End of the Tour Wrapup

This year was a good Tour De Fleece, even with the bit of stressing at the end. I got a lot done and found some new fun fibery people to chat with.

Here's my final photo with what I finished

 

I'm going to practice my Navajo plying on the little bit of Corriedale single left over, I am just starting playing around with my new spindle, and I have a ways to go on spinning that grey Potluck Roving.

All in all though, I am happy with what I accomplished. Almost 900 yards in just the 2ply alone, and that's pretty good! Maybe next year instead of focusing on the weight of a particular fiber, I'll just shoot for 1000 yards of whatever finished yarn I want?

 

I feel like I can't possibly say enough about the generosity of the team sponsors, and in some cases just the moderators or members. The "official" teams and many of the "wild card" teams have drawings or prizes based on the spinning, all donated which is awesome. An exciting bonus to spinning with your team, and showing off to people who understand what you're doing since they do it too. In addition, two of the sponsered teams I participated with really went above and beyond this year.

Edgewood Garden Studios had daily drawings for things like gift certificates, and natural or dyed braids of fiber. In the end there were a couple more members than days of drawings, but she made sure they weren't left out either. I would already have continued using this shop because their fibers are beautiful and the prices can't be beat, but for an independent dyer to give so much to her fans really earns some major loyalty points.

My name came up fairly early, so I had already received my prize before the Tour was even over. I was given a gift certificate, which I used to get this Gray Masham Wool in the Gentle Breeze colorway. I wanted to try a new fiber but in colors I already know I love. You can see it on my spindle in the picture above, but here is a close up showing the variations in color. I am loving it.

 

 

And for another business earning those bonus loyalty points (even though they already have my business as much as I can afford...and then some) was Paradise Fibers. They gave everyone that participated and showed off those spinning pics a free months shipment of their fiber club. The shipment gets mailed at the end of this month, and I am super excited about this one. It's one of those things I have always been interested in but never had the spare cash.

 

As much fun as the Tour was, I have to admit that I'm taking advantage of the down time after. Sorting through the knitting WIPs I set aside, remembering where I left off and even finishing some of them.

My fingerless gloves - remember them from the June KAL? - they were down to only needing the thumbs knit, and I finished them last night

 

Super comfy and the twisted stitches make for some beautiful detail. I can't wait for it to actually get cool enough to wear them. Unfortunately with today having a high of 100, it looks like I'm going to have quite the wait!

 

This morning before work I did the finish work on a Swiffer cover I started 3 months ago. How to I let myself drag these quick little projects out for so long?!?

Anyhow it is now in use, and already looks a little less new than it did when I snapped these pictures.

What can I say? I also neglected the housework a bit during all those days spent spinning.

 

I'm planning on getting the rest of that spinning done and finishing up another project or two, BUT I'm not ruling out a new project before too long.

Next post will likely be off the crafting topic and be about my day trip to Seattle though. Had a great time, saw some cool stuff and if I can only get the pics off my phone I'll be sharing them here.

 

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This is not a real post (okay maybe it is)

Mostly it is just an excuse to show off this picture
(and to share what I've learned in the taking of it)

You see, last night I had myself a nice little freak out.
I realized that not only was there less than a week left of the Tour De Fleece but I was going to be missing the last day. I mean, I did already know that, but I didn't know it.

My original goal for the Tour was to spin the entire 8oz of Potluck Roving. In what can only be described as a fit of optimistic insanity, I later decided add spinning the 4oz of Corriedale too. What can I say, I was swayed by the colors.
I have spun the full 4oz of the Corriedale, but less than 5oz of the Potluck Domestic.

With over 3oz of that grey left to spin and then ply, I realized there is almost no way I could finish in time. Not with working every day through Saturday. Not with Sunday being spent out of town, from 5am till who-only-knows pm.
And all the sudden, my head turned Sunday from something to look forward too, into a stressful lack of spinning time to keep me from my goal.
And that's pretty messed up.
Why? Because that trip on Sunday is meant to be exciting!

It's girls trip with a couple friends that's been planned for a while. Letting me go to Seattle for fun, instead of only going there in a rush to catch a plane.
For the first time I'll actually get to go to The Market - which I've wanted to do for years - AND we're going to the EMP Museum, where I'll get to see the fantasy exhibit.

And that head of mine was making me try and regret this because I might not reach a self imposed goal with absolutely no consequence? Why head, why?!?!
This trip should be fun. It will be fun.

Yes, crafting is fun.
Yes, a little self imposed competition can be fun.
No, it should not stop me from enjoying the day to day. It shouldn't cause me stress, because that sucks the fun out of it.
After all, I can spin any day (and usually do) but how often do I road trip with friends to the city? Never! This is a very cool thing.

I took the pictures at the top of this post for my daily progress post on Ravelry, and I realized something. I have gotten a lot done. A LOT. There is already about a half a pound of finer there. I'm spinning fibers I haven't before, working with colors in new ways. I'm spinning on a wheel, when a few months ago I had never even touched one. I learned to spin by watching YouTube for Pete's sake.

And I'm getting down on myself? Why?!?
I have spun this beautiful yarn that I'm proud of. Am I going to dismiss all that I've done because a couple ounces might be spun a day or two later than I planned? That's just crazy talk.
I have awesome friends. Sunday is also their only day off work, and we're going to spend it together doing stuff I really wanted to do. I'll get to go new places, see cool things and hang out with these great people. This is a recipe for a great day, and I can't wait.

There is absolutely no reason to let the Tour stress me out and since convincing myself of this today has been a much better day. That's why I took that picture up there, to remind myself of all I accomplished in a couple short weeks (6 day work weeks at that!) I've done pretty damn good!

So what am I going to do with this new found wisdom? I'm going to sit here and sip on my lemonade and spin when I have the free time.
Maybe I'll finish on time, maybe I won't... Okay probably I won't, and that's fine!

The Tour is meant to be fun, and I just had to remind myself of that.
There are no spinning police monitoring the finish line, and even if they were I could tell them to hush because I'm spinning even more than that initial 8oz goal. Technically I'm not a slacker I'm an over-achiever. It's just a change up of fluff.

The most important thing is that I will remember to enjoy myself, not just in my craft room but on those very rare times I drag myself away.
There are sooooo many other things to stress about, my hobby should never be one of them.

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TDF End of Week 2 Recap

AKA Holy Hell I'm Almost Out Of Time!

Apparently one lesson I did not learn well enough last year is how quickly the time goes. As of today, we are 2/3 of the way though which means just one week from the end of the Tour de Fleece. Eep!!

 

 

Getting the Brisk Autumn Corriedale from Edgewood Garden Studio all spun and plied is one goal I know I'll be able to finish in time. I already had the first ply done last week, and I'm less than 1/2 oz from finishing the second.

I'm hoping to have that finished, the yarn wound off and the plying done by tomorrow night. Or at least most of the plying done. I even have very nearly almost decided on a pattern. I'm not saying which one yet, for fear of jinxing it. It is in my Ravelry queue though.

Like I said last post, this is my first go with fractal spinning and I can't wait to see how it looks when I'm done. Really quick explanation for any curious non-spinners -

Fractal spinning doesn't actually change the way you spin, but the way you prep the fiber before you start.

First you split the roving in half lengthwise. One half you set aside, this will be spun as is for your first ply. Because of the thickness of the roving you preserve the slower color changes. The other half you split again, either 2 or 3 times (I chose three), and then spin these pieces end to end. The thinner the roving the faster the colors change.

I wanted to be sure I get a good barberpole effect in the finished yarn, and this basically guarantees your color changes in each ply don't line up.

 

 

Aaaaaand now for my main goal. The one I'm starting to worry I might not be able to reach. That 8oz Potluck Roving from Ferndale Fiber.

Here's what I do have done -

 

The first set of singles are spun and plied. I still have to wash and dry them to set the twist, but my preferred hanging spot over the kitchen counter is currently occupied by the food dehydrator. I'll sneak the yarn in after BF finishes his jerky, and before I try out drying some fruits now that we have some extra trays.

I ended up with two skeins (smaller bobbin means I couldn't ply it all in one go) totaling about 463 yards, weighing in around 117 grams. It's a fingering weight, which has me over the moon happy, but now back to the planning stages of what to do with it. I didn't think I was able to spin that finely, so all my ideas before we're running in the sport-worsted range. Still, this is not a bad problem to have, and so I'm not really complaining.

It does relate to why I'm worrying a bit though. Spinning so finely means it takes longer to run through the weight of fiber, and so I'm going to have to push to get through what I have left before the Tour ends!

 

 

I did sneak in a little bit of knitting between all the spinning this past week. My fingerless gloves are now almost done. Just the thumbs (and end weaving) left to go -

Currently two weeks past the official KAL end, but at least I should finish before a full month over...

Hoping these aren't famous last words!

 

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Tour de Fleece, Week One

The Tour De Fleece is in full swing, and I haven't missed a day. Good thing too, because I've got a lot of spinning to do. And unlike last year, where I was posting pics of each day's progress here, I've been spending less time doing updates and more actually spinning. I figure a weekly update shouldn't slow me down too much though.

My original goal was just to spin the 8oz ball o'fluff I bought at Paradise fibers, the Potluck Roving from Ferndale Fibers. When I saw how smoothly it was spinning - and it is a dream to spin, almost as easy as the Shetland and sooo soft - I added a second goal. I am also spinning the 4oz braid of Corriedale I got from Edgewood Garden Studio.

The Steel Potluck Roving is going to be 2 ply, and so far I've spun one bobbin full of a single and started the second. Progress so far -

I'm not positive what I'll knit with it, depends on what kind of yardage and yarn weight I end up with. I'm not a consistent enough spinner (yet) to know exactly what I'll end up with ahead of time.

 

Similar thing with the Brisk Autumn Corriedale, except with that I know that I want some sort of cowl for fall. The style is up in the air, but I've narrowed it down to about a half dozen patterns (subject to change each time I log on Ravelry!)

 

I spun the first ply of that between plys of the other fiber. I figure mixing it up keeps me interested. No matter how pretty that grey is, looking at it non stop for weeks on end is a sure fire way to end up burned out!

Anyhow - here is the first ply of the Corriedale-

I really love the range of colors in it. Hard to tell when it's wound up like this, but they range from a pale cream, to shocks of bright red and yellow, with a beautiful almost wood grained tonal brown running through it. I can't wait to see what the finished yarn looks like. I'm doing fractal spinning, so I should end up with a beautiful "barber pole" effect with the colors.

 

The only real knitting I've done lately is on my fingerless gloves. Technically the KAL ended last week, but I'm one of the stragglers who needs more than a month to actually finish anything.

First one is done, except for the thumb. The second is almost to the thumb opening. Shouldn't be too much longer though, and then I'll have a pretty FO to show off. I promise that picture won't have an irritating sun reflection in the corner like this one!

 

Right now the closest I can come to a new finished object is this Baby Surprise Jacket. You know, the one I finished knitting in March? I finally sewed on the buttons on, using pink and cream ones I had in my stash.

We already found out (a while ago) the momma-to-be is going to be having a girl and since she is due in August, I figured I better get it done! Here's the whole sweater. It should fit right around winter time, hopefully.

A nice surprise today was the half dozen back issues of knitting magazines a customer brought in for me. All Interweave Knits, except for one Vogue Knitting.

Some I have digital copies of, but flipping through them is more fun sometimes. I predict my queue will get even longer before I'm done. Especially since she said there is probably more issues to come. Yay! I have the best customers!

 

Back to spinning for one more second before I go. After jealously admiring other's Trindles since before last Tour De Fleece, I finally ordered one of my own. I was going to wait and do it as an end of Tour reward, but maybe this way it will actually arrive by the end of the Tour.

My main problem with online ordering is that I want it NOW. I mean, I ordered it this morning so why shouldn't the mailman be able to drop it off this morning...yeah, logical brain is busy telling impatient-new-shiny-obsessed brain to settle down and wait. I'm not sure it's going to work though.

 

One thing I can guarantee is that as soon as it arrives I'll be spinning away and showing it off here :D

 

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Holy Long Time Between Updates, Batman!

Since it's been almost two months (?!?!) since my last post, a step my step recap would take ages. Instead I'm just going to throw it all out here in one big post of "can't this girl finish anything?!"

That's right, I've fallen off the finished-object wagon, and am wasting my time away in work-in-progress land. At least Candy Crush has managed to frustrate me enough that I've stepped away from playing it endlessly. That's something, right?

 

Okay, first up is knitting. Since my last post I have finished ... Well ... Nothing.

Oops? I could blame the spinning, but really that is only half the problem. The other half is that I KEEP STARTING NEW THINGS.

I have the perfect yarn and the perfect pattern for so many projects, that I just want to make them all at once! In fact, instead of finishing anything, I cast on for three new things. One of them another cardi ... because that's a quick project.

Since I have a few projects that should have been quick finishers (I'm looking at you, Swiffer cover!), I'm banned from casting on anything new until I have finished a couple of them.

 

I tried to tell myself that earlier, but then there was an "unappreciated pattern KAL" in the fingerless gloves group. I had my super-special yarn I'd been hoarding saving and an awesome (but sadly unappreciated) pattern already picked out for it. I figured that made a good enough excuse reason why I should get to cast on one more thing.

The yarn was my MadTosh Sock in the dahlia colorway-

 

The pattern is Creme de Noyaux by Dagmar Mora.

 

I'm very nearly done with the first one, and this is one of those great projects where it both looks and fits exactly how I'd hoped. I'm knitting the longest version, in a size M/L. The only adjustment I've made to the pattern is to switch from size 1s to size 0 at the wrist to ensure a tighter fit on my hands.

 

Of course I'm still spinning, still loving it. Warming up for the Tour de Fleece.

I also had a brief moment of madness where I thought the 8oz of roving I got from Paradise Fibers might not be enough to keep me busy, and so I went in search of new fluffs. I found a dyer here in my home state, Edgewood Garden Studios, who has beautiful colors at really reasonable prices. I ended up buying two.

First, Corriedale in a colorway she calls Brisk Autumn -

 

Normally I am not a fan of yellows and oranges, but the colors grabbed my attention, and I kept going back to look at the listing. Finally I just went for it, and I'm glad I did. The fiber looked even better in person, and I can't wait to spin this. I'm thinking of a two ply 'barber pole' look to the yarn, then knit into a nice cozy cowl for fall.

 

Te other was Wensleydale in the Rags to Riches Colorway.

Again, it totally caught my eye. I've never spun with this kind of fiber before, so I'm not sure what to expect my yarn will end up like. I'm excited to see though.

 

I finally spun up the ounce of alpaca I was given last June, and ended up with a single of about 70 yards. Really pretty yarn, if I do say so myself -

I had been a little worried about spinning it all dusty. I had heard it would make the fibers grip better (which I'm sure was right) but during the was process I had a worry that it couldn't possibly come clean enough. Luckily, I worried for nothing and it ended up soft, clean and beautiful. Below on the left are the picures from before the wash, and on the right are the shots after when it was starting to dry out.

The one thing this taught me is that I am spoiled by my prepared fiber, and that I do not have the tools or time (or patience) to switch to entirely raw fiber right now.

 

I have also spun some of that (blessedly already clean/processed) Shetland wool. I have one single of about 275 yards done. It is the most I've gotten in one skein, and probably will stay close to that, because that bobbin was overfilled!

I'm working on a second skein of the same, but I'm not quite finished spinning. Here it is, still on the wheel -

 

Once that's done, I have the last of my Merino/Tencel from Greenwood Fiberworks that I want to ply together. Here's (an admittedly bad pic of) the singles -

 

I'm trying to work more on my plying, because as much as some yarn looks great as singles, I really like the look of handspun plied. I like to think I've made a bit of progress, and that even the Navajo ply I do looks pretty decent.

I set some BFL two ply I spun on my spindle just a year ago (left) next to my most recent N-Ply attempt using the wheel with the same fiber (right)

 

There is definitely a difference! I am happy with how far I've come and curious to see how much different my spinning will look after another year.

 

That's about all for now. I need to get back to knitting as I scramble to make progress on those WIPs before the Tour De Fleece starts and spinning takes over my entire crafting life more than it already has for a month.

 

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Knitting? What's that?

Other than a couple more inches added onto my lace scarf, I really don't have any knitting progress to update. I kind of slacking there, but my spinning wheel is certainly getting some use.

I'm not sure if I mentioned and am too lazy to go back and look but I bought the plastic shuttle bobbin things from The Woolery. Using BFs drill, I can wind off my lone wheel bobbin and onto those, allowing me to ply and such. While I was at it, I also bought some fluff. It was one of those "I don't have enough money to spend enough for free shipping, but I can add this little thing here and at least feel like I'm getting my shipping cost worth" deals ... Please tell me I'm not the only one who does that?

Anyway, it was just $10 for 4oz of merino wool and they had the prettiest colorways. I ended up choosing Lapis, but Denim and Cranberry were tied for a close second place. More than the stone, the Lapis fiber reminds me of how a rain puddle looks when there's oil from the pavement mixed in. Except not awful, because there is no ground contamination involved, just pretty fluffy wool. Sorry, but I can't think of a better way to describe that look! It is beautiful, and has been spinning up really well (even for a beginner like me!)

 

This is my first two-ply on the wheel, and I absolutely love it.

I plan on spinning and plying the rest of the fiber the same way. Hopefully I will end up with enough yardage I'll be able to make a (most likely small) purse type bag out of it.

 

This week I also decided to give Navajo plying another try. My first and only attempt only lasted for just the few minutes before I became overly frustrated. Since then I've gotten hooks put in all the spots on the flyer, and I thought I had gotten smoother at the whole spinning movements thing.

Due to my past failure I wasn't willing to risk the beautiful new fluff above, and so I spun up some of my stashed Corriedale fiber I bought ages ago. It isn't my favorite to work with, but it was sold geared more towards felting than spinning, so maybe the prep has something to do with it? I really don't know, but the colors are pretty, that (and the low price) had sold me. I made a gradient using the eggplant, snozzberry and magentastic colors.

My attempts at Navajo plying were only slightly successful, but better than my single yard previous tries. to start with, I wasn't very even on the single and had many overspun sections. Bad impatient spinniner! Added to that, when plying I started having tension issues. The yarn looks a little messed up in spots where I kept stopping and starting while trying to make adjustments on the wheel. Also - I’m still uncoordinated LOL

Enough whining though, because the colors ended up working really well and it is totally knitable yarn. Sure I need to work on my skills a lot more BUT since this yarn is just meant to be a knit up into a hotpad for my table it’s not like it had to be perfect, right?

Hanging while it dried -

And pretty picture with it twisted into its little (20.5 yard) skein -

 

I really do like how it looks in the skein, which sounds about par for me. I always want to buy the variegated pretties, but then realize I have no idea what I'm going to knit with them. Pooling and I just don't get along very well.

At least I have a planned project already, and I won't have that problem this time!

 

There is less than two months until this year's Tour de Fleece, and now that I have this wheel I'm really excited. One of my purchases on the Paradise Fibers trip was this -

 

Massive 8oz ball of grey roving. I love love LOVE a good variegated grey, and this picture really doesn't do it justice. It is soooooo pretty and this should be more than enough to keep me busy for the whole Tour.

Well this, and the undyed Shetland Wool I've been saving for future experiments in Koolaide dyeing.

I am so very much still that weird little kid that couldn't wait for school to start so she could wear her new shoes. Is is June 30th yet?!?

 

 

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Is this what happens when your shopping cosplays?

I was going to do up a post about how amazingly awesome my BF is for helping me celebrate my last Saturday off before tourist season by road tripping to Spokane. A long drive when the main objective was just burgers and a yarn shop. Especially when he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before.

I was going to (probably bore you with my) play by play the great shopping experience I had at Paradise Fibers. How even though their website is fun to shop on, it doesn't hold a candle to the store. Would have made sure to mention how incredibly helpful the people were too. Not in that pushy way some shops have, but genuinely helpful. I might have said I wished I could have picked out an empty corner to live in, and never left.

I was going to go on about how glad I am that I've finally started to watch Warehouse 13, but wish I had started sooner so I'd be caught up in time for the new episodes. Also, I was going to say that having just finished season 3, I'm a little bit freaked out but beg any readers I might have not to spoilerize me anyway (even if I was going to beg ask them to tell me it will be alright)

I was going to end the post with more excuses why my WIPs aren't progressing, and show some new spinning pictures by way of explanation. Probably promise to do better next week, blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda

INSTEAD you get a post with this picture -

And me wondering if maybe Doctor Who has taken over my brain. In three different shops I ended up with TARDIS colored things. Buttons are there because they have two hearts, and I instantly loved and had to buy them. How Doctory are two hearted buttons?!

 

Now I did end up with other exciting Smushy-Fluffs, and I'll probably show them off later on (or at least when I start using them) but I know how bad I am when I procrastinate posting and I just had to share the mostly accidental themed shopping.

 

One last thing to share. Charlotte guilt tripping me -

I've been spinning more and more on the wheel, and one of our dogs isn't a fan. She's taken to exaggerated sighs and sulking over the loss of her lap time. I swear she still gets plenty of attention, don't let her pouts fool you!

 

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Introducing my newest time suck

 

As hard as I resisted getting sucked into it in the beginning, it has finally completely beaten me. I admit it - I'm a spinner.

 

She doesn't have a name yet, but I'm convinced the wheel needs one (as convinced as I am that it's a she)

 

In addition to missing a name, she's also missing a few other things, which I'm already looking into

 

The drive band was an easy fix, and I made one myself with some spare dishcloth cotton. Once I found out it was one long loop wrapped in a figure eight, and not two separate loops I was good to go.

This is my first time spinning on a wheel, so I figure I'm allowed a few dumb mistakes. Right?

 

Other easy fixes were the tie to the treadle being loose, along with the legs.

I kind of wanted to put a dab of glue in the legs, but in the back of my mind I as thinking someone had said that's not good to do...I can't remember who said it or why, but it's enough to make me hold off. I just push them together if they get separated while I'm moving it around.

 

There are six flyer hooks missing, and they will stay missing until I get out of town to Home Depot or Lowes. The local hardware store only had giant hooks or those safety cup hooks that have the latch.

I've managed to spin without them, but it would be much easier to fill a bobbin evenly without those hooks missing.

 

Speaking of the bobbin, I only have one. That is a shame, because unless I want to spend big bucks having one custom made (And even if I had them to spend, I don't!) Unfortunately it's got a couple of cracks too, but luckily BF can take care of that with some wood putty if I'll just stop spinning long enough to let him at it.

I'm kind of out of luck getting more of the oddly shaped things, so I'm thinking I'll just have to make do.

Tip from a fellow Raveller was to buy some plastic weaving bobbins, and use them and a drill to get the yarn off the wheel bobbin. It'll fit a Lazy Kate, and so I'll be able to ply. They're on my list for sure.

 

I really need to finish cleaning the wheel, but that falls under the whole making myself stop using it problem. Basically I cleaned most of the top half really well, but the legs and underside are still showing the layers of dust that comes from spending a few decades in the corner.

 

I know absolutely nothing about the maker of this wheel, or the age. I've taken pictures from different angles, and I'm going to post here and on some forum boards to see if anyone can give me a clue.

 

It had been purchased in 1979 as a decoration (that is the name and date on the bottom) which is why no one has any practical info on it. Soon after that she decided to go modern instead, and from then on the wheel was stored at her friend's house. BF saw it there when he was working, and knowing that I wanted a wheel (but am soooo far from having saved enough for the new ones I like) he made a deal and came home with it for me. (He's such a good guy!)

It might not have all the bells and whistles, but it works. I'm enjoying learning how to use it and the wheel should keep me occupied for a long time.

Since I haven't managed a single picture without some wool on it, that should give a clue about how much I like it :D

I spun small amounts with the different kinds of fluff I have stashed away, but the biggest amount was the Shetland wool I had dyed with onion skins

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, not too bad on the thick and thin. Even though the color might be a little on the yellow side, it is peachy enough that I think I should be able to get a nice looking small doll out of it.

 

I'm about 3/4 of the way done with my latest Sherlock blanket square, so I'm back at that and then I'll be spinning again. Maybe by then I'll have what I need to be able to try plying on the wheel.

 

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Mrs Hudson's Not Wearing Cerise

Another square on the Sherlock blanket done, and in record time - GO ME!

Confession - I have no idea what the record time actually is for me finishing a blanket square, but since it was months and months (and months) between the two before this I figured only taking a week(ish) was cause for celebration

 

This square was Mrs Hudson themed, Not Cerise designed by Rav User Ffefryn

Mrs. Hudson "I should never wear cerise, apparently. Drains me."

 

The most amazing part about me finishing this square so quickly is that I did it even with top notch distractions. Major, big time, seriously exciting distractions.

BF managed to get his hands on a (slightly in need of TLC) vintage spinning wheel for me!! I am sooooo excited!!! He's going to do a little clearing up help for the person that was storing it for the previous owner in exchange for it. Somehow I am the one coming out ahead in the whole deal, but you won't hear me complaining!

It's already gotten some love since this picture was taken (most importantly a drive band and some cleaning) but this is what it looked like when he brought it home. I'll have another post soon with some more pictures of it, but right now I want to get back to actually using it again.

SO EXCITED YOU GUYS!

 

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Adventures in Dyeing

I spent a good portion of the Tour de Fleece watching my teammates turn out so many awesome hand-dyed fibers and seeing how beautifully they spun up. While I did think my purchased fibers were beautiful, I still felt like I was missing out on the fun of making my own colors. Not going to lie, I was a little jealous. Not in the angry spiteful way, but in the way that made me know I just had to try it for myself.
Sometimes peer pressure is a very good thing!

I ended up finding a killer deal on some undyed Shetland wool, and now it's my turn to play. I have some Koolaid on standby, but first some natural dyeing.

I looked at tons sources beforehand and pestered (and post stalked) my fellow Ravelers for hints and advice first. One of them was the person who linked me the blog with instructions for dyeing with blueberries and dyeing with tea. My info on fiber prep came from this Knitty article

Since I am practically allergic to following directions, I decided to document my whole process, so I would know what worked (and what to avoid) for future adventures. And since I was going to do all that, why not share it will anyone stumbling onto here?

Week in review and my Tour De Fleece finish-line!

The Tour de Fleece ended yesterday, and so I held over this week's review until today so I could include my 'finish line' photo.

Last week I had almost finished spinning my second single of the merino blend, and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

I ended up with 47 yards, and with the first single I should have plenty to knit that cup cozy I wanted.

It took me through Sunday, but I finished my 2ply Corriedale also. I mixed silver and eggplant colored fibers together in each ply, so the yarn varies from solid to heathered to a barberpole twist throughout. I like the look, but had one small grrrrrr-moment. I wasn't paying enough attention and somehow broke the yarn during plying. So instead of one smooshy skeinlette, I have two. One is 27.5 yards and the other is 15.5 yards. It's still pretty though -

And that brings me to the end of The Tour. It took me 23 days (well, Saturday I missed. So 22?)to spin just over 137 yards between the three fibers. 

I admit I'm not a fast spinner, but I met all three of my goals. 

I made it to the end without quitting, even had just one rest day instead of two. I just tweaked the day I took to fit my schedule. 

I spun yarn that is knitable, and I think it's pretty awesome looking personally!

I tried plying. In fact, over half of the yarn I spun I ended up plying and the only disaster was the yarn breaking that one time.

All in all, I'm calling my experience a success, and I plan on participating next year too. I've gotten to like spinning so much more than I thought I would. Now I'm campaigning hardcore to get a trindle for my birthday this year, and before the end of the year maybe have a DODEC wheel. Maybe!

This week wasn't just spinning-

I finally finished knitting my mystery toy KAL. 
Introducing Benny the Cat (designer named, but I like it so Benny he stays)

He was meant to have whiskers, but they just didn't look right. I decided he was cuter without. I love how he is the floppy rag doll equivalent of a kitty, and I think this toy will be a keeper instead of a gift.

And my rescheduled rest day from spinning? One of my friends 6yo daughter was over for the day, and we played with Sculpey. She really got into it, and went home with a collection of spiral snakes, beads, marbles and a handful of magnets and other random bits she thought were pretty.
She even made this magnet of BF and I for us to keep, she's so sweet

I had to play with the clay a bit too. Along with a few random magnets, I also made myself a Hedgie (of course!), a mini one for her to take home, and a bowtied penguin (bow ties are cool)

Slightly on the ugly side, but what do you expect when I haven't played with this stuff in YEARS.

Aaaaaaaaand that was the past week. 
This next week with be 
-Trying to finish the sock monkey for BFs nephew. He has his mouth and one arm knit, but not stuffed or attached. Most of his other arm and his tail still need knit. I'm going to try and have this finished before the Games start.
-Which brings me to Ravelympic *cough* I mean Ravellenic prep. Gathering yarn, needles and patterns together to make sure nothing is missing.
-And last (but not least!) a little fiber dyeing. This I've actually started for today, and is why this post is so late. 
I know it's crazy to start another thing right now, but watching all the fun my Tour teammates had with their dye projects made me want to try for myself. One of them pointed me towards a blog with instructions for blueberry dyeing, and as luck would have it there was a bowl with blueberries that were past good eating, but hadn't molded. What better time to try? There was also a post there for using tea, so half the fiber will be trying that too. 
If this works, I'll have about an ounce of each to play around with when I'm done. 

But no more spinning until after the games!! Must stay focused if i'm going to have a hope in hell of finishing all three projects I have planned!