Sad and Disappointed today

Well, the guys did their best, but they lost the Championship game, 4-2.  There's no question that they were tired from the semi-final game that went into the wee hours, but the bottom line is, they got outplayed.  Oh well, they had a great season, and #2 in the state is nothing to sneeze at.  The USA hockey teams were #2 this year, too, as I recall.

I had tickets for the game in the company suite--I won them at work, so my son and I got to watch the game in luxury.  I brought my camera so I could try my hand at using my zoom lens.  It's not great glass, but I got some okay shots.  Here's my nephew on the ice at the Xcel Center.  My sister-in-law takes much better pics than I do, but I'm learning.  Now if I could just get better at close-up shots of my fibers.  I need to make a light box.

My project today has been to inventory all my fibers, in order to determine what is going to be devoted to business purposes, and what for myself.  Too bad we lost an hour today, because I need it.  Wow, do I have lots of fiber!

I have been pulling boxes out of my closet, and discovering more goodies everywhere I look.  Like 2+ pounds of snowy white washed Polwarth locks.  Yum!  Or an entire alpaca blanket that I forgot I had, in a lovely rust brown with white spots.  Also found a Romney cross fleece in dark natural grey that needs to be washed--better get to that.

People often ask "how do you wash raw wool?"  I think there are lots of ways that work.  This is the way I do it:

1)  Sort the fleece by color or type of lock.  I'm pretty ruthless at skirting here, too.  My time is valuable, and I don't want to waste it by spending time washing and processing fibers that won't live up to my expectations.  So I get rid of anything too dirty, second cuts, dried tips, and VM patches pretty thoroughly.

2) Put small quantities of locks in mesh lingerie bags.  If the locks are pretty dense, I also try to fluff them out a bit; however, that depends on your final processing method.  Since I am going to be carding the fiber, fluffing them out some (while potentially messing up the lock structure) doesn't bother me much.  If I was going to be combing the fibers, I would be a lot more careful here.  But you do want water to get really penetrate all of the locks, so if you are preserving the lock structure, then less in the bags.

3) Fill your sink or washing machine with extremely hot water and Dawn dishwashing soap.  I have also used Orvus paste for this.  The water should be so hot that you can't touch it with your bare hands.  If your water heater is turned down for safety or energy efficiency, then boil a pot of water and add that in.  Then place your mesh bag in the water.  I usually push it down with the soap bottle, or I wear rubber gloves.  If using the washing machine, leave the top open.  Let the fiber sit in the soapy water for awhile--maybe 30 minutes or so.  You don't want the water to get cool!!  (The lanolin that has melted off will congeal back onto the fiber, and it will be even harder to get off.)  You will be surprised at how dirty the water is!

4)  Drain the sink and gently squeeze the water out of the fiber.  Or if you are using your washing machine, turn your dial straight to spin and spin the water out.  Be SURE you know your washing machine cycles--DO NOT let water run onto the fiber, or let agitation occur.  This will produce felt--(don't ask me how I know.)

5) Repeat steps 3 and 4 at least once more, maybe twice more for a very dirty or greasy fleece.  Then do the same two steps without adding soap for rinse cycles.  I usually wash 2-3 times, rinse 2 times.

6) Lay the fiber out on towels or rack to dry.  I live in an apartment, so I have a huge stash of old towels to use for this.  Remember that wool will FEEL dry quite a lot earlier than it actually IS dry, so leave it out longer than you think you need to.

That's it.  Now you have lovely wool locks to play with.  I sometimes proceed to the dye process after the first rinse.  That way you only have to dry it all once.  You have to be pretty careful not to make sudden temperature changes if you do that.

Okay, now back to my inventory.  If I keep getting distracted, I'll never get done!

More boy's state hockey and some knitting

They won again, after 4, count 'em 4, overtimes!! Minnetonka won their semi-final game against Hill-Murray at about 12:20am today! Now they gotta play Edina in the Championship game tonight.

Here is a pic of the guy who shot the winning goal in sudden-death overtime, Eric Baskin. Okay, he's at the bottom of the pile somewhere. (Pic copyright Sheri Schuldt.)

So I tried to bring my knitting to the games on Thursday, but as I said, not much knitting was accomplished. I did a bit better watching the game on TV last night.

I chose to work on my Hanne Falkenberg kit, the Lastrada. It's straight garter stitch with stripes, so I figured it was "safe" to work on. I had to concentrate on not getting my stitches too tight as the game got more and more exciting, tho!

I'm pretty disappointed in this kit, actually. I don't know if there's something lost in the translation or what. The colors really DON'T match the description of them--the color they call "Mustard" is kind of a greeny-gold, and the color they call "Curry" is a mustardy-yellow. I could only figure them out by the quantity of yarn in the kit. There is a picture, too, but that doesn't even show the same stripe pattern, much less the right colors. The picture shows the main color to be a rust color, but the "Rust" they provide in the kit only comes with less than half a ball of yarn, so I assume that can't be the main color.

Finally, the picture shows the main color large stripe to start, then a two-row short stripe, then a different color. Fine. But the written instructions clearly say to do 17 rows of Color A (easy), then two rows of Color B (fine), then begin the chart, which begins with 6 rows of Color B. See the problem? How does the skinny stripe get in the picture, if the skinny stripe and the next color are the same? That makes--drumroll please--a large stripe of the same color! I have read, and re-read this, and I can't puzzle it out, so I decided to just blindly follow the chart. I will end up with a sweater, one way or another.

Other items actively on my needles include the Heart to Heart scarf by Sivia Harding. I LOVE this pattern. It is just challenging enough, makes a gorgeous project, uses very little yarn, and will make a lovely gift for lots of people on my Christmas list. (See, I can plan ahead!)

I am also making a Multnomah shawl, my second one. That's good work knitting--a simple lace pattern row every four rows.  Here's pic of the first one I finished, in Silk Garden Sock yarn.  I love it!

Off to the Xcel Center to cheer on Tonka! I'm not going to bother bringing knitting today!!