Tour de Fleece 2016

Saturday marked the start of the Tour and I am in again for another spin.  No specific coherent goal this year, so far I am collecting bits of things that are half started or in the "must spin now" queue from last year.

Stage 1 - .25 oz spun, merino / tencel
Stage 2 - .25 oz spun, merino / tencel. Plied 175 yd

175 yd, .5 oz

In other news I went to a 90s party Friday and it was super fun.  Broke out the Doc Marten's and the Black Market Flowers tee and was in my element.  Fuzzy navel wine coolers were the perfect addition; well, an acceptable substitute since the demise of Zima.

The zebra finches have been here a week now and are settling in.  Yesterday was bath day, today I saw some allopreening.  Thinking of calling them Flit and Swift but haven't figured out who is who yet.

Samah turned 2 on the third, she thinks that finch TV was her birthday present.   Tempest has been in the house 3 weeks (9 weeks old?) and is currently crossing the house by going from loom-top to loom-top.  I think she is on the lookout for breakfast.

6/24/2016

Two-Trick Pony

My spinning mojo is back.

Tour de Fleece 2015

It's that time again!  

Tour de Fleece 2015: goal of spinning one spindle per day. First batch of fiber is 100 gr natural colored cotton in white, light brown, med brown, mauve and green, 20 gr each.

It took 3 lengths of sliver to fill the spindle (about 12" each)

Marching On

Wellll I meant to blog every day last month but seem to have gotten off track.  A quick recap:

The baby birds are doing well.  They are both normal grays, but left baby has cute spangles on her (?) feathers and right baby does not.  They aren't pearls, they are just spangles and I have no idea why some of the chicks get them and some do not.  She also has a lot more bright yellow on her face.  They are both becoming sweet and trusting. They weren't perching yesterday, but it will be soon.

babies, 2/28/2015

On the 7th the Yarnover Truck came around and I picked up some scrumptious yarn.  This will be Fox Paws, a wrap that is all the rage.  I love that Brick color so much and built the project around it.  The Aubergine is pretty amazing as well.

Yarn for Fox Paws

Janet came out from LA to see the truck & we had lunch and beer as well.  She brought a box of spinning fiber & yarn from someone who is moving and deleting her stash.  I am keeping a little of the yarn and all the fiber, there is some really good stuff in there.

 I did some plying of finished yarns; here is 409 yards of 3 ply Polwarth.  It is very soft and squishy and matches well with the green from last month.

Handspun- Bradford Pear Leaf

 This is 2 ply Corriedale. I tried to do a "fractal" spin by first splitting the roving in half and then splitting the other half in two.  I haven't decided how I feel about it yet or what project it should go to.  419 yards in this one.

Handspun - Scarab

I also met Ruth for lunch on Valentine's Day (mmm Marie Callendar's), went to the Dickens festival the next weekend and then got my new Diablo 3 seasonal character to 70.  Love my monk!  Also took a basket of yarn from the destash to donate to the No Idle Hands group, happily it all got taken by the end of the day.  I've gotten back into audiobooks and am slacking with the housecleaning, but am trying not to backslide too much.  Just today I did laundry, a ton of dishes and also started lasagna in the slow cooker.

Ah, one last thing: I finally finished my Catkin on Friday. Just need to wash and block.  Also restarted CeCe today.  All these UFOs... taking a month off from HCKC group has allowed me to finish existing things.

Wonderful Wednesday

Well, that was a good evening. First order of business was visiting a friend on the way home. She's taking some time to care for a family member and I miss her at the office.  Flowers & coffee cake saved the day. It was still light out at 5pm when I left and for a good while after... it is nice to have warm, bright afternoons again.

Decided tonight would be a fine night to visit with the birdies. Found two 4-5 day old cockatiels in the nestbox and an egg with a hole making pipping noises. I hope the 3rd one makes it and is not too far behind the others in development.  Fed the family some warm mixed veggies, cleaned all the cages, then sat down with some Star Wars and my dutch double drive wheel and attempted to get it moving.

After much fiddling, it is running and spinning was achieved. It still needs some work: dusting & cleaning the wood, finding a better drive band and figuring out how to either shim the legs or attach rubber feet (or both). I have to put it on blocks to use it as the nadir of the footman is lower that floor level. It's pretty frustrating, but I am glad I stuck with it and I am sure more practice will help.

The Spin of the Knitter

polwarth 3 ply

I've been spinning my fingers to the bone lately with some lovely stuff - organic polwarth dyed by Corgi Hill Farm.  Very easy to spin and lucious color to boot.  Above is 399 yards of 3 ply at about 12-14 w.p.i. / 5 oz.

polwarth

The plan is to use the green and the red / orange / green in a sweater together.  If I spin fast maybe I can knit it up during the Iknitarod in March.  Two weeks for a sweater may be pushing it.

In other news, 16 year old Galen is going in for a dental tomorrow.  He passed his blood test but I am still a little worried for him making it through OK.  He helped me change the sheets tonight and is snuggled up on the bed right now... I'll go in soon to read and snuggle him thoroughly.

mommy's little helper

you called?

Lambtown 2014

Wrapping Up & Winding Down

It has been too hot to spin the last few days but I did remember to ply up bobbin-fulls of yarn I spun earlier in le Tour:

156 yd 2 ply

232 yd 2 ply

I think they came out quite well.  I might be done spinning for the season - I need to make a knitting deadline Sunday and the only thing in progress now is that tan/ gray yak laceweight.  I can finish that up after Quidditch for a class deadline.

Sad news: Peerie the rat died on Thursday afternoon.  I am very, very sad to lose him this early (18 months) but glad he did not have a long illness or horrible tumors or such.  I hope Rory is not too lonely.  I hesitate to get him a buddy as he is also in his middle age and I don't want to ruin the pet equilibrium that I have.  Of course he was teasing the dog under the gap of the door yesterday... too bad they can't be friends.

Stage 16 & Catching Up

Today is stage 16 of le Tour; we are getting close to the end now.  My spinning project for the last few days has been some yak fiber.  It is both fun and frustrating to rememeber how to spin fine using long draw / double draft. Practice for cotton, I suppose.

This weekend I spun the teal gradient; I will be leaving it as singles.  There's around 250 yards.  It might make a nice hat or scarf.

That is the same background... maybe someday I will learn how to use my camera properly for true colors.

Stage 12

Still spinning away for le Tour. Yesterday & today I turned this 2 oz pile of half felted fluff ...

... into lovely, fine yarn.

It will go on the rack to rest for a few days while I select the next puff of fiber.  Part of me can hardly believe how little I have managed to spin in 12 days and part of me can hardly believe that I have made so much spinning time in a schedule I thought was packed.

Stage 9

My spinning progress on the turquoise / purple merino / tencel blend:

 Just a few little puffs left to go... about 3/4 oz

I washed some previously completed skeins this weekend, too.  The purple / green / white came out terribly - the rinse water was deep purple and the finished skein looks sickly.

However the lavender angora from this spring fluffed up to a lovely soft yarn.

Spinning in Stages

I am still meeting my Tour de Fleece goal of spinning at least 30 minutes per day. Most days I have been able to exceed that time and the more I spin, the more I find it's the only think I want to do.  Next year's goal will have to be an hour per day.

Interestingly, the two piles of fluff I've worked on so far are neither of the pictures from the last post.  The first was some white/ purple? black? / green mystery fiber from 2004 (washed and pictures will be coming later).  I pretty much despised spinning it, but there is a nice empty space in the stash cabinet now.  The second is some merino / tencel (?) in turquoise, cherry and purple.  It has hopped from stash to stash but is now in its forever home; soon to be a pretty 2 ply skein.  It might make a nice hat someday.

If I were a more motivated spinner, I would take some fiber and explore the ratios on my Millie... maybe by the end of the tour I will feel the need to branch out but for now I am enjoying hours of spinning light fingering yarn.

Le Tour

The Tour de Fleece started Saturday last and I have been chugging along.  Above are two of the items in the "to spin" pile. There is also some lovely green-gold top and I am working now on finishing some white/ green / black roving from *cough* 2004.  It is ugly but I am powering through it.  About half of the last part is left.
My goal for the Tour this year is a time one (again): spin 30 minutes a day.  So far I have been above that mark but not trying to burn out.  Spinning strains the same muscles in my left hand and arm that knitting does.... I don't want to have a blow out.

The Pick of the Spinner

... is more silk. Here is the second part of the batt all spun into a fine 2 ply yarn.  246 yards, 1.1 oz.

Now, if only I could get the color to show true in all the pictures! This is the same skein from two angles, same light.

Total yardage for everything is about 434, 1.8 oz.

Silkalicious

My new favorite preparation for silk is the batt style. So light! So fluffy! 

Spring Spinning

I am supposed to be finishing the red socks but have found myself doing a lot of spinning the last couple of weeks.  I plied 3 oz of angora singles, spun & plied a couple puffs of a purple wool blend and started the pink silk batt yesterday.

I have to report that spinning a soft and fluffy batt of pure silk is an amazing thing.  Most of my prior silk experience has been with hankies or top / sliver and it is slippery and compressed or drifts apart and flies away.  Figuring how to get into the batt took a few moments, but once I ripped off a strip and started spinning, it went very well.  Also... a little goes a long, long way.  I am still only halfway through the strip I pulled off last night!  The batt is from Lambtown a few years ago and is a lovely mauve color. The shop specializes in natural dyes.

 One puff spun, one puff to go

 Both mini skiens. It sure does compress!

 The angora skein, about 350 yards

2.25 oz of wool / silk blend from Ruth N. It might be next on the spindle after the mauve silk.

A Little Crocheting

... and spinning was done at the end of last month.A few more squares for the steampunk blanket, some mohair spun on the drop spindle during Blizzcon and some red shetland that I picked up at the Torrance fiber fair.

Currently there is a shawl project with no pictures (I ran out of yarn and it is in the "time out" corner) and this small shawl (larger now) that is a real treat to knit. 

The yarn is handspun 3 ply silk & yak. I just started the 3rd (or 4th) repeat of the dark colors and it is stunning and soft as ... silk & yak.

Day 22: The Last Bloom

One more skein for the Tour! It was a great spinning day today; we had a surprise downpour here in Southern California & I took my spinning wheel onto the porch to enjoy it. Then I did the plying a few hours later to let the yarn rest and it went well. I really love the cheerful colors.

I also spent a few minutes trying to spin cotton on my Majacraft; it was a little tricky to get started but I was making solid yarn after a while.  It is not relaxing yet but will get easier.  I certainly have enough sliver to practice on.

In other news, knit a few rows on my Dewdrops shawl. 

Race Rewind: Day 10

The brown wensleydale / cotswold fiber I spun at the beginning of the tour.

Day 21: An Effort Was Made

Yesterday I did manage to sit down and spin one puff of fiber which took about 40 minutes. Not a shocking amount of progress, but still progress.  I have 4 puffs left to spin, need a day to ply, and there only 3 race days left. I had better get moving!