I'll find a home for them don't worry.



We did go to the auction last Friday but the box I was interested in went over my budget. It was OK, in the end I was able to purchase some great clip on halogen lamps that will work great on the loom(s).

On the Needles: Still working on those socks--haven't had much knitting time.
On the Wheel: Plying the Corriedale.

The Saturday after the auction we woke to this! We had almost 3".



Here is the house from the driveway.

I'm tackling socks!

Well, I've made the jump into knitting socks! This is really fun too. I thought I would start with something simple, so I made these little booties for my friend who is expecting a baby girl in a few months.

These were very fun to make, a little confusing in the beginning but once I got the hang of it I was able to knit them both in up in 2 days.

Now I'm on to socks for me!

Don't you love this colorway? I won this sock yarn at a book signing for Cat Bordhi's latest book: NEW PATHWAYS FOR SOCK KNITTERS. That was a great night. Blue Moon Fiber Arts sponsored the event. I have always loved their fiber.

As for what is on the wheel, I have made a little progress on that Corriedale I was spinning earlier in the month. Just slow and steady, the hats I wanted to knit with that yarn will probably be ready to wear next fall. Oh well.

As for the Ridge, we are waiting for snow! The weather guys have changed their minds so many times we're not sure what to expect. One time we hear 3-4" today and 2-5" tomorrow, then another time it's 2-3" for both days. Keep your fingers crossed! My cousin called, who lives 2 hours South of us, she said they have 7 inches! We want our share of that!

What's on and off.......

It's the end of the weekend---ugh!

I wish I wasn't going to work tomorrow, but no such luck. It is back to the old schedule & routine. Our weekend at the ridge has been fast and furious but let's not dwell on the that--I'm just glad it's all over and we are back to normal next week.

Here is what has just come off the wheel.

This is 4 oz. of Bluefaced Leicester that was dyed by my neighbor Val [I spun it up for her]. It was her first time at the dye pot, didn't she do a great job?!!

Off the needles!

Here is d~'s hat that I was trying feverishly to complete by Christmas, and I did {whew!}. He was very surprised to find it under the tree!

What is currently on the wheel!

This is corriedale pencil roving in the colorway Berry Pie [discontinued] dyed by my friend Teyani when she was at Crown Mountain Farms. Teyani is an incredible spinner & knitter. Hop on over to her blog and see the beautiful stuff she makes!

I love how it is spinning up. I am going to try navajo plying with this and use it in 2 different hat patterns I have.

One pattern is from Classis Elite Yarns, it's called Cabled Hat . The other pattern is one from Elizabeth Zimmermann called the Spiral Hat. I found that pattern in her book 'The Opinionated Knitter'.

The spinning of both Val's & Berry Pie was done with my new Woolee Winder I got for Christmas from d~.

I LOVE IT!

It has increased my production by a ton!

Have a great week!!

The adventure begins!

Ok, so I can now say I'm a blogger--scarey thought for me. My Hubby (a.k.a. D~) has talked to me about starting a blog several times but I just thought who would want to read about what I'm doing? Also, I think I had been too chicken to do it. Besides, I have a full time job (many actually but we can get to that later) plus I'm a Wife and a Mom! When I do sit down to spin or knit, I feel really guilty that I'm not doing some chore that needs to be done or what ever. So here I sit, wondering what else I can write?

What's on the wheel? Wool for a 1x1 knitted cap for our son (a.k.a. d~), for Christmas. The wool is a combed blend (by me) of a white Gotland/Merino cross (very soft lamb) & a dark gray Border Leicester. Once I really get the hang of this I'll post pics but until then, you'll just have to take my word for it.

What's on the needles (besides the cap)? An alpaca vest for D~, I've been working on this for over a year but I'm going to finish it so I can wrap it up for Christmas--yes he knows about it so there is the no surprise element but he'll enjoy it just the same. I have to say that this alpaca was the very first fleece I ever got. D~ purchased it for me when I first started spinning (2005). I came home from work and there was this bag of beautiful white alpaca sitting in the garage. I was so excited! MY FIRST FLEECE! So I told him he would get the first garment from that fleece--and he is, it's just taking me awhile to get it done.

The adventure has begun, you better hang on, it could be a wild ride!