Wool & Spinning

I'm also working on washing my wool and generally getting it ready for spinning. I learned last weekend at the Fiber Fest that I actually don't need to card it one it's washed and picked, I could just spin it from there. Very excited to learn that and will definitely try dyeing it before I spin my white wool. Here's a picture of some washed, dried, picked wool.


The picture doesn't do it justice, it's so white (very surprising after what it looked like when I got it!) and soft!

And last, but not least, I bought a spindle and some carded black wool to practice spinning. Here is what I've done so far. I'm not very good at it, but am learning and it is getting easier. Like anything I will just have to keep practicing!


Alright, back to my needles and spindle!!

New project - a purse!

Ok, I couldn't take it last night, I had to start a new project since I can't work on my vest anymore until the blocking is finished. So I decided to start a purse I've had my eye on for awhile now. This one in fact from Berroco. I already had the yarn required (in pink!) from a different purse that I tried once, but didn't like how it turned out. So I'm ripping it out while I make the new one. Here's my progress so far.

Honeycomb vest

My vest is getting very near done, Yay!! At knit night on Thursday night I finished the front and did the three needle bind-off for the shoulders. Today, I decided to block it before I seamed the sides and finished the rest. And this is what I saw:


You may not be able to see it, but I have a loose stitch just hanging there!!!! I couldn't believe it, I was very upset. But, instead of ripping out the shoulder, I took that piece of yarn that you see attached there and sewed the stitch in as best as I could. It will pass I guess. I will try to forget it's there, but that will be hard. Anyway, so I blocked it and this is what it looks like currently stretched out on my bed.


The part closest to you is the back, the front having the deep scoop on the other end.

Go Canada!!!!

Yay for the Canadians! It took until day 8 to finally get a medal in the 2008 Summer Olympics, but they did it! Not only did they get a gold medal and bronze medal in wrestling, but also a silver medal in pairs rowing. GO CANADA!!!!! I'm so proud.

Wool

As many of you know, I got given to me a whole lot of raw wool - I mean, just shorn off the sheep, raw wool. It's full of many icky things, things I don't want to mention here. When I agreed to take some of this wool of a woman's hands, I didn't think it was going to be this bad. You live and learn I guess.

I was given the advice to washing it first before I sent it off to a wool processing place to have it made into roving, which I will then spin. But that's another story. So here's a picture of my first batch of wool that I washed.


As you can see, it came out pretty clean - considering. What gets me is that you can still tell where the "scorched" ends were, i.e. the ends that were exposed to the sun. Plus, there is still a lot of "vegetable matter" in it, little bits of straw, grass, twigs, etc. However, I did notice that after I washed it, I tried shaking it and a lot of it has fallen out.

Now all I have to do is wash the other 49 lbs. Ugh!! I'm going to try to get at least 5 lbs. washed to send that away for my first trial run of turning roving into spun yarn!

Here they are!

Here's an update on the 3 projects I've been actively working on over the past few months.

First, my socks. I started these ages ago and finished one relatively quickly and then promptly fell into SSS (Second Sock Syndrome.) I recently got back into finishing the second one from teaching my friend, Robin, how to knit socks. They're also a handy, small project to take along with one to knit night. I've turned the heel and am working down the instep.


This market bag I recently finished with the purpose of making several so that I can make my contribution to "going green." It turned out bigger than I thought it would. I haven't tested it out yet. Oh yeah, it took so long to make (what with all the seed stitch), that I don't know if I'll make any more. :-/

And since I finished that bag, I've been working on my Honeycomb vest from Knitty.com. I also started this months ago and am currently working on it with renewed vigor with the hope that I can finish it and wear it some day soon! This is what I'll be taking to knit night tomorrow night.

Updates coming soon

Just wanted to say that I got my new Dell laptop today. YAY!! I went to take some pictures of my projects to post, but the battery in the camera is dead. So you'll have to wait for another time... Soon.