Drum Carder has arrived!

And of course, I already jumped right into using it. And on a completely different fleece than the one I'd intended. I used a cream colored long wool, possibly one of the Romneys. I've got three bats carded up. I had teased the fiber pretty thoroughly, so it carded up beautifully in just 1-2 passes, depending upon how smoothly and evenly I fed in the locks. w00t!

I can hardly wait to get more fleece(s) prepared for carding. This is really fun!!! Definitely a worthwhile purchase.

And the Winner Is....

The black Shetland fleece. That's my choice for first fleece to run through the drum carder. I'm getting it washed up now. It's really not that wonderful a fleece. There are some second cuts and some veggie matter. On the other hand, it's a lovely dark color with a decent staple length. I expect most of the veggie matter to fall out when I pick/tease it prior to carding. It's coarser leaves/stems, rather than the finely ground up stuff that *never* comes out. After that, I've got some washed Cotswold locks and a Merino crossbred fleece.

Cleaning Up
I tidied up the studio/fiber room today. I got the boxes of computer parts out of the way, for starters, and put some odds and ends in the closet. I almost have room to put together the sewing table. I can't decide if that will actually gain me space or lose space. I'll be able to stack boxes of fleece/yarn underneath it as well as on top of it. It'll be good to get the sewing machine set up and have some planning area other than in the living room.

Three Hats Done, Two To Go.

Actually I'm about 1/4 of the way through hat number four. The first three hats are simple stocking caps in bulky yarn and should fit a 2 year old (based on the head size of my nephew at Christmas). The current hat is a beret that should fit a 5-7 year old once it's felted. It is taking a lot longer given that it's worsted weight yarn. I think the last hat of the five will be a red and blue striped hat.

Picovoli
I think I'll make this t-shirt as one of my summer projects. I think I have the yarn already in my stash. I have some Cotton Classic in a solid blue and a multicolor blue that would work nicely. I'd been meaning to use it in a nice tank for me, but never did find a pattern I liked. Isn't that how it always works? You have the right yarn, but never the right pattern OR you have the right pattern, but never the right yarn.

Speaking of the Stash....
Now that I have it all catalogued, I ought to go through it and try to match up the yarns with patterns. It would be fairly easy to make up "kits" of yarn with pattern. That would certainly facilitate getting stuff knitted up. What's left over can get de-stashed on Ebay. I suppose I ought to plan out the weaving projects too. I haven't given them much thought at all, probaby because my stash room is so full I couldn't possibly get my loom set up.

Knitting Plan for the Weekend....
I'm supposed to go to a party with some co-workers this weekend. Given how grumpy everybody was today, followed by nearly everybody deciding to gossip snarkily all afternoon, I'm not particularly inclined to go to the party. I'd rather wash and wax my car, re-grout the shower and do all my laundry. And then there's the fun stuff like playing in the garden and watching the Preakness Stakes.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'm an idiot!

Last night was knitting night at the library. I remembered that just now. Only a day late. Sigh. Now I'll have to wait until next month to knit with people. Sigh. Well, I accomplish quite a bit of weeding in my garden, so the evening wasn't a complete loss....

Double GAAAAAAAAH!
It's only a month until June 15th!! I have a month to make two more hats for the Dulaan Project to complete my five things for them!!! It's taken me a month to finally get one hat done (not that much knitting, but that much time to get around to the knitting). I will *have* to spend at least one hour a week and more on weekends on my Dulaan Hats. I *will* be achieving this goal.

The Drum Carder is En Route
UPS took control of it yesterday. They expect it will be in my hot little hands in a week. Yay!!

I bought a gently used Strauch's Finest, complete with all the extra goodies. I can hardly wait to start using it. There's a holiday weekend coming up this month. I'll have to take the extra day off and get acquainted with the carder. I guess that means I should get some fleece washed and picked. Which means I'll have to figure out which one to prepare. Although I've got a lot of Coopworth picked and washed, I think I'd rather comb that fleece. I do have a couple of crossbred fleeces and a couple of Shetland fleeces which would be excellent candidates for the carder. I'll go have a look a bit later tonight and make a decision.

Red Sock!
Although I didn't knit on the red lace sock while travelling, I did get about an inch knit on it over the weekend. AND I finished the red Mountain Colors sock. Well, the first one, at least.

Darning:
I have a basket of socks to mend. I've been avoiding them. It's not that I have a lot of mending. I just find it tedious. My socks actually wear very well. However, if the nail on my right big toe gets a little long and I wear handknit socks with one particular pair of shoes, I start to wear a thin spot in the sock. I usually figure this out about the time I take the socks off at the end of the day. Sigh.

Actually, there is one pair of socks which needs the toe re-knit, but that's because it was a bit too short.

Perhaps that will be this week's knitting accomplishment: put one pair of socks back into service by the end of the week. I can manage that.

About That Travel Knitting....

I ended up deciding on the red lace sock. And then I never even touched it. I ended up going out with some new friends both nights I was there. Oh well....

Travel Knitting

I am headed out for three days of training this week. I have absolutely no trouble packing clothes or anything else for trips. I have unending amounts of trouble packing knitting projects.

Here are the criteria I need to meet:

• project must be transportable/packable--the afghan or nearly completed adult-sized sweater is probably too big to fit neatly into luggage.
• project must be interesting enough to keep my attention, esp if the cable TV offerings aren't terribly exciting
• project must also be simple enough for me to not completely screw it up if I am mentally tired or try to knit and read simultaneously

Of the projects currently underway, I have two pair of socks which would meet these criteria, but I really don't feel like knitting socks. I feel the need to knit something new. Rather than agonize over it, which I could easily do, I think I will just simply take my two socks in progress (one lace and one fairly plain) and call it good. Sure, that's the easy way out, but I'm too tired to figure out something else to take with me, then find the appropriate yarn, needles and pattern. I'm almost guaranteed to forget one of those three things if I start out new anyway.