whackadoodle coconut

I will be working up a series on my first experiment/learning curve/opportunity/skills testing experience working with wool.  I have worked with a variety of wool in the past from locks and prepped fiber, but this will be the first working with a fleece. The short version - a friend of mine, who I haven't really talked with in a long while met up at a Christmas party. She had mentioned that she had a fleece and wanted to know what I could do with it.  Well of course I could spin it in to yarn and then make something with it. After a bit more talking and she explained that it was a fair sheep and that she didn't know what condition of wool I needed to spin.  I told her I would take a look and let her know.  Fast forward to last night and she gives me a gallon bag of white fluffy stuff and said she had 4 more bags full. At a quick glance, I'm not too sure if this wool is anything like I have spun or prepped in the past.  But it is worth a try.  The bag sh...

didn't think there would be a part two.  however, receiving more wooly goodness tuesday and getting my spinning schedule worked up there is a need to update! I picked up one of these (actually two) of the Woolery's Spinzilla special Spinzilla 2017 Fiber packs. it is so soft and gorgeous i person.  this is the first time I have ordered fiber online and wasn't sure if I would like it. usually, I'd rather pick up fiber in person, so I can feel it and get an idea of what it looks like in person (colors, texture, depth, etc).  and the personal experience is better.  plus when my hubs goes along, he likes to help pick out colors and new fiber to challenge me with. I also purchased the Spinzilla 2017 Colorway from Sweet Georgia called fire starter. with eight fiber selections to work through this year, I'm really looking forward to the fun.  my goal is to reach 5456 yards (8047 meters) worth of spinning.  that's a 5k (3.1 miles)!  last year ...

it's that time of the year again ...Spinzilla!  Very excited about this year because I have a better plan for prepping my fiber and my goal is within reach of last year's final yardage. UPDATED: here are some pics of what I began (and finished) for the pre spin to ensure that my wheel is working properly and I remember how to spin.  I opted for finishing the fiber that I had already began to spin, but was trying my patience and needed more work. picked up a cat/dog brush to help work out the compaction in the fiber you can see the little dreds there. fluffy little clouds of fiber, after being worked through with the brush singles waiting to be plied finished plying and ready to be measured and wound I am starting this year with - some warm up spinning (see above), clearing my bobbins, attaching new leaders, and buying new fiber that will be a delight to spin. last year I fell short by a couple bobbins, so I immediately bought more afterwards...

my first spinzilla event and I did great!  I spun 3257 yards of yarn and at this point not sure what I'll do with it?!  some I will use in color work for a sweater I have in the queue and others not sure at all.  there's a lot of wool, some mixed with silk and alpaca.  I have some gradients and solids.  all of which I am quite proud of.

hi.  remember me?  I'm whackadoodle coconut. this week (and actually the last few months) have been quite busy for us around ye olde household.  I've been working on getting the house straightened up, cleaned up and organized.  makes a girl feel better knowing everything is in it's place.  so this week with the heat and prepping for spinzilla, I've been practicing my spinning and finishing up a couple projects. First - the evolution of the yarn I've had in my stash for over a year now.  I thought it was a nice mix of spring time colors, but I never really liked the way they looked together on my test spin.  then I had an idea, what if I blended the colors like I did with my sherbet yarn?  and voila! and here it is.  the evolution of yarn!  it's a nice mix of bulky yarn.  I think it looks like cotton candy and my husband said it looked like yarn for a baby.  I'd agree with that.  it is fresh, pastel and...

it's been a busy last month.  a little crazy, but I've made it to August. phew!  I hope to capture the last two months in a short list. 1.  began teaching Women's 101 at our local shop - 37 future gun owners and lady shooters 2.  recruited new members for CCLSC.  we had 3 new shooters join our club.  my game warden and I have a lot of fun activities to do for the rest of our first year. 3.  certified in another NRA class - PP in the home.  this particular class was challenging for me and I passed and earned a 94% on the test. 4.  wrote my first article for the Austin Sure Shots magazine and my first On the Firing Line radio show. 5.  taught my first shotgun clinic for my hub's company picnic. 6.  purchased a set of combs for spinning wool.  this was a coolest. I'm super excited about it.  I have a pair of cards already and I'm not too sure if these produced the kind of preparation I was hoping for.  I have...

well, a lot of things actually.  in this case, what do I do when the hubby's down for a week with the sick?  I'll show you. a few bags of 1 ounce measure of sheep hairs.  these have been shorn, dyed and cleaned through ready to card and spin. this is what they look like once you've pulled them out of the bag and have them ready to card. yes like a dog brush. I know you will ask.  these are 112 flat carders that are used to "brush" or "tease" the wool so they are ready to spin. think of it as separating the locks so they can be drafted easily onto the wheel. I actually had to learn a new spinning method to do this. really unsure at this point if this is working.  looks like it is, but that really isn't a guarantee of anything. we'll see when I get ready to ply, then wash and finally knit something with it. so you all know, I do more than pew pew pew in my time.  this has been a huge undertaking. I am one step away from s...

take a looksy at the list. 1.  35 and my second round in braces. it's just as "awesome" as the first time. minutes after the ortho visit. 2.  being a leader is harder than it sounds.  but frankly it's just as fun as you'd think if you were one of "those" people. not really a "leader" picture, but how do you really photograph that? 3.  happiness is a lot of things.  but I'm sure that it's none of those things you see on pinterest.  really. 4.  dying to spin on that wheel over there (pointing).  funny thing, I saw a post on facebook of the company and there was the man who made my wheel sitting right there. hubby asks, "who is that?"  I said "I think he's the guy to made my wheel" (picking up my wheel and turning it over) "see?  there's his name on the bottom." it's like the earth just opened up and revealed a tiny pot of gold. yup, right there on the bottom. #176 5.  ...

I was asked a few weeks ago if I was still spinning and if I did anything else except shooting.  now that I think about it, that's pretty bad friend manners of me not to say anything until now.  well, I have said it and I have been doing other things besides shooting...and cleaning my guns....thinking about guns....ahh the cold metal, the smell of gunpowder....ahhhh. almost ran away with it there for a bit.  I have been up to other things.  I spent the better part of last week spinning and working through the first of two plies of wool that has been moving faster than a speeding bullet. heh heh.  take that.  really it did though.  I had quite a bit left when I sat down and thinking that I would never finish, it was done in record time.  I should tell you that I haven't been too concerned with the supermodel type yarn with this batch, rather making it look nice and if it goes fat and skinny in places that was okay.  I fixed the obvious spots...

in the midst of the shooting gallery I call my weekends, btw I am so glad that we had that little chat last week, I have seriously been neglecting my spinning wheel.  my favorite magic making machine.  I took a looksy yesterday and she's covered with dust and I just wanted to clean her and make her feel loved.  then I saw the long and ongoing project that I swore I would finish before starting on any spinning, you know as a reward that I completed that massive monster of the quilt. that's when it happened.  I should stop telling myself that I HAVE to do anything and just do what I want.  it's a hobby right, I don't have to do anything in any order.  so today, I resolve to clean my wheel, do a little maintenance and start on that awesome, lovely fiber I've had for a while and get to spinning some soft dk weight yarny goodness.  that will fit just so with my 900 yards of crimson yarn I spun earlier this year. I can hear the wheel now.....puuuurrrrrrr...

I like rewards.  you do too, so don't say you don't! I actually really, really like rewards.  it's like getting a balloon after a good dentist app or a sticker after voting.  it doesn't have to be huge, just something that tells me good job, you did it. in this case, I've had two really good rewards.  after all those monkey's I needed to get back to spinning and doing what I really love.  and my projects have been stacking up and I get overwhelmed when there is too much on the plate and I can't see myself eating it all.  I had the monkeys, some unplied singles, a vest that I've been mentally designing and on paper designing for probably a year, a new set of carders just waiting to get used and two quilts that need quilting.  see what I mean? so one of my great rewards was to ply those singles.  they turned out really good and I was eager and anxious to get them done and enjoy the yarn.  here's the final product. then I got really hap...

yesterday I visited the quilting group in Orcutt at the Old Town Quilt shop.  the group meets once a month and they work with scraps.  it was a nice midday "retreat" with a ton of information.  they started with a brief overview of using scraps and then there was some show and tell.  I didn't know I was supposed to bring some, so I just enjoyed others.  and they finished with a short discussion of paper piecing and using your scraps. there was so much information I was furiously taking notes to get it all.  I did learn two new patterns, one is the paper piecing and the other is a larger 9 patch square that you cut into four pieces and then rearrange. very cool. I didn't take any photos, but if your interested you can contact them here . next, today is the second to the last class for my quilted duvet cover so I am excited to get it put together and ready to use. lastly, I've decided to join the tour de fleece a couple weeks ago and I've done a terri...

I have to be quick about it this morning since I have a ton of quilting homework to start today from yesterday's day one class.  there is a huge queen/king sized duvet cover on my task list so I best get on it.  and there's the issue with the latest spinning adventure for tour de fleece. okay so here we go - the merino silk sample I spun   this is the fiber that John picked.  it's Ashford merino silk blend in the colorway Ocean.     to me it didn't look like ocean right away. until I spun a little.  I think it was the greenish brown in there, but once it's spun you can't tell it's really in there.  just a little, like the ocean floor and kelp swirling around down there.     did you notice this one has silk in it?  would you know what to look for?  it's that sheen, a slight shine to the yarn.  I looked yesterday at Betty's to see if I could find any other silk yarn to compare to and I really ...

finished modifying my cowl from the sea lettuce shawl I saw at Betty's a couple weeks back. turned out really cute with a hombre effect turning from raspberry to lemon.  I love the yarn, I love that the hand spun was so soft and easy to work with, I love that it turned out light and airy. what I don't LOVE is that the color transitions and in general the color didn't quite resemble sherbet like I wanted.  it did until I knit it up.  strange how that happened and I think the issue is that there was too much yellow.  the picture I took doesn't nearly accentuate the color difference from my imagination, and actually if it looked more like the photo I would be happier with it.  don't get be wrong, it's gorgeous and soft and lightweight.  everything I wanted in a beautifully designed yarn and pattern!  it's just not "perfect". So from this - To this, it's otherwise pretty amazing!