Sheep coats

We've been having an issue with the two Jacob ewes and fleece loss.  I'm not sure if someone has been chewing on their wool or if we're dealing with some other issue.  I sold the buckling, Picasso - he's kind of "mouthy", and I'm pretty certain at this point that my does are pregnant, so that was one possibility down.  External parasites are a possibility (although I didn't see anything), so I got some Dectomax and applied that topically.  And now we have sheep coats!  I corresponded with Rocky of SheepSuits and ordered two coats for the girls.  He assisted with sizing, and produced and shipped these very fast!  Exceptional customer service!  They arrived today, and I put them on the girls immediately.

I think we now have all the bases covered.  If another critter was chewing on the wool, the Jacobs are now segregated from the others (two Nubian cross does, and two Shetlands) and coated to protect the wool.  If they continue to lose wool under the coats we will look for another cause, but I believe we have all the bases covered at this point. 

I am planning to get more coats next fall.  I'm hoping to coat the Shetlands all fall and winter.  They really make a mess of their wool with hay!  They will be sheared a week from tomorrow (they start "rooing" or shedding their wool if I wait too long) and I will coat them (as well as the Jacobs) when I start feeding hay in the fall.  Looking forward to clean fleeces next year!

New old machine

Another new old machine has found its way to my house.

This is from a friend who bought it with all good intentions, and never used it.  I looked up the serial number;  this is a Singer 99K, manufactured at the Kilbowie factory in Clydebank, Scotland in 1918. It was very little used, if at all.

The decals show very little, if any, wear.  The inside of the machine - under the slide plate and underneath the machine - shows no lint or accumulated oil.  It came with a couple of attachments, two small screwdrivers, a few corroded needles (although the one in the machine looks fine) and a couple of bobbins (Class 66).  The bobbins had thread on them, and one of them may have been used, because the thread was almost gone.  It is a hand crank, and shows no sign of having had a motor attached, but the hand crank, strangely enough, is a reproduction model.  Perhaps something happened to damage the original hand crank and that was replaced.  Odd, nevertheless.

I oiled it (with my favorite, Super Lube), wound a bobbin, threaded it up, and tried to get it sewing.  It took quite a few adjustments.  The stitch length was set to the shortest length (or nearly so), the tension was set far too tight, and the back of the fabric was very, very loopy.  I adjusted and played with it for about 20 minutes and finally got a nice stitch length and a good stitch.  Here you can see both sides of the stitched fabric as well as the very loopy tension problems I started with.

I've managed to do quite a bit of knitting lately as well.  I've been working on a new cuddle blanket for the grandchild.  I bought 3 skeins of Bernat Blanket, but it's already big enough; I may end up using only two.  I was only able to get two in the main color (on the bottom of the blanket) and bought another to do a center stripe.  The color in this picture is WAY off.  The blanket colors are blue, brown, dark blue, and the sheet in the background is navy.  Regardless, I may end this at two skeins.  This yarn is so bulky I find it difficult to knit.  On the other hand, making it with all 3 skeins would certainly give it a more useful life - the boy is nowhere near done growing!  There is no pattern for this; just straight garter stitch.

This is my other recent project.  A good friend recently announced she was pregnant, and I decided to knit a baby blanket.  This pattern is ABC Baby Blanket, free from the KnitPicks website.

I'm almost a third of the way through this one.  I spent quite a bit of time after starting this, browsing through all the free baby blanket patterns on Ravelry.  There are some beautiful ones, and a whole lot of free ones.  If my ambition holds out, I may start Levi's Baby Blanket next.  That's another free pattern, and one of the prettiest ones I've seen yet.

I really need to get back to the Perimetera shawl, too.  Too much inspiration, too little time!

It's a workday

It is raining today, but it's been warm (well over freezing...  a couple of days in the 40s/ 50s, even!) all week, so I decided today was a good day to clean the chicken coop.  It's a lot easier to get it all cleaned up when everything is soft instead of frozen.

It was a lot tougher than the bodypump class at the gym!

Before I headed outside I finished this little skein.  This was the sample roving I received with my Hansen electric spinner, shortly after Christmas.  End result is about 114 yards, 0.42 oz (12 grams).  After I did this, I found another bobbin with probably a couple dozen yards on it.  Figures.  This little skein has been washed and is now drying.  It looks very curly here, but relaxed nicely in its bath.

Next up on the wheel will be this "skunk" roving.  I bought this from Sally's Fen Alpacas, at last Saturday's Fuzz Fest in Exeter, NH.  This is 10 ounces (282 grams).  I'm hoping to spin something heavier than laceweight - maybe a sport or DK weight, for a sweater for the grandson.  I love a marled yarn!  This was labeled as "mystery roving."  I'm guessing it's a wool/alpaca blend.

In my attempt to spin a little thicker, I'm planning to spin this with the WooLee Winder flyer.  That should help some.  I'm curious what I'll get for yardage.  This feels like so much more than 10 ounces.  The bump is definitely bigger (fatter around, anyway) than a loaf of bread!

Another finish

It took a couple of days for my recent works to dry after being washed!  The first is these two skeins of Jacob.  What a lofty, squishy wool!  I love this stuff!  

I have one skein at 270 yds, 5.4 oz (153 gr) and one at 330 yds, 6.1 oz (175 gr) so about 600 yds, 11.5 oz.  I took a close-up to try to capture the rich color.  Still didn't quite manage, but it's closer.

I also washed up a bag of Polwarth I got at the Jan 3 St Distaff Day spinning event I attended.  This was in the silent auction, and my initial bid of $5.00 won it.  Nobody else wanted it, apparently.  (There was a lot of awesome stuff there, to be sure!)

It started out as just over 7 oz.  I washed it, and it took two days to dry.  I finally resorted to drying it in my oven (gas range with pilot light, the oven stays at a consistent 100 degrees or so).   The finished wool weighs in at 4.91 oz (139.6 gr).  It lost about 28% of its weight, in grease and dirt, after washing.  I love the colors in this little batch of wool!

First skeins

I have now finished two projects on my Hansen Mini-spinner.  Both of them were skeins of singles that had been sitting around for quite some time (like years) and needed to be plied.  The first set is now finished - plied, skeined, washed, weighed & measured.  The second set has been plied, skeined and washed, and is now drying, so those will be photographed later.

I have two skeins of this med/dark gray medium wool (Romney type).

Together they total just about 600 yards, and just under a pound.  Technically this is supposedly a bulky weight but it looks more like a worsted weight (or perhaps "Aran" weight) to me.

I have also received my Zuca bag and, after several shopping trips, got it set up with some storage boxes. 

Between the multiple pockets in the Zuca bag itself and the storage boxes, I have all of my accessories (and then some).

These are my storage boxes.  I found one (the taller one) at Home Depot and the other (same size except for height) at Big Lots.  The spinner just fits on top, and the boxes fit nicely in the Zuca bag.

The bottom one has whichever flyer I'm not currently using (right now the lace flyer, as I've been plying with the WooLee Winder flyer) as well as extra bobbins (broken down), drive band for the unused flyer, and oil tube (SuperLube).  The top one has the RavPower battery adapters, so I can charge just about anything, and associated electric cords for the battery and spinner. 

Now that I have the two sets of old singles plied, I plan to get back to some laceweight soon.  

What a great way to ring out the old year!

We had a fantastic last day of 2015 yesterday!

I have finally reached the lace portion of the Perimetera shawl, and am waiting on some confirmation of the instructions from the creator before I continue.  In the meantime, I have plenty to keep me busy, because my ordered-on-Christmas gift has arrived!  It was a very exciting day, as I cyber-stalked the delivery of my Hansen MiniSpinner!

The box arrives.

Unboxing.  The excitement builds.

The bundle option included just about everything.  Here are some extras.  An orifice threader, orifice reducers (for spinning thinner yarns, and laceweight), assorted extra drive bands/ brake bands/ tools.

 Maintenance kit - SuperLube grease and oil (silicone based, my favorites!), brake bands/drive bands, wool picker to clean stray fibers away.  I use SuperLube on my treadle sewing machines, and TriFlow spray (also silicone) on many things.  This shot also inclueds the ends of the 3 lace breakdown bobbins.

A quill for end-of-the-tip spinning (like a walking wheel or charkha), doubles as a bobbin winder! Yay!
 

A Woolee Winder flyer and bobbin!  I have wanted one of these for many years, for plying!

Here are the three lace bobbins, assembled.  The lace flyer included with the spinner also has a bobbin on it, for a total of four.  (I will be needing a travel kate, obviously.)

Finally, the cords (white box on the bottom - wall plug and car adapter) and the machine!

This is the little beauty herself.  I don't normally name my machines, whether treadle or electric sewing machines or spinning wheels (although one of my guitars is named Violet, because she's purple.  The Taylor remains unnamed as of yet) but this one may need a name.  She speaks to me.

This is the fiber sample that came with the machine.  This is 15 grams (0.53 ounce) of Abstract Fiber, and the card says "Merino 40%/ SW Merino 40%/ Silk 20%" in colorway The Gorge.  Now to see what kind of laceweight yardage I can get from it.

My RavPower 23000 battery has arrived and been charged and tested with the spinner, and works wonderfully.  I'm still awaiting delivery of my purple Zuca bag for storage, travel, and spinning table.  That, unfortunately, is not due to arrive until next week.  I tried to track down a couple of (non-purple) Zuca bags on Craigslist at a significant cost reduction.  We lost one at the last moment, when the Craigslist seller had two of us showing up to buy it and sold it to the other guy before I got out of my car.  Huge disappointment!  After that hubby let me spend some of our Christmas gift cash on an Amazon card to order the purple bag.  

To end the last day of 2015, we went to see the new Star Wars movie!  I thought it was great!  There were many scenes that were reminiscent of the original (now known as Episode IV), and I had lines from the original pop into my mind frequently.  (It's not my fault!)  I found it tremendously enjoyable!  I will definitely be buying that one as soon as it comes out on DVD!

Happy New Year, everyone, and I wish you all a wonderful 2016!  I'm hoping this year will be the year I finally get a Longest Thread entry (or three) mailed off to the Bothwell Spin-in!

A very fibery Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

Hubby outdid himself this year.  Granted, some of this was known to me in advance, but that's okay.  For instance, I ordered the Spin This Box, but did not know what was actually in it until I opened it on Christmas eve.  It was neon colors for the month of December, and contained quite a few very yummy creations!



I love the way these are all packaged differently, and I love how the colors match or work together in the different offerings.  There were six different packages of fiber in the box, and an ornament.  Love it!  These are my two favorites, based solely on first impressions:



The braid is 19 micron merino (and I do so love fine fibers!) and the other is four mini-rolags.  I have found myself very fond of the mini-rolag presentation.  I had several months of a small fiber subscription from Phoenix Fiber Co. in a mini-rolag format and really liked her colors and presentation.  This one has the added distinction of clever packaging as well.

I also got two fiber-related books.  The first is The Big Book of Flax.  I have been interested in this one for a couple of years.  The second is In the Footsteps of Sheep.  This one "details the completion of a mission the author, a Welsh-born Scot, set for herself: to travel and camp throughout Scotland, find cast off tufts of wool from 10 Scottish sheep breeds, then spin the wool on her spinning stick while walking (or waiting for ferries), and finally design and knit one pair of socks to represent each breed".  That sounds awesome!  Can't wait to have time to read these!



Last but certainly not least (most spectacular, actually) there was a card in the tree, directing me to order the Hansen Mini-Spinner bundle I had been discussing with hubby!  The Hansen webpage says they will be closed from the 24th to the 27th, but I was able to place my order via the website, and I'm sure it will be shipped out soon after the shop re-opens next week.  I will be waiting with great anticipation for my maple mini-spinner, with both Wooly Winder and lace flyer!



The second set of I Spy quilts were delivered today, and suitably received.  I was happy to see the enjoyment displayed by the recipients.  I still have several finished tops that need quilting, but I've been enjoying some knitting time for the last couple of days.  I am up to 18 stitches (of 25 needed) between corner markers on the Perimetera shawl.  Once I hit 25 stitches I will be ready to begin the lace section!  I am also enjoying seeing those adorable Wee Ones markers as I work my way around!