I mentioned I took three videos, this is of the 'dalmatian' sheep:
ETA: Another video, slightly longer, friskier ewe!
Monday, March 9, 2009
The shearing experience continues
So I came home with two bags of fleeces, one more than the other. What the heck comes next?
Washing them. I put back some of the nasty bits of the alpaca that PJ was loading me with but as you can tell from the previous posts pics, she did get some snuck in. I did a quick trip to the Dollar Tree for some mesh laundry bags - $1 three 12x15 inch bags. I then had to clean out the buckets that had been used with the pond fish and sitting out on the back patio all winter. Then since Duffy had shown the amazing results of the apparently clean but really not OFFF alpaca I decided mine should be washed too. This is the pretty apricot colored stuff I had gotten in case you didn't see it back in September:
I loaded up three bags with the apricot stuff and then took some of the worst nasty bits stuff of the white and then put them in the two buckets with some Palmolive (its what they had at the Dollar Tree) and hot water and let them soak over night. Oh my! The apricot water was just as brown as the nasty bits water. So I ran lukewarm water over the apricot stuff and then filled up the bucket with more hot water and detergent and let it soak again overnight. The white stuff took a little bit more work before it got its second soak. PJ had mentioned something about burrs and the alpacas. I found what she was talking about - there were burrs in the nasty bits besides the usual cause of the nasty. There was also a lot more grass and grass seeds and hay in their as well. I picked and washed, picked and washed and had the fleece come out looking much better. Still a little bit of darker areas where the nasty bits had been but looking like something that could actually be used now.
I rinsed out the second really dirty buckets today and got the water to run cleanly through them. I'm cheating with the drying process - I'm using the drying rack in my dryer and have the white fleece in the mesh bags going through a cycle. Then I'll run the apricot through. I figured the white if there was a problem since it was the 'nasty bits' stuff could be a better write off if something happened than anything else. Plus I don't have drying racks to setup to try to dry them any other way efficiently.
I used the cat flicker brushes that I had to try and get the 'blobs' back into a spinning shape. This also allowed me to get more of the vm still left in. So here's the progression, the middle row of the collage shows the same pic twice (Picassa does that if you don't have enough to make the collage) showing the nasty bits prewashing. The top and bottom rows show pics of the nasty bits after they have been washed and coming from the dryer and then the combed 'fluff'.
ETA: While working more with the white alpaca cleaned nasty bit bags I'm finding a lot of dead flea bodies in the mix. I've but those bags into a separate bag and on hold to decide it I really want to put the effort into picking out the bodies and the vm still in there.
I finished sock #1 of the "Band Stoppin' Boot Sock". I did a short row heel and a star toe as deviations from Sharon's "Traffic Stoppin' Boot Sock" pattern. I'm planning on giving the socks to my sister Jennifer I think.
This morning there was snow on the ground and I got a few pics of it with the previously posted crocuses (they were just poking through the ground):
The Cascade Lizard Ridge Blanket is shown on Cascade Yarns 220 patterns page! (Scroll to the bottom!)
Washing them. I put back some of the nasty bits of the alpaca that PJ was loading me with but as you can tell from the previous posts pics, she did get some snuck in. I did a quick trip to the Dollar Tree for some mesh laundry bags - $1 three 12x15 inch bags. I then had to clean out the buckets that had been used with the pond fish and sitting out on the back patio all winter. Then since Duffy had shown the amazing results of the apparently clean but really not OFFF alpaca I decided mine should be washed too. This is the pretty apricot colored stuff I had gotten in case you didn't see it back in September:
I loaded up three bags with the apricot stuff and then took some of the worst nasty bits stuff of the white and then put them in the two buckets with some Palmolive (its what they had at the Dollar Tree) and hot water and let them soak over night. Oh my! The apricot water was just as brown as the nasty bits water. So I ran lukewarm water over the apricot stuff and then filled up the bucket with more hot water and detergent and let it soak again overnight. The white stuff took a little bit more work before it got its second soak. PJ had mentioned something about burrs and the alpacas. I found what she was talking about - there were burrs in the nasty bits besides the usual cause of the nasty. There was also a lot more grass and grass seeds and hay in their as well. I picked and washed, picked and washed and had the fleece come out looking much better. Still a little bit of darker areas where the nasty bits had been but looking like something that could actually be used now.
I rinsed out the second really dirty buckets today and got the water to run cleanly through them. I'm cheating with the drying process - I'm using the drying rack in my dryer and have the white fleece in the mesh bags going through a cycle. Then I'll run the apricot through. I figured the white if there was a problem since it was the 'nasty bits' stuff could be a better write off if something happened than anything else. Plus I don't have drying racks to setup to try to dry them any other way efficiently.
I used the cat flicker brushes that I had to try and get the 'blobs' back into a spinning shape. This also allowed me to get more of the vm still left in. So here's the progression, the middle row of the collage shows the same pic twice (Picassa does that if you don't have enough to make the collage) showing the nasty bits prewashing. The top and bottom rows show pics of the nasty bits after they have been washed and coming from the dryer and then the combed 'fluff'.
ETA: While working more with the white alpaca cleaned nasty bit bags I'm finding a lot of dead flea bodies in the mix. I've but those bags into a separate bag and on hold to decide it I really want to put the effort into picking out the bodies and the vm still in there.
I finished sock #1 of the "Band Stoppin' Boot Sock". I did a short row heel and a star toe as deviations from Sharon's "Traffic Stoppin' Boot Sock" pattern. I'm planning on giving the socks to my sister Jennifer I think.
This morning there was snow on the ground and I got a few pics of it with the previously posted crocuses (they were just poking through the ground):
The Cascade Lizard Ridge Blanket is shown on Cascade Yarns 220 patterns page! (Scroll to the bottom!)
First sheep shearing experience
Saturday morning I headed over to Camas Washington and Greener Pastures Farm for some Icelandic sheep shearing.
I had made contact with Ronda a few weeks ago and learned that they would be shearing on the 7th and she was selling the fleeces for $10 each. She also shared that one of the ewes mother's was an OFFF winner and a gorgeous black - sold!
Shelia picked me up on her way into town and we headed over to Kathleen's to make use of her mom-van. We then headed into Portland to pick-up Duffy to make our vanload complete.
We arrived at Greener Pastures to find that Bobbie & Toolman as well as Sari & her daughter Simi had arrived along with Pam. Toomlan was acting as Bobbie's cameraman for the event. He doesn't mind a bunch of women though! We did have a bit of a wait while we waited for Ronda's husband Jon and Eddie the Australian Shearer to arrive.
We went out and took a look at the rams that Ronda has - some Soay and Icelandic and her new breed Cascade Farms then went in to look at the girls to be sheared. I have a collage of the photos: Top row - ewes in pen, rams, toothy ewe; Middle row - Annie (black ewe), Annie & friends, Annie being sheared; Bottom row - Annie being sheared some more and the haul.
I made three videos of the shearing process but only put the smallest one up at YouTube for your viewing pleasure. It started near the beginning of the shearing when I realized it was the ewe that Ronda said had 'spots' and reminded her of a dalmatian:
Once one of the sheep were sheared we started picking off the veggie stuff, very little really, the nasty bits and giving it a shake to get off the second cuts. Someone would then get a chance, if they hadn't already of claiming the fleece as theirs. It would then be rolled up and bagged with the ewe's info card inside along with the claimee's name. There were 14 ewes sheared, we went home with all but 3 fleeces.
A neighbor where the shearing had started that morning, PJ Landis came down with a couple of alpaca fleeces and a few shetlands. Shelia went home with a shetland lamb fleece and I picked up $5 worth of a white-cream fleece. PJ was helping with the loading of the bag and I got a little bit more of the 'nasty bits' than I would have liked in my bag, but for the amount I got I'm not going to complain. The fleeces:
I had made contact with Ronda a few weeks ago and learned that they would be shearing on the 7th and she was selling the fleeces for $10 each. She also shared that one of the ewes mother's was an OFFF winner and a gorgeous black - sold!
Shelia picked me up on her way into town and we headed over to Kathleen's to make use of her mom-van. We then headed into Portland to pick-up Duffy to make our vanload complete.
We arrived at Greener Pastures to find that Bobbie & Toolman as well as Sari & her daughter Simi had arrived along with Pam. Toomlan was acting as Bobbie's cameraman for the event. He doesn't mind a bunch of women though! We did have a bit of a wait while we waited for Ronda's husband Jon and Eddie the Australian Shearer to arrive.
We went out and took a look at the rams that Ronda has - some Soay and Icelandic and her new breed Cascade Farms then went in to look at the girls to be sheared. I have a collage of the photos: Top row - ewes in pen, rams, toothy ewe; Middle row - Annie (black ewe), Annie & friends, Annie being sheared; Bottom row - Annie being sheared some more and the haul.
I made three videos of the shearing process but only put the smallest one up at YouTube for your viewing pleasure. It started near the beginning of the shearing when I realized it was the ewe that Ronda said had 'spots' and reminded her of a dalmatian:
Once one of the sheep were sheared we started picking off the veggie stuff, very little really, the nasty bits and giving it a shake to get off the second cuts. Someone would then get a chance, if they hadn't already of claiming the fleece as theirs. It would then be rolled up and bagged with the ewe's info card inside along with the claimee's name. There were 14 ewes sheared, we went home with all but 3 fleeces.
A neighbor where the shearing had started that morning, PJ Landis came down with a couple of alpaca fleeces and a few shetlands. Shelia went home with a shetland lamb fleece and I picked up $5 worth of a white-cream fleece. PJ was helping with the loading of the bag and I got a little bit more of the 'nasty bits' than I would have liked in my bag, but for the amount I got I'm not going to complain. The fleeces:
Friday, March 6, 2009
The fun just keeps rolling along....
I had a nice long chat with Ronda at Cascade Farms in Camas. She has some Icelandic sheep that are going to be sheared on Saturday and we're going to come help out and pick the fleece that we'd like to buy. We have a group that are coming from the Hillsboro area and others from the rest of Portland to take advantage of getting to see the fleece on the sheep and the great price she's selling them.
Tuesday night was the book signing for Kim Harrison's White Witch, Black Curse. Kim and her publishers have been having fun using titles that have kind of a Clint Eastwood theme going. There were also a lot of people that had bought her pre-tour t-shirt for the book and so that was a nice surprise for her. Brandon's noticed that a lot of women who write urban fantasy also have colored their hair red or are natural redheads. Interesting note. ;^)
While there I cast on a sock, but didn't ask her to hold it because it was only a couple rows long by then. I'd actually cast it on twice during the reading and Q&A time. I tried it with 60 sts and that looked too small so went with the suggest 72 sts. It seems too big while working it but seems to be working out and I have enough of a cuff that I can always turn it over. So the yarn is Stitchjones in the colorway "I'm With The Band" and I am doing her "Traffic Stoppin' Boot Sock" pattern so I'm calling the socks "Band Stoppin' Boot Socks":
Wednesday was a small spinning group with just Tiggywinkleknits and Shelia there with me at Starbucks. It was kind of nice but would have been great if the others had been able to make it. We were able to do some brainstorming of locations for WWKiP day. The problem is finding a location that doesn't require the Certificate of Insurance, still is fairly public but also has sources of food/restrooms as well as parking. We came up with a few more ideas and are working those.
Wednesday night there was the trip over to Haggen's for the PDX-Knit-Bloggers group. I took along the sock and made more progress there. The colors are spiraling around. There was also some coordination of carpooling for the Saturday event. Cool handspuns to fondle and some FOs to oohhh and aaah over - a great evening!
Thursday I ended up not doing the Insomnia knitting since my head felt like it might want to come down with a cold. I instead was standing at the scanner and working pages through the computer. I did get out to the Aloha Grange and met up with Lavendarknits for the grange meeting. Fun bunch of people! We were there to ask permission to use the grange for the Wednesday Westside Spinners. So that we could get it without paying the $100 for 4 hour rental fee, Tammy and I became grange members. So we found a new home for the group!
The great part of using the grange is that we are able to have other area members with small children be able to come out and spin because they will be comfortable letting their kids play while we spin there. We can also bring in a coffee pot and make our own coffee! Since we're also meeting during lunch hour we can bring in food too. We just have to clean up the area that we'll be using.
The other fun note is that the grange secretary is a Tiggywinkleknits blog reader. One of the posts had mentioned our search for a permanent home and she was thinking that the grange would be a great place for it and there we were asking that same day. Great minds think alike. ;^) She'd also like to learn how to spin so will try to drop in during work some day.
Here's hoping that today's sunshine will carry over into tomorrow for the sheep shearing!!
Tuesday night was the book signing for Kim Harrison's White Witch, Black Curse. Kim and her publishers have been having fun using titles that have kind of a Clint Eastwood theme going. There were also a lot of people that had bought her pre-tour t-shirt for the book and so that was a nice surprise for her. Brandon's noticed that a lot of women who write urban fantasy also have colored their hair red or are natural redheads. Interesting note. ;^)
While there I cast on a sock, but didn't ask her to hold it because it was only a couple rows long by then. I'd actually cast it on twice during the reading and Q&A time. I tried it with 60 sts and that looked too small so went with the suggest 72 sts. It seems too big while working it but seems to be working out and I have enough of a cuff that I can always turn it over. So the yarn is Stitchjones in the colorway "I'm With The Band" and I am doing her "Traffic Stoppin' Boot Sock" pattern so I'm calling the socks "Band Stoppin' Boot Socks":
Wednesday was a small spinning group with just Tiggywinkleknits and Shelia there with me at Starbucks. It was kind of nice but would have been great if the others had been able to make it. We were able to do some brainstorming of locations for WWKiP day. The problem is finding a location that doesn't require the Certificate of Insurance, still is fairly public but also has sources of food/restrooms as well as parking. We came up with a few more ideas and are working those.
Wednesday night there was the trip over to Haggen's for the PDX-Knit-Bloggers group. I took along the sock and made more progress there. The colors are spiraling around. There was also some coordination of carpooling for the Saturday event. Cool handspuns to fondle and some FOs to oohhh and aaah over - a great evening!
Thursday I ended up not doing the Insomnia knitting since my head felt like it might want to come down with a cold. I instead was standing at the scanner and working pages through the computer. I did get out to the Aloha Grange and met up with Lavendarknits for the grange meeting. Fun bunch of people! We were there to ask permission to use the grange for the Wednesday Westside Spinners. So that we could get it without paying the $100 for 4 hour rental fee, Tammy and I became grange members. So we found a new home for the group!
The great part of using the grange is that we are able to have other area members with small children be able to come out and spin because they will be comfortable letting their kids play while we spin there. We can also bring in a coffee pot and make our own coffee! Since we're also meeting during lunch hour we can bring in food too. We just have to clean up the area that we'll be using.
The other fun note is that the grange secretary is a Tiggywinkleknits blog reader. One of the posts had mentioned our search for a permanent home and she was thinking that the grange would be a great place for it and there we were asking that same day. Great minds think alike. ;^) She'd also like to learn how to spin so will try to drop in during work some day.
Here's hoping that today's sunshine will carry over into tomorrow for the sheep shearing!!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Cranes, baby socks, tv shows and books
I finished up knitting all the cranes I intend to knit on Monday for the knitnotwar project sponsored by Knit-Purl. Here's the pile pre-felting:
99% of them are done out of the leftover Cascade 220 from the Cascade Lizard Ridge blanket. One and a bit were done out of some leftover Malabrigo. Now I just need to sew the little buggers up so they resemble cranes. I hope to drop them off this Wednesday at Knit-Purl. Sewing must commence soon for this to happen!
I attempted last night to take the leftovers from Madi's Tulips Cardi and make a pair of toddler socks for her. Do toddlers have blobs for feet? That's what I ended up with for the sock and I'm not really too sure about it being a 'real' sock:
Not when I look at Michele's example of a baby sock over here.
I watched the show and thought it wasn't that bad, so it was really cool to read that Leverage is going to start filming here in Portland this summer.
Tonight I'm going to the book signing at Powell's for Kim Harrison's new book - White Witch, Black Curse. In order to not have a repeat of last year's experience or last month's with Patricia Briggs, I called Science Fiction Book Club's customer service people and asked about the shipping of my book. I'd had it in with other books and it was the last one to be shipped (same order as the PB book). PB's took six days for it to ship and that would be pushing the likelihood of my receiving Kim's on time. The customer service guy and I had a breakdown in communication I guess. I wanted something faster than the slow method but not 'expedited' that I received. Yup, he shipped my book out so fast that the cover was spinning, no not really but it was 2nd day shipping. I now will have paid the same amount as cover price plus the slow shipping for the book, so no savings like I was trying for with buying through them. I was able to get all 500 pages read (finished late last night) so that's really wild. I'll have last year's book with me so will be caught up with having them all signed though.
99% of them are done out of the leftover Cascade 220 from the Cascade Lizard Ridge blanket. One and a bit were done out of some leftover Malabrigo. Now I just need to sew the little buggers up so they resemble cranes. I hope to drop them off this Wednesday at Knit-Purl. Sewing must commence soon for this to happen!
I attempted last night to take the leftovers from Madi's Tulips Cardi and make a pair of toddler socks for her. Do toddlers have blobs for feet? That's what I ended up with for the sock and I'm not really too sure about it being a 'real' sock:
Not when I look at Michele's example of a baby sock over here. I watched the show and thought it wasn't that bad, so it was really cool to read that Leverage is going to start filming here in Portland this summer.
Tonight I'm going to the book signing at Powell's for Kim Harrison's new book - White Witch, Black Curse. In order to not have a repeat of last year's experience or last month's with Patricia Briggs, I called Science Fiction Book Club's customer service people and asked about the shipping of my book. I'd had it in with other books and it was the last one to be shipped (same order as the PB book). PB's took six days for it to ship and that would be pushing the likelihood of my receiving Kim's on time. The customer service guy and I had a breakdown in communication I guess. I wanted something faster than the slow method but not 'expedited' that I received. Yup, he shipped my book out so fast that the cover was spinning, no not really but it was 2nd day shipping. I now will have paid the same amount as cover price plus the slow shipping for the book, so no savings like I was trying for with buying through them. I was able to get all 500 pages read (finished late last night) so that's really wild. I'll have last year's book with me so will be caught up with having them all signed though.
It's going around.....
Sharon is spreading the blogger love and has awarded me the Kreativ Blogger Award:
Here are the rules for the nominees:
1. Copy the award to your site. (done)
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award. (done)
3. Nominate 8 other bloggers. (see below - done)
4. Link to those on your blog. (see below - done)
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated. (off to go do that!)
Not in any particular order:
1. Michele - she knits and designs and is inspiring!
2. Carissa - she also knits, designs but has gotten bitten by the dyeing bug and has her own etsy shop where you can buy her yarns and rovings. Currently using a drop spindle but 'kreatively' came up with a way to buy a spinning wheel by selling alpaca fleeces.
3. Elizabeth - also spins and knits and inspires me with sweater knitting in the south. ;^)
4. Julia - wanted a spinning wheel, so talked her father into making an awesome wheel and shared the process with us. She also has so really cool designs that I'm looking forward to trying out. I'm also grateful she keeps translating her blog from German so I can continue drooling over her stuff.
5. Desi - knits, but she also does needlework and quilting. She's tempting me to pull out my fabric stash and whip up a few inspired quilts but I'll just continue to be awed by the cross stitch because I 'don't have the patience' to do that anymore.
6. Lili - I know she knits, she's said so. She's also 'kreativ' because she writes books and shares the writing process with those who may be struggling to get started. While the DH would love it if I got started with a book, I'm just inspired to read what Lili shares about the process. I also think she's the author most likely to have one of her characters in a kick-ass move kill a vampire with a wooden knitting needle and then be upset because the stabbing also broke the needle.
7. Diane - she spins, she knits, she designs, she teaches, and she shares them all with us. She also encourages others to explore their own abilities.
8. Ree - last but not least. She cooks - and then shares the recipes and the step by step instructions for them. She's made grown men groan from the results of those recipes. Not only does she take amazing food photos but shares her photography techniques so that we can also learn how to take better pictures. She's a whole lot more, but you should go check out her site.
It was tough choosing only 8 fellow bloggers to nominate!
Here are the rules for the nominees:
1. Copy the award to your site. (done)
2. Link to the person from whom you received the award. (done)
3. Nominate 8 other bloggers. (see below - done)
4. Link to those on your blog. (see below - done)
5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated. (off to go do that!)
Not in any particular order:
1. Michele - she knits and designs and is inspiring!
2. Carissa - she also knits, designs but has gotten bitten by the dyeing bug and has her own etsy shop where you can buy her yarns and rovings. Currently using a drop spindle but 'kreatively' came up with a way to buy a spinning wheel by selling alpaca fleeces.
3. Elizabeth - also spins and knits and inspires me with sweater knitting in the south. ;^)
4. Julia - wanted a spinning wheel, so talked her father into making an awesome wheel and shared the process with us. She also has so really cool designs that I'm looking forward to trying out. I'm also grateful she keeps translating her blog from German so I can continue drooling over her stuff.
5. Desi - knits, but she also does needlework and quilting. She's tempting me to pull out my fabric stash and whip up a few inspired quilts but I'll just continue to be awed by the cross stitch because I 'don't have the patience' to do that anymore.
6. Lili - I know she knits, she's said so. She's also 'kreativ' because she writes books and shares the writing process with those who may be struggling to get started. While the DH would love it if I got started with a book, I'm just inspired to read what Lili shares about the process. I also think she's the author most likely to have one of her characters in a kick-ass move kill a vampire with a wooden knitting needle and then be upset because the stabbing also broke the needle.
7. Diane - she spins, she knits, she designs, she teaches, and she shares them all with us. She also encourages others to explore their own abilities.
8. Ree - last but not least. She cooks - and then shares the recipes and the step by step instructions for them. She's made grown men groan from the results of those recipes. Not only does she take amazing food photos but shares her photography techniques so that we can also learn how to take better pictures. She's a whole lot more, but you should go check out her site.
It was tough choosing only 8 fellow bloggers to nominate!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Madi's Tulips Cardi
My very first human sweater is complete! I used the Tulips baby cardigan kit from The Knitting Bee with the accompanying pattern. The yarn is Dream in Color Classy. Very pretty colors and the yarn is smooshy. Very easy pattern to follow with satisfying results. I was kind of nervous because some of the little balls seemed to have less than others and so I had odd amounts of leftovers.
My leftovers:
Since baby Madi is currently about six months old, I need to get it up to her ASAP! She should get a few months wear out of it before the weather really warms up.
The sweater:
I'll probably end up knitting another baby sweater before I actually make one for myself. I am leaning towards making a 'Hey Teach!' as my first personal sweater or Spring Fling.
Now to finish knitting up those cranes, so they can be felted and sewn up for Wednesday night.
My leftovers:
Since baby Madi is currently about six months old, I need to get it up to her ASAP! She should get a few months wear out of it before the weather really warms up.
The sweater:
I'll probably end up knitting another baby sweater before I actually make one for myself. I am leaning towards making a 'Hey Teach!' as my first personal sweater or Spring Fling.
Now to finish knitting up those cranes, so they can be felted and sewn up for Wednesday night.
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