Fine!

I looked and looked and looked (and also remembered to look...) and found where to remove the word verification.

I am such a pushover for peer pressure.

Or at least my sister's opinions.

Smarty Pants

County Plus App ($1.60)

Free version - County

My smarty pants phone (Droid X2) has proven to be so very fun.  And useful, to boot!  Which is good.  The phone itself didn’t cost me all that much, but the monthly data charge certainly needs to be justified. In my mind, at least.

Of course, part of the pleasure right at first was hunting for apps to download. Some have remained and some have not.  Some have proven ever so useful and entertaining, and some ever so lame.

I have discovered the FAOTD (Free App Of The Day) that Amazon offers.  I have even become discerning in what of those I choose to download.  I am not all just oooh free!

I have even bought some.  Three, to be exact.  One was on sale for 10 cents.  I know.  The Guy was perplexed to see that charge…

The other two?  Knitting apps.  Go figure.

The one I would like to talk about (and I am not being paid for this) is called County Plus.  It is a row counter for knitting, and while it took me a bit get intuited with the app, I do believe now that it is the cat’s meow.

It allows me to list my projects and keep track of what it is I want to track on each one, with certain limitations.  Am I tracking increase rows on a raglan sweater, or lace repeats?  I can use the settings to count up or down, and mark the row I am on, or the next row.  And I move to the next row with just a screen tap.  So easy!

I am just putting the word out there for something I have found to be worth what I paid for it, but there is a free version for trying before buying, too. I have linked to both through the Droid Marketplace, but both are available through Amazon, too, I think.

I do not know about you iPhoners.  You are a breed apart and hard to understand...

Loopy Ewe Comes To The Fort

I’m not bragging.  I’m just saying.

Also lucky for me?  Loopy is located right out by Lowe’s!  And also Designer Shoe Warehouse, but Lowe’s is what attracts The Guy.  So now I am all ‘heck to the yeah, I'll go to Lowe’s with you!’

Heh heh heh…

My first visit, a scant two days after she opened her doors, I went for a look-see, and also needing something.  Yes…I needed a pair of 16” size 6 circular needles.  Mine disappeared, and I do not know how.  I do not loan them, and I keep my stuff pretty organized, really.  Those of you who know me in real life may or may not be surprised at that.  Perhaps the animals are learning to knit in the round on the sly…hats for the house elves, maybe.

I thought it was humorous, but in a good way, that I was greeted at the door by the store help with 'is this your first time in?'  They had been open two days!! Now I am a devoted knitter, but really...

So there I was looking at  The Wall of Circulars, and there were exactly only one brand of sz 6 16” circulars in stock.  I am not the only one missing these needles, I am thinking.  Whatever…I sprung for the Addis, my only choice.  I needed them.

I also bought some wooden sock blockers, in a small size, with little lamby-kins.  Pretty cutey pie, and also useful!

My second visit was on The Grand Opening, upon which I discovered the sale shelf.  Seriously, though…like I need more yarn.  And seriously again…that did not stop me from buying a skein of sock yarn.  It was The Grand Opening, after all.

In my little city, we have no dearth of bike shops, and we are very fortunate to have plenty of choices in our yarn shops, each offering their own specialty.

Not bragging…just saying.

Quilting Business

I have completed the piecing of the quilt top for Grandbebe the fourth, who turned one year old around Christmas time.  I don’t consider it late at all.

Yet.

And continued, diligent efforts this past month resulted in finishing up the outer sashing, piecing the back, and sandwiching the quilt.

It was basted with help from the Boy Kitty. (not)

Dearest Sister’s efforts in embroidery continue to amaze.

We were able to put together the nine-patches together, during her all-too-brief overnight stay last fall.

There is always a kick when in all comes together so well.

The quilting has begun.

By the by, there is another grandbebe due in May.  And it’s another girl! And Dearest Sister has already planned out and started the embroidery panels for that quilt.

Always behind I am…

(don't forget to click for big...the embroidery details shine)

Weighing the Pros and Cons

Since last spring/summer, I have scoured 3 partial fleeces I bought at local markets that were from coated sheep, and one full fleece that I tracked down from a rancher south of here that raises for market.  That one I had heard about the breed and wanted to try it.  Not a shepherd that practices raising for the spinner, and not a covered fleece.

I completed the carding of these four fleeces the end of January, and just recently weighed the finished batts. And interestingly, I have practiced some record-keeping with these fleeces that allowed me to calculate the percentage of weight loss from pre-wash to post-carding.

Now, a shepherd that raises with spinners in mind will sell, as I mentioned, a fleece from an sheep that has been coated, which means that once sheared, the critter gets a blanket belted on that prevents all sorts of hay, seeds, and debris (common verbage labels this as vegetable matter, or VM) from becoming embedded in the wool and glued to it by the lanolin.  As the wool grows, the blanket is adjusted to accommodate the longer growth.  So there is an investment in both equipment and time with coating sheep.  In addition, the shepherd will sell the sheared fleece skirted, which means all the undesirable portions are already removed…the doodly bits from the behind, the dirty, stringy leg wool, all that isn’t covered and isn’t prime wool.

This all makes for a difference in cost, don’t you know.  Such as this, I paid $25.00 for 10 pounds of the uncoated, unskirted fleece from the rancher, and $46.00 for 2.6 pounds of coated, skirted fleece from a well-reputed shepherdess from the Estes Park Wool Market.  Seems like a huge difference and that for some extra work on my part, a dirty fleece might be a bargain.

Not so much.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

My before and after calculations show, that after my own skirting, and the additional loss due to veggie matter, I lost 66% of the weight of the dirty fleece resulting in a price/oz of  $2.20.  The other in the above example, which is typical of the three coated fleeces, resulted in a weight loss of 23% and a price/oz. of $1.43.  With a LOT less work, and a much better result…I still have debris in the batts from the dirty fleece.

For further consideration, the fleeces considered here were all fairly comparable, and none out of line with the others in quality in manner of luxury or fineness.

I love it when I can put pen to paper and come up with hard facts.  And also justification for paying the price for quality.

Heh heh heh…like I need to buy more wool…I am not saying how many pounds I have waiting to be spun.

I like to think of it as preparing for retirement.