Snail Spirals

Well, even though I haven't posted for a while, I've been getting lots done. I finished washing the Rambouillet x Cormo fleece over the weekend. What a job that was! I wanted to get it done before we move, so that the whole fleece was processed the same way- same water, same drying method. I can't wait to get this carded up and start spinning it. Need to borrow the Guild's carder first.

Here it is in all it's poufy whiteness. It is so soft and yummy. I haven't weighed it yet to see how much grease and dirt it lost during the wash (it started at 6.7 pounds), but it couldn't have been too much. I only picked out three burrs and five 1/2" pieces of straw while I was washing it, and that was all I saw. I am now a great believer of buying fleeces from sheep who have been coated. It makes a huge difference. There was some sandy debris that washed out as soon as it hit the water, and a fair bit of grease, enough that it required two soapy washes and two rinses, but it wasn't really caked.



Is that a future spinner in that picture? She's certainly fascinated by wool and the whole spinning process. When I was at spinning group last time, she held on to the back bar of my wheel and put her foot on the treadle next to mine while I was spinning. What a great helper!

I also finished most of a pair of socks over the weekend. This is a Fortissima self-striping yarn, not sure which color number. I tried a new (to me) beginning, and I really like it. Instead of casting on and knitting merrily away, I used a provisional cast on and worked 1x1 rib for an inch, worked a round of k2tog yo, worked stockinette for an inch, then folded over the rib and worked the provisional cast-on stitches together with the leg stitches and continued down the leg. The k2tog yo row made a nice little picot edge at the fold, the ribbing on the inside keeps the sock up, and the stockinette on the outside shows off the yarn. And no cast-on edge! I'd like to (modestly) point out how well the stripes match up.



I really like the way these turned out, and wish I had made all the socks I've ever made with this method. I'm sure that someone else has come up with this before, but I worked it out on my own. It's a very spiffy way to start top-down socks. I've always been vaguely unhappy with a cast-on edge at the top of a sock, just where it needs to be stretchiest.

I was going to finish these up last night, but I was too tired and had to go to bed shortly after Emma did. Maybe I'll get to them tonight, if I get some packing done first.

The house will be ours tomorrow! We went and signed all the escrow papers yesterday, which took almost an HOUR. There was a stack of forms and info sheets and contracts and stuff over an inch thick, and we had to go through every sheet with the escrow agent and sign or initial most of them. This morning we sent the down payment to them, and by midday tomorrow we can start moving in!!!!!!! We actually already have the key, and last night we went and looked around. Can't wait till it's ours!