Fleece Of The Wash Pt 1

Well the weather today has finally been reasonable enough for me to consider getting my fleece out to get it washed. Here you can see it spread out in all its glory.



After a severe beating from my neighbour (the mother of the woman who gave it to me) promptly beat me with her mop for stinking out the neighbourhood because it ponged so much.

I had a quick examine of it and split off what I thought was "waste" fleece which I will wash separately and use for stuffing material. I decided rather than put it in the bath I would use one of the stackable plastic storage boxes that I had available. I put in a nice healthy dose of washing up liquid and then filled to the brim with water and then put the fleece into soak.

Here is a close up to give you an idea of how filthy the water was on the first soak:




Then here is a pic of the plastic box and its rather bubbly wrap.

For those of you in the know when I have finally got it clean and dry should I dye it before or after spinning?

I've reduced my stash by half (apart from the fleece)

Just been sat here in front of the PC knitting as I often do these days now I have broadband and can leave PC logged on. I've been thinking all this time that my stash is rather on the large side. I then had a flash of inspiration. I've been thinking of the stash as all mine, 100%, the full monty etc etc

Well then I got hit by the lightning bolt.

MM and I agreed that everything was split down the middle 50/50 so I only own half my stash and I can add more to it as it's not as bad as I thought.

It didn't hold much though in MM's eyes :(

I've just had a visitor in the form of my neighbour's daughter. In her hand she had a black sack. She said "I've been told to give you this in a certain way" to which she then started singing baa baa black sheep. Well I just assumed it was a bag of balls of wool as she often goes car booting on Sundays. You can imagine my astonishment when it turns out to be an entire fleece! Apparently she has a friend who has a farm and so got an entire fleece for me as she was sure I would like the present. I most certainly do and when I've finished the entire process it will be something for me.

The only problem I have now is how to get it from fleece to spinnable material!

WILL POST A PIC A BIT LATER!

Shawl Progress

Well I'm just a few rows further than I've ever been before but the news that is even better than that........I'VE JUST STARTED THE SECOND BALL ;-D

Ho Hum

Am feeling a bit like a naughty schoolboy at the moment.

Not only am I taking the shawl into work to knit before I start and during lunch and not actually doing any!! My new workplace works 9.30-5.30 but because I had my hours varied before I started I actually work 9-5 which is due to transport and connection problems. It seems so strange after for so long being the last one to leave the office that I am now one of the first. The one good thing though this month is that I get paid twice this week. My normal payday is tomorrow but because my last workplace mucked up on my overtime payment they have put it through this month which means I'll have given my new employer 3 P45s (one from temp agency) as it was only after I got my payslip with my P45 last month and looked at it properly I realised I was missing the overtime. I think it must be one for each year I've worked there!!

Updates

I've been meaning to sit down and do this post for best part of a week now but every time I sit down I remember something else to be done. Anyway the updates:

KNITTING WORLD CUP
No pics at the time of posting as I've no camera as the batteries have died on me. I am on target for getting one shawl finished. Am not so sure about the start on the second though but as I set it as an incentive and not a 100% certainty I guess I am okay.

Once I have completed it though I will be entering it into the Bingley Show in August. I was thinking about entering a crochet item as well but they don't have a class for crochet only a "any item not included in other categories" but I have until the beginning of August to submit my entry form so I will have a think on it.

STASH
I did buy a few things to add to my stash the other week. It is counting as my day for purchasing for June as part of Stashalong. I bought some purple crochet cotton, as well as a ball of Noro Kureyon for Insulting Irma. She'd been using Noro Silk Garden for "Lady Eleanor" so I thought I would give her some 100% wool Noro to try instead.

RATS
They're growing quickly and have become very much part of the family. They're definitely both girls as well. They are extremely friendly and love climbing up anywhere and everywhere given half the chance. I had to take them both to the vet yesterday though. Gibber has been sneezy and droppings have been rather soft which the vet thinks is just a dietary thing. Rats are prone to respiratory problems which is why the sneezing has been a bit of a concern to me so I thought I would get them both checked out just in case. While I was sat in the vet's waiting room (on my own I should add) I opened the lid of the box they were in. Within 30 seconds they'd maneouvered their way out of the box and up onto my shoulder. I shan't say what the thought must have been thinking when I went into the consulting room with two rats inside my shirt. I also had to take them back home this way as well as I couldn't get them back in the box. Fortunately I do only live seven doors away from my vet. The vet has given them both a jab of antibiotics and I have to keep an eye on them.

They are now spending their time working out how to open the cage door. They are definitely right when they say about rats being intelligent creatures. I should say though that I do know this from the rats we had previously when we were in London.

update

Well I've decided that I am going to join in with everyone this round and have signed up to the Knitting World Cup. My aim is to do the shawl which I did start before. However I am going to be really ambitious and do not only 1 shawl but attempt a second. I don't think I will complete the second in time but am going to give it a go as it is intended for a Christmas present so at least I know I'll be on my way.

On the rat front. They have ended up being named Gibber and Ish. They are most definitely both girls so we will not be having any other little patter of feet for quite a while to come. Gibber is the paler of the two and seems more timid than Ish who is a chocolate brown.

On the knitting/crochet front. I've done no knitting still but that will obviously change with the KWC. I posted off the crochet blanket to my cousin's wife and she was extremely pleased with it and liked the colours. I told her that the washing instructions were "Two hours soak in a boil wash". For some reason she didn't believe me ;) For those of you who didn't see it in production it was made using a pale blue/yellow acrylic variagated.

I've not been at work this week but start my new permanent job on Monday. I've had a nice break and although I could get accustomed to it I must say I will be glad to get back to normality again.