Day Surgery, #Plying, #Dyeing, #Socks, and new #Listings

Oh my goodness!  What a day I had yesterday!!  I was awake at 4:43 am and my husband was up right after me at 5:00 am.  He was having day surgery again (Lithotripsy).  He had this procedure done back on October and the big stone in his kidney was blasted pretty good.  We thought that he had passed all of the stone but last month when he saw the doctor for a recheck, the x-ray showed 2 fragments left.  So here we were getting up bright and early again, praying that this time would be the last.  So I put my store on vacation mode and it was a good thing too as we didn't get home until 2:45 pm.

However, last Friday and over the weekend, I did get lots done.  Friday for instance, I plied up another skein (making it #9 from Bellagio's fleece).  Then I listed 3 pairs of Spinning Ginny Original - Handspun - Knitted - Alpaca - Adult Ladies Socks.  A couple of a pair were custom orders, but the customer was having a lot of things happening in her family and just couldn't buy them.  So I listed them on my website.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=119&products_id=557

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=119&products_id=558

Then I took the pair that I just finished and listed them too.

The other thing I did from last Friday and over the weekend was to start a new Category on my website.....called Lace Wt. Handspun.  I have decided to try and expand my store and since I spin yarn anyway and have had a couple of people ask me if I had any Handspun Yarn for sale.  I thought I'd give it a shot.  So I took 2 skeins that I had recently spun and dyed a Turquoise color and listed them.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=555

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=556

Then the 2 skeins that I finished on Thursday and Friday of last week I dyed on Saturday afternoon in a Royal Blue color, and on Sunday I listed them after printing out the labels and rewinding them to figure out their yardage.

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=561

http://www.spinningginny.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=152&products_id=560

So the last 4 days have been pretty busy and today I'm back to spinning and taking care of my husband.



Overslept, Finished Socks, new pair started etc

Good Morning!  Sorry I'm late, but I was up late last night knitting and didn't get to bed until the wee hours, so when my alarm went off this morning, I slept through it. 

I finished the Spinning Ginny Original - Handspun - Knitted - White - Alpaca - Adult Ladies Socks - Size 5

I will be listing them here in a little bit. 

With the finishing up of this pair a new pair is started.

I'm still knitting away on the Spinning Ginny Original - Custom Ordered - Handspun - Knitted - Black - Alpaca - Infinity Scarf. 

It's really starting to grow now!

The new Spinning Ginny Original - Handspun - Knitted - Purple Orchid - Merino - Cabled - Hat is moving along quite nicely too.

Because I've been so busy knitting lately, my poor spinning wheel is being badly neglected.  Poor thing!  It needs a good spin around the spinning room.  LOL

 I told you this week was going to be busy!



This weeks going to be a busy one

As I write this post, I’m enjoying a nice cup of hot tea and writing out my weekly work schedule.  So far its looking like this week will be very busy.  I have 1 more custom order left to knit and that's a Handspun - Knitted - Black - Alpaca - Infinity Scarf.  This I started on over the weekend.

I also need to finish up the Handspun - Knitted - White - Alpaca - Adult Ladies Socks - Size 5

Over the weekend, I also started on a new project,....a Spinning Ginny Original - Handspun - Knitted - Pink - Merino - Cabled - Hat.

 

I will also be finishing up plying up a skein of 3 ply white alpaca yarn, that I started plying up on Saturday. 

This will be the 5th skein of 3 ply white alpaca yarn, when I'm through.  When I'm finished plying up this skein, I'll start in plying up the 6th skein.  I only have 4 big buckets and 1 small bucket left with carded batts from Bellagio's fleece.

 

 

 



Another Custom Order Finished

Well, I did it!  I finished yet another custom order!!

Spinning Ginny Original - Handspun - Knitted - Dyed - Alpaca - Pretty n Pink - Adult Ladies Socks - Size 6

Now to finish refilling this third bobbin of single white alpaca and start in plying

Tonight, I'll begin the last and final custom order.............a black alpaca infinity scarf.

 



Incentives that keep me working hard

Good Morning!  Its Thursday can you believe it?  I've been working so hard this week, that the days are flying by.  My incentive is to finish knitting up this pair of Spinning Ginny Original - Handspun - Knitted - Dyed - Alpaca - Pretty n Pink - Adult Ladies Socks - Size 6

See I have the heel flap, heel turn and Gusset finished and the Instep is started.  I only have 46 more rows to knit.

I have also been spinning up more of Bellagio's fleece, and the second bobbin is refilled again.

Now to begin refilling the third bobbin, so that I can have 3 full bobbins again and plying up some more 3 ply yarn.

Its great to have incentives!

 

Veteran's Day, Spinning and Custom Ordered Socks

Today is Veteran's Day and I want to thank my Family, Friends, Veterans young and old, as well as those that have gave their lives, so that we can have the FREEDOMS we have today.

I almost have the second bobbin filled with single ply white alpaca, it won't be long now before I start refilling the third bobbin.

I only have one more row to knit and the leg will be finished.  Then it will be time to work on the heel flap, heel turn, gusset, instep, and lastly the toe take off.  This custom order is almost done and I only have one more to do.  I just know that my customers will be happy when I have their orders finished!

 



Knitting first Spinning later

Well, Friday I after showing off my knitting and handspun dyed alpaca yarn.  I was supposed to go and do some spinning.  However, I never got around to getting into the spinning room, to spin, just to wind one skein of handspun dyed alpaca into to a center pull ball.

Then I came back downstairs and started back knitting.  Not on the new pair of socks with the newly handspun dyed yarn.  Instead I went back to knitting on the Spinning Ginny Original - Handspun - Knitted - White - Alpaca - Adult Ladies Socks Size 5.

I really like how this sock is looking!  I may just start a new trend on my handspun knitted socks.  LOL

Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early (4:13 am to be exact) and after taking Sue-Chi out and then going through my normal routine.  I finally sat down and started knitting on the Spinning Ginny Original - Custom Ordered - Handspun - Knitted - Dyed - Pretty n Pink - Alpaca - Adult Ladies Socks - Size 6 (Customer changed mind on sock size and decided to go with a size 6 instead of size 7).

23 rows knitted in 1 hour 35 minutes 55 seconds.  Not a bad start for a Saturday!

Then 7 hours 31 minutes 29 seconds later, the first sock looked like this.

Then Sunday morning I finished up the sock

I had every intention of starting on the mate, but something came up and so I ended up in the Spinning room at 1 pm spinning and almost had the first bobbin refilled again, before stopping for the day.

Quite a lot was accomplished this weekend.  Hoping to accomplish even more this week, so stay tuned. 

 

 

 

 



Early morning knitting!

I was up bright and early this morning knitting away on the pair of socks, that I started earlier this week as an experiment.  I have since finished the heel flap, heel turn, and gusset.  I'm now working on the instep and should be finished with the first sock soon.

But since this is just an experiment and not a custom order it will be put aside now, that I have the yarn dyed up, rewound and labeled for the next pair of Spinning Ginny Original - Handspun - Knitted - Dyed - Alpaca - Pretty n Pink - Adult Ladies Socks - Size 7

Skein on the Left is 239 yards, 86 grams, 23 wraps per inch

Skein on the Right is 216 yards, 86 grams, 23 wraps per inch

They are now ready for me to wind into center pull balls and start in knitting up the socks.

 



First Pair of Custom Ordered Socks Finished Yesterday

Oh boy, where did yesterday go to!  First off, yesterday morning started great.  I washed and blocked the first pair of Spinning Ginny Original - Custom Ordered - Handspun - Knitted - White - Alpaca - Adult Ladies Socks - Size 6

Then because I'm waiting on the dye to arrive, so that I can do some dyeing this week.  I took the left over yarn from this first pair of socks and started in knitting on a new pair of socks.  This pair of socks will be different.  You see, I had a customer mention that my handspun socks were a little loose on her feet, even though they were the correct size.  So I decided to do an experiment.  When I first started knitting socks, would knit patterns into them, but it took longer to knit them, even though they looked fabulous.  So I started knitting plain socks and was knitting them up faster and just stuck with it.  I like knitting both types of socks (plain and patterned) and want to please my customers.  Well, anyways, I started in knitting on a new pair with the left over yarn and time got away from me. 

I used the same number of stitches (60), but the pattern draws it in slightly.  I don't know if you can tell from these pictures or not.  The leg on this sock is finished and I have 4 1/2 rows completed on the heel flap.  The pattern I'm using is a 4 stitch pattern with 6 rows that you repeat until you have the length you want.  Since this pair is going to be a size 5, I only knitted 11 pattern repeats, plus 11 rows of ribbing and that gives me 6 1/8 inches for the leg. 

Today I'll finish the heel flap, heel turn, and hopefully the gusset!

 



Plying up the Fourth Skein

Last Friday morning I washed up the third skein of 3 ply white alpaca yarn and while it was soaking, I started in plying up the fourth skein.

After fifteen minutes of plying, I stopped to go and remove the third skein from the soapy water and hang it to dry.  Then it was back to the spinning wheel to finish plying up the fourth skein.  Two hours later I had another full bobbin of 3 ply white alpaca yarn (my fourth skein of yarn from Bellagio's fleece)

Then I proceeded to wind this off onto my niddy noddy and then wash and hang it to dry.  Now I was left with residual singles on 3 bobbins.  I wanted to see just how much was left on each bobbin again (like I did after I finished the first 2 skeins), so I weighted each one and here's what I got.

3 1/8 ounces (first bobbin) - 2 ounces = 1 1/8 ounces

2 5/8 ounces (second bobbin) - 2 ounces =  5/8 ounces

2 7/8 ounces (third bobbin) - 2 ounces =  7/8 ounces

1 1/8 +  5/8 +  7/8 = 2 5/8 ounces of spun single ply yarn.

 

Then I removed the empty bobbin and replaced it with the first partially filled bobbin.  Then I carried my spinning wheel and fiber downstairs to the car so that I could load the car up Saturday morning for the last day of the Farmers Market.

Then I started in knitting again on Custom Ordered - Handspun - Knitted - White - Alpaca - Adult Ladies Socks - Size 6.  I finished up the leg, heel flap, heel turn, and gusset.

Saturday at the Farmers Market, I made my last 2 sales of the market season.  Now its time to finish up custom orders (1 1/2 pairs of socks, 2 infinity scarves, 1 hat), and knit up Christmas presents.  Then start in on spinning up yarn, knitting up items, and weaving up items for my store. 

 

 

 

 

 



Another bobbin refilled and............

Well, I did it!  Yesterday I finished refilling the third bobbin.

So after removing that bobbin from my spinning wheel and replacing it with an empty one, I went and reweighted the first and second bobbin (as I forgot what they weighted).  Then I weighted the third bobbin and here's what I got.

5 1/4 ounces (first bobbin) - 2 ounces = 3 1/4 ounces

4 1/2 ounces (second bobbin) - 2 ounces = 2 1/2 ounces

4 7/8 ounces (third bobbin) - 2 ounces = 2 7/8 ounces

3 1/4 + 2 1/2 + 2 7/8 = 8 5/8 ounces of spun single ply yarn.

Now I was ready to begin plying.

Which I did shortly after that.  Two hours later I had this full bobbin of handspun 3 ply white alpaca yarn ( my third skein of yarn from Bellagio's fleece)

 

Today this skein is going to be washed and a fourth skein plied up.  Last night I ordered the pink dye to dyed this yarn for my customers daughters socks, it will arrive next week sometime and then I'll dye up this yarn, wait for it to dry and then start in knitting on another pair of custom ordered - handspun - knitted - dyed - pink - alpaca - adult ladies socks - size 7

 

 

 



Early rising, slow start, but still accomplishing a lot

Yesterday started off bright and early when my 14 1/2 yr. old dog Sue-chi woke me up at 1:41 am.

She was frantically barking and wanting to go outside.  So after she was done the 2 of us headed off to the living room to go to sleep on the couch.  Then 2 hours 34 min. later she needed to go out again.  Then again at 6:04 am.  Poor little girl is getting old and well I just love her so much that I'd give up sleep to accommodate her.

So after all that things started to improve with her, but I was like a zombie for the first half of the day.  I finally managed to make myself go and do some spinning and came very close to refilling the 3rd bobbin.

Then by the time the GOP Debate came on (hubby wanted to watch it), I was just getting my 2nd wind.  LOL  So I pulled out the custom ordered - handspun- knitted - white - alpaca - adult ladies socks - size 6 and started in knitting.  I finished up the first sock during the break of the debate and started in on the mate.  When the debate was over this is what I had accomplished.

So despite the fact that I woke up really early for Sue-chi, and had a slow start with my spinning.  The day still ended with accomplishing a lot!

 





A days worth of spinning and knitting

I spent the morning catching up on my ironing yesterday, then headed off to the spinning room to have some spinning fun.  I finished refilling the second bobbin, with more of Bellagio's creamy white fleece.

 

In Monday's blog I mentioned that the first bobbin was 5 1/4 ounces with bobbin and 3 1/4 ounces with out the bobbin.  The second bobbin now weights 4 1/2  ounces with bobbin and 2 1/2 ounces, so between these 2 bobbins, I have 5 3/4 ounces spun so far.

So after refilling the second bobbin, I started in refilling the third bobbin

I didn't get a lot spun up, before having to go and cook dinner, but I'll be back at the spinning wheel again tomorrow. 

After supper I sat down and knitted some more on the first pair of custom ordered white alpaca adult ladies socks size 6.  I finished the cuff, leg, heel flap, heel turn and gusset and only have a few more rows left to knit on the instep before starting to take off for the toes.

Not a bad days worth of spinning and knitting!



On a Mission to rewind skeins of handspun yarn.

Yesterday morning I was on a mission, to rewind 7 skeins of handspun alpaca yarn.  I managed to get them all rewound, and labeled, before heading out to go grocery shopping.

Top left to right: 3 ply black alpaca yarn 229.5 yards 98 grams , 206 yards 88 grams, 221.5 yards 94 grams, 245.5 yards 102 grams. Bottom left to right: 2 ply black alpaca yarn 125 yards 38 grams, 3 ply white alpaca yarn 232 yards 8 grams, 269 yards 90 grams. 2 skeins of 3 ply black alpaca yarn will be used for a custom ordered infinity scarf and the 2 skeins of 3 ply white alpaca yarn are for a pair of custom ordered adult ladies size 6 alpaca socks.

After we came back from the grocery shopping, I took one of the skeins of handspun white alpaca yarn and rewound it into a center pull ball.  Then I began knitting on the first pair of custom ordered white alpaca adult ladies socks size 6.

I almost have the leg finished, only need to knit 2 more rows and then I'll start on the heel flap.

Today though, I will be back at the spinning wheel, spinning up more of Bellagio's fleece.  I'm hoping to finish refilling the second bobbin and starting on refilling the third bobbin.

 





I did it! Another custom order is finished!!

I did it! Yesterday, I finished another custom order, washed it and blocked it

 

So I rewarded myself with a little bit of spinning!  LOL

I almost had the 3rd bobbin filled by 5 pm yesterday.  I have just a wee bit more to go, which I'll be going and doing here in a little bit.

It's Friday and the laundry and housework have kept me busy all morning,..........that and doing some thinking about my business website and other things.



Short and Sweet

Good Morning!  Yesterday I almost, but not quite, finished filling up the 3rd bobbin with more of Bellagio's creamy white alpaca fleece.   I probably would have had if completely filled but had some errands to run in the morning.  Anyways, here's the picture of the almost finished bobbin.

Today I'll be binding off the Custom Ordered - Handspun - Knitted - Black - Alpaca - Infinity Scarf and doing all the finishing touches on that.

That's about all I really have to talk about today, so see you all tomorrow.



Finished up all of the black alpaca fleece and more

On Friday I left you with plying up a skein of 3 ply black alpaca.  I ended up plying up 2 skeins of 3 ply black alpaca and 1 skein of 2 ply black alpaca to finish off the all of the black alpaca fleece.  I washed them and hung them to dry.  Today I'll be rewinding those skeins and printing up labels.  I'll trying to get pictures of them tomorrow. 

Once I had the black alpaca fleece finished, I pulled out all the buckets of "Bellagio's" white alpaca fleece.

There are 10 buckets in this picture filled with carded batts, from "Bellagio's" white fleece.  One of the buckets though has batts in it that I have for sale.  I just had to show you just how much fleece I have.  This is going to be fun spinning as its so very soft just like the brown, and black alpaca that I've been having fun with.

I even had a little time left in the day to begin spinning up one of the batts (actually 1 1/2 batts).

Then on Saturday at the Farmers Market, spun up a little more, not much as its was pretty windy and I had to keep getting up to pick up items, that the wind blew off the tables.

However, when I got home and unpacked the car, I was back at the spinning wheel spinning up a storm.  I finished filling up the first bobbin and started filling the second bobbin.  I need to spin up 4 skeins of yarn from this fleece for 2 custom ordered pairs of socks ( 2 skeins I need to dye pink)

Also over the week end I finished knitting up the second custom ordered hat, so another custom order is completed.

Now, I'm working on a new custom order, another black alpaca infinity scarf. 

I still have quite a distance to go yet on this scarf.

So as you can see, I stayed busy over the weekend.