The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Conehead)

"Come all without, come all within,
you'll not see nothing like the Mighty Quinn"

Bob Dylan

It is Sunday and it is absolutely freezing outside- bitter winds, cold and clear.  It hardly ever snows when it's this cold.  We also had warm temps earlier in the week, and I noticed Magnolia buds out yesterday.  Nature can't decide what is going on.

Mr. Quinn Wolfenstein Parker had his procedure on Tuesday, and is doing well. In fact, you would never guess he went through surgery and anesthesia, he's bouncing around like a roo.  He came home with an E-collar, but that didn't last long and I had to remove it the second day. He obliged by not licking his stitches.

In other news, I purchased a BFL fleece, and it's big at 6.5 lbs.  So my method for washing goes like this:

I separate the fleece into zipper lingerie bags, purchased at the dollar store.  This particular fleece didn't seem too dirty or have much VM.  I use hot water and soak it for about 20 minutes to loosen the dirt.  You will notice a distinct aroma of "Eau de Mouton" which I don't find unpleasant. 

Next I dump out the water, add 3 squirts of Power Scour, and let that soak for at least a half hour.  You are safe to use any mild liquid detergent, and hot water, as long as you rinse in the same temperature. If you plunge it into cold water, you will get felted wool, and that's not what I want.  This product is made for wool washing and has a nice clean smell.  I can't stand the smell of blue Dawn, it makes me retch.

 
Rinse twice in clean water, and look at how clean and white it is.  After rinsing, I squeeze out the excess water gently and place the bags in the washer. I have a top loader, and then I run a spin cycle, no water, and it gets most of the water out.  Then I place the bags on a rack, and it's dry in a day or two.
The thing is not to overfill the bags- because it makes it harder to clean. This is actually something I enjoy doing, but then I like laundry anyway. Something about the process of dirty to clean appeals to me.  

I also made a little baby cardigan for an upcoming Cabbage Patch event.  I always liked this little free pattern and it was easy.  One thing I have to say, this is a FREE pattern and the designer admittedly says the instructions are rudimentary- she was sharing something she made, and it was a nice gesture. The number of complaints about it on Ravelry confuses me, because some people had trouble joining on the sleeves, the instructions were bad, blah blah.  Holy crap- it's FREE!!!!!   If you have a problem, then go and purchase a pattern for $6.00 and then you'll have recourse with the author when it goes wrong.

Anyway, the pattern is called Maile and the link is there.  It's cute, and not at all hard if you've ever done a raglan. 

(Clean) Fleece Out.