Washing Day!

I have some alpaca (and wool) fleeces that need washing and carding ASAP, so today I am at the sink.

Suri fleece is super soft and silky,  and the fleece I have is dusty and has the usual VM.  I have experimented and combed a little of the fleece before I washed it and then washed an un-combed wodge.  I washed them side by side, and  you can see from the photos, that combing up a batch BEFORE you wash makes a HUGE difference in how clean it gets after two washes.  So, in my opinion, a quick comb, or even just opening up the fibre by hand, helps the dust and sand to drop in the washing stage and therefore gets you to the carding stage with a lovely sparkling fleece, rather than a grey, still grubby bit of fluff.  Takes a wee bit more effort, but worth it methinks!

A long weekend, fun runs and caramel popcorn....

It was a long weekend here in Perth, and with four kids long weekends have the potential to be knackering! Fortunately we managed to find a balance between relaxing together at home and running some energy off the kids.

I finished a hat for Izzy out of some early (dodgy) handspun that she chose and although it's on the big side, she loves it!

Today we had a local fun run (not sure how those two words go together, but that's just me). Boys ran ahead and the girls trailed behind, I felt we needed energy after all that movement so I made some delicious caramel popcorn when we got home (courtesy of Donna Hay!)

Tonight I shall sleep well and look forward to work tomorrow!

4 Year WIP! RIP!

It's amazing what the self-imposed incentive of 'finish that green coat or no more sweater cast-on's' does for a person.  This cardigan was cast on in June 2007 (yes, you are reading correctly!).  It accompanied me to MANY knitting retreats with the girls in the hope that it would be complete at the end of the weekend, but alas, it was shoved in the 'out of sight, out of mind' box.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I FINALLY finished my Cabled Blanket Coat! It's from the Rowan book Scottish Inspirations, and whilst I enjoyed every minute of knitting it (it was easy enough for TV knitting, but the cabling made it interesting), there was A LOT of knitting, hence the huge delay in it's completion.

I knit it in Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed (asparagus) with the cuff and fronts trimming in Rowan Scottish Tweed DK in Pink.  The fit is odd (several knitters who have made this also commented on the fit), in that the sleeves need to be worn kind of 'off shoulder' in order for the rest of the cardi not to look odd, and for the back to sit lower and flat.  Still, it's comfy, cosy and I shall wear it when lounging around the house.

Now....what to cast on next?