I’m on vacation! I have two whole weeks all to myself. Yea! Being the anal retentive person I am, I made a list of the things I want to accomplish: one for work (yes, I brought home work to do. Deadlines never go on vacation), one for projects for home and one for fun.
While on vacation, I took the opportunity to AGAIN, go through all my animal fibers in storage. Fiber consisted of wool, alpaca, mohair, dog and any other fiber not spun yet into yarn. I made piles of white, greys, dark to black and a small pile of browns. I put dyed colored fibers into a separate pile. I should do this at least every six months in order to examine it for bug infestation, but most of all to keep my addiction to buying more fiber on ebay to a controllable level. This activity has cured my desire to buy another fleece this time around. Conclusion: No more buying fleeces. I have enough fiber to keep me busy processing for at least 5 more years. While going through my fiber stash I noticed a lonely unwashed fleece needing some attention and decided to wash it. At first I couldn’t remember what kind of fleece it was. It was long and shiny with wavy locks. There was a note in it saying it was sheared in 2006 and the animal’s name was Kate.
I separated it into locks, put it into netted laundry bags and soaked it in the washer with hot water mixed with Ovus Paste for about 1 hour and put it through the spin cycle to get most of the water out of it. Some parts were very dirty and it took about 3 washes and rinses to get it somewhat clean. Some parts, I will need to comb out to loosen the dirt, especially those on the tips. As the fleece was drying, I realized what kind of fiber it was…….Mohair.
I have so much mohair, I don’t know what to do with. Soon, it will overtake the wool. Perhaps it’s time for a swap or a give-away?
I have been spinning some of the merino roving I dyed a few months back. I am trying to spin it fine to make some sock yarn. I really liked the colors. I hope it will spin up into something I can make socks out of, at least some anklets.
I have been perusing through my knitting books again. This is a very dangerous thing to do because it inspires me to start something new. I was leafing through my Elizabeth Zimmerman books. I caught site of “The Bog Jacket” in Knitting Around and thought perhaps my son Scott might like this style. It looks like a square piece of fabric cut at the halfway point for underarms and folded over to make kimono style arms and sewn together. Looks easy enough but it is all in garter stitch.
Thought I’d try to make a miniature version before committing to an adult size. I found some Knit Picks Swish, a superwash merino in my stash and cast on for a child’s size jacket. The garter stitch which is straight knitting is so boring. I wish there was someway to jazz it up as I go. This has become my traveling knitting as I don’t need any concentration to knit this. The other night as I was having trouble falling asleep, I turned out the light, turned my Ipod on and knitted away until I drifted off to dreamland.
I’m counting down the days for the Olympics. I’ve joined the UFO Olympics to finish a Sampler knitted vest. I can’t start it until the Olympics start and must finish when it finishes. I really need to knuckle down and finish my projects. They are getting a little numerous and tying up my needles. I just don’t have the heart to frog them. Perhaps this Olympics will help me learn to be project monogamous…….not!
While on vacation, I took the opportunity to AGAIN, go through all my animal fibers in storage. Fiber consisted of wool, alpaca, mohair, dog and any other fiber not spun yet into yarn. I made piles of white, greys, dark to black and a small pile of browns. I put dyed colored fibers into a separate pile. I should do this at least every six months in order to examine it for bug infestation, but most of all to keep my addiction to buying more fiber on ebay to a controllable level. This activity has cured my desire to buy another fleece this time around. Conclusion: No more buying fleeces. I have enough fiber to keep me busy processing for at least 5 more years. While going through my fiber stash I noticed a lonely unwashed fleece needing some attention and decided to wash it. At first I couldn’t remember what kind of fleece it was. It was long and shiny with wavy locks. There was a note in it saying it was sheared in 2006 and the animal’s name was Kate.
I separated it into locks, put it into netted laundry bags and soaked it in the washer with hot water mixed with Ovus Paste for about 1 hour and put it through the spin cycle to get most of the water out of it. Some parts were very dirty and it took about 3 washes and rinses to get it somewhat clean. Some parts, I will need to comb out to loosen the dirt, especially those on the tips. As the fleece was drying, I realized what kind of fiber it was…….Mohair.
I have so much mohair, I don’t know what to do with. Soon, it will overtake the wool. Perhaps it’s time for a swap or a give-away?I have been spinning some of the merino roving I dyed a few months back. I am trying to spin it fine to make some sock yarn. I really liked the colors. I hope it will spin up into something I can make socks out of, at least some anklets.
I have been perusing through my knitting books again. This is a very dangerous thing to do because it inspires me to start something new. I was leafing through my Elizabeth Zimmerman books. I caught site of “The Bog Jacket” in Knitting Around and thought perhaps my son Scott might like this style. It looks like a square piece of fabric cut at the halfway point for underarms and folded over to make kimono style arms and sewn together. Looks easy enough but it is all in garter stitch.
Thought I’d try to make a miniature version before committing to an adult size. I found some Knit Picks Swish, a superwash merino in my stash and cast on for a child’s size jacket. The garter stitch which is straight knitting is so boring. I wish there was someway to jazz it up as I go. This has become my traveling knitting as I don’t need any concentration to knit this. The other night as I was having trouble falling asleep, I turned out the light, turned my Ipod on and knitted away until I drifted off to dreamland.I’m counting down the days for the Olympics. I’ve joined the UFO Olympics to finish a Sampler knitted vest. I can’t start it until the Olympics start and must finish when it finishes. I really need to knuckle down and finish my projects. They are getting a little numerous and tying up my needles. I just don’t have the heart to frog them. Perhaps this Olympics will help me learn to be project monogamous…….not!
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