Saturday, July 12, 2008

Wheel's on Fire

Le Tour de Fleece has been inspiring! I finished Colorshow a couple days ago. It is spun thick/thin and it came out to 4 1/8 ounces, 166 yards, 11 WPI (average). I found it in my stash that I dyed a while ago. I'm fairly certain it's Falklands wool. colorshow colorshowskein I am not a novelty yarn kind of person, fluff, glitz, pom-poms, and ladders do nothing for me. So, it was kind of odd that I decided to ply my next spinning Monarch corriedale from http://pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com with gold thread. My first skein didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, I was trying desperately not to over-spin the single (I didn't), but when it came time to ply with the S-twist it fell apart occasionally. The second skein I ran through the wheel an extra time to make sure there was enough Z-twist in it before plying. I don't have the stats for skein two yet because it's still drying, but here's a picture. skein2 I took some of my superfine superwash merino (Spring Fling) out of the Etsy shop to spin. It is smooth, fluffy, and glides quickly onto the bobbin. Almost done with the first half of the top, and have had to push myself to walk past the wheel to clean and do laundry. Some dyeing happened this morning. I'm in the superwash corriedale right now. They're baking in the back yard sun - 86 degrees and in a black plastic bag should put the temperature up to a reasonable temp for setting the dye. I love opening up dyed wool packets when they're done - it's like gifts!

Monday, July 07, 2008

Merrily spinning

I've been spinning for le tour!  I've finished Ember, but I didn't divide the roving evenly and ended up having quite a bit of the creamy part leftover.  I used that to ply with the leftover "random" spun. It has mellowed it quite nicely.

Ember (two skeins 260 yards)

ember spun


and the rest of the random (haven't measured it yet)


random with ember cream



Tonight I'm starting on some Pigeon Roof Studios   corriedale in the Monarch colorway. I don't have any pictures of the roving yet, I'll do that tonight and share tomorrow.  

The peeps and I went to the library this afternoon, so I have to go remind them it's time to start the nightly reading.  When they're done with their time, we're starting The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman for reading aloud.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Le Tour de Fleece

Katherine is doing another Le Tour de Fleece and this year the challenge is to spin from your stash.  This is perfect for me since I haven't been spinning at all and have a lovely stash to pick from!  It's going to be a good break from the sadness of Ziggy the Noro Sock (I digress, more Ziggy later). My goal is to spin every day from today through July 27.  I'm not picky, drop spindle or wheel.  Today I've been spinning some fiber I got from Sarah back in March - the happy, soft Ember. It's superwash Corriedale and it practically spins itself!  

ember


Ziggy, as I mentioned earlier, is half finished.  The problem is I don't know if I want to make the other one.  I am a very loose knitter, I knit this sock so loose I was afraid the stitches were going to looks big and gappy when I was done.  They don't.  I can barely get my foot into the sock.  It will be really hard for me to knit another sock the same way knowing it will barely fit, so maybe Le Tour de Fleece is perfect timing! A break from knitting right now might be just what  I need.

ziggy1fin


I'll try and post spinning pictures tomorrow.  Who knows? There may even be a finished yarn!