Monday, July 28, 2014

The tour recap


Here all of it. My spindle spinning across the top. So close to finishing it. I didn't  realize when I started there  was 8oz, so it took longer then I thought. 
Left to right- 3 skeins of Vineyard. The orange one is the Rhinebeck Orange (3.6 oz was felted - almost half). The two black ones are the black merino with silk and sparkles ( the sparkles didn't show in the picture). Then the one I between I. The naked sunflower. Then the bobbin is half of a mixed wool from Rhinebeck. The other half will be done hopefully tonight

In all I spun 40 oz or 2.5 pounds of fluff which was 4801 yards of singles (that's 2.7 miles!!!). All plied I added 1655 yards of handspun to my stash. Pretty good for three weeks
(Totals do not include the spindle or the stuff in progress)

This was my best Tour yet. I made a big dent in my fiber stash. It all now fits into one bin instead of two. Only thing left is to wash it all. That can wait for nice non humid days

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Another update

( I really thought I posted this so I'm a little behind in the updates)


I know it looks the same as another one I spun. This is one of the other Enchanted Knoll Farm black merino but this one has blue silk and angelina. 

Then there is this. This one of the first fiber purchases I made at my first Rhinebeck. 

It waited this long to spin because well for some reason a bunch of it felted and I mean felted. No way to seperate the fibers at all. So I had to sit and go through 8oz of it to seperate what I could spin and what can't be spun. 
This is what I have to spin. 


And this is what I can't. I haven't weighed it yet, a little afraid too. I lost, I believe more then half. The bright side is I have a daughter who has found that she likes needle felting. So it will be used just not what I intended it to be. 





Tuesday, July 15, 2014

TDF update

This was yesterday's spinning
It's hard to see but it's black merino with colored silk and angelina (sparkely stuff). Old stash from Enchanted Knoll Farm. I have 2 others with different colored silk and angelina. I bought them years ago and was afraid to spin them (why I was afraid I would mess them up I don't really know) hopefully during this tour I'll get to the other two. 

This is tonight's spinning

Spunky Eclectic BFL in Vineyard. This is one of the two I have. The other will get spun and then the two will be spun together. Something different I know :)

This is the singles I took off my spindle

The spindle just got to heavy to keep it spinning and the singles kept breaking. I slid it onto a straw for right now. Why a straw, well I have kept spinning all these singles without plying and lost track of the empty bobbins. I have one left so I have to start plying tomorrow. 



Saturday, July 12, 2014

TDF update


Bad picture of an almost empty drop spindle. Why? Well I filled it :). This is the second go round. Same fiber

Thursday, July 10, 2014

It's like riding a bike

While I was straightening up this morning I came across my spindle. I bought at Rhinebeck in 2011. It's a Golding and very special (expensive too- but worth it) and I love it. When I first got it I was nervous about using it. It is a type of spindle called a drop spindle and I kept it true to its name with my first one (I made it out of a chopstick and some washers - amazingly it works great). I spun a little and then put it away so it would be safe. 

Well I got over the nerves, though it has dropped a few time today making me flinch each time. Here is the little bit I spun

 I've decided to keep it out. 15 minutes here and there add up and that bit (@2 oz) was only maybe 20 minutes. The fluff is BFL that I bought at Rhinebeck that year too. 

More spinning

And yes more Dr Who =]

This is Enchanted Knoll Farm's Naked Sunflower. I bought it with a birthday gift card (thank you again Aunty). 
I separated the colors and spun them separately in order. When all is done it will be strip-y goodness. 

Yeah I seem to like being in ruts :)

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Some spinning I finished before the Tour de Fleece


This is Cerulean by The Dizzy Dragonfly. It was a gift from a friend a while back. Chain plied and coming in at at just a 109 yards. It's close to worsted weight

This is alpaca I bought at Rhinebeck in 2011. I originally was going to ply it with the Cerulean but I didn't like the way it looked so I chained plied it and 198 yards sport weight. 

This one is the result of something I blogged about before. (The spinning is did while watching Dr Who - yeah that seems to happen often here). It's the bullseye bump from Loop. I again chained plied (I seem to be in a rut). Chain plying keeps the colors in order. Well all excerpt 5 yards of the white that wouldn't fit on my bobbin :(. All together I got 255 yards of striped goodness



Tour de Fleece

It's an annual event for spinners that takes place during the Tour de France (get it spinning wheels bike wheels ). Anyway it's been a while since I have participated and thought to join this year. So here's an update
Add a few Doctor Who episodes and the final update for this one is
Add another episode because I am hooked and time is running out before the new season and I get 


Yeah now I sleep :)



Thursday, July 3, 2014

Some sewing was done

A few minutes here and a few there I was able to get some sewing done. It's almost done and I am loving it. I believe I will repeat this. I don't use patterns for quilts and such. I just let the fabric talk to me. An idea pops into my head and ta da I have the pattern. It's fun for me this way. Most of the time it's exactly what I wanted and turns out perfectly.  

No details. Sorry. When it is given I will fill in the rest



Tuesday, July 1, 2014

A little bit of knitting

Not much knitting going on. Life is busy. The hour or so I get goes so fast. This little bit was worked on while I waited for my doctor. I managed a whole 10 rounds. It's the start of the second monkey sock.