Washing

Can someone please tell me why I would rather wash and process this:

Instead of this?

This is a coopworth fleece from my friend Vickie at Big Valley Ranch. Unbelievably spectacular fleece!!

I am STILL not finished with Marin's wedding sweater, but the sash came on Friday and the yarn color I picked??? It's perfect!

So I have that going for me.

Project Offer

Dear Mr. Fantastic-

This morning I came down to this:

I did this:

I accept Prada and diamonds....

PS: if by 'handsome reward' you mean Yourself? I'm good with that too!

Long Arms

I am plugging away on the sweater I am making for Marin to wear in a wedding. She is the flower girl (Squee!!) and the wedding is at a vineyard on Long Island. I was worried Marin would get chilly, so I decided to design a little sweater for her to wear.

I completed the back and two fronts in a weekend thinking this would be the quickest lace sweater in the history of sweaters... and then I started working on the sleeves. They are NEVER ENDING!! I swear the sleeves could fit me!! I buckled down last night and got a lot done on the first sleeve and finished it this morning. I even started the second sleeve....

Here is a picture of the fronts and back of the sweater next to one sleeve... see what I mean? Looooonnnnng arms, man!

The lace will open up and everything will look real pretty once I wash it.... The lace pattern is from Barbara G. Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (pg. 218) called.... wait for it....

Vine Lace... get it? the wedding is at a vineyard??

Yep, I dig that stuff!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter! It was a great day filled with food and family. Marin looked so pretty in her Easter outfit all ready for church.

Here is our living room/dining room all dressed up for the Easter Meal:

Otis opening his eggs from the Egg Hunt:

Even my newest nephew/niece came for Easter!

Here is my favorite part of the whole meal... I made my famous apple crisp, but this time the crust was cinnamon buns... I got the idea here.

I thought today I would simply be, but there is still too much to do. I am still putting away dishes and getting the house back to normal. The crew is off of school this week, so I just finished cleaning up the massive breakfast we had!

Maybe tomorrow I will be able to sit and spin for a bit!

Just Like Papa

This morning I am getting ready for Easter and family visitors. Mr. Fantastic and I decided to wash the slip covers in my knitting room and I am hanging them to dry on an old wooden dry rack... while I was dusting off the dry rack I got a splinter in my finger. It didn't hurt or anything, but I wanted it gone!

Marin woke up this morning and I told her that I had a splinter in my finger. She asked if I wanted her to take it out. "Papa showed us how to do it last summer".

Papa is the splinter remover at the beach... he has special tools and can basically remove anything from feet, fingers and everything in between.

Marin set up shop, got her supplies:

And... it's gone.

It's good to have a daughter.

Diamond in the Rough

A few months ago my friend Monica asked on Ravelry if anyone was interested in Rambouillet fleece. It turns out that she got herself a couple hundred pounds of the stuff! So, what does any fiber obsessed friend do?

I ordered 10lbs of it.... yes 10 pounds.

When I opened the box I have to say that I was pretty nervous about this commercial flock. I'd bought it sight unseen - well she did show a picture of the sheep grazing and she did wash up a tuft and show everyone. When I opened the box? It was full of sandy fine DIRT... and I mean dirt. Did I mention it was dirty?

I separated a few locks and decided to do a wash test... What was I thinking buying 10lbs!!!

Shown here is a sample of of the separated locks that weighs 3oz

I carefully place the locks into a very hot water bath with a few squirts of Power Scour and waited 30 min... I did not touch them... I was afraid that the fiber would felt. After the bath, I gently placed the fiber in my colander and rinsed with very hot water using my sprayer thing-y.

When it was dry... Oh dear friends... when it was dry?

Washed, the sample weighed 1 3/4 oz.... that's a lot of heavy dirt!

Look at the beautiful WHITE fiber!!! It is so light and squishy and it is going to make next to the skin soft beautiful yarn.....a true diamond in the rough.

I can't believe I only ordered 10lbs!

April is getting busy!!

Let's just forget that I totally blew off January, February and March... K?

In November I ordered one of these:

It is a rigid heddle loom and I love it! I have been playing with it for a while and I am really enjoying yet another way of making fabric. My favorite thing I have made so far is a shawl that I gave to our Niece for her bridal shower..

It is a taupe silk from England and after a few mis-starts (is that a word?) we became great friends and I completed the shawl in 3 days.... yes, 3 days... Can I get a Whoot for a quick beautiful project?!

I found this wonderful contraption on Etsy (love that place) made by a fellow rigid-header.... it is genius! It allows for easier weft passage of your yarn for wider width projects AND you fill the bobbin like a boat shuttle. I love it!