Category Archives: Spinning

Summer Projects

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In May, the boy started a new job closer to home that allows him to have more time at home on a daily basis, which has just been wonderful. In June they switched his schedule to Sun-Thurs so now he has Fridays off. Since they switched his schedule he’s been spending most Fridays (and Saturdays) with his dad working on a project in our backyard.

shed

Shed with dormer window - almost done!

Tonight they will finish the last two little trim work things for the outside. I am quite pleased with the two of them, they built the entire shed from scratch and some pictures of what we all liked. The next step is for the boy and I to figure out the layout of the inside and get the shelves, loft and work bench built. I am really looking forward to having a workshop space for us to work on projects for the house.

I will say though that seeing the shed go up made me stop to think about the amount of stuff we’ve accumulated (especially me) since we moved into this house three years ago. I decided it was past time for me to do some de-cluttering. So for starters I have a very lazy gal destash going on over at Ravelry. I put prices on several yarns that I doubt I will get around to knitting in the next year or two so that they may find homes where someone has a more immediate need or use for them. :)

Destash bin

Yarns for Destash over on Raverly

In other news, I am working on some languishing WIPs in a couple different mediums. I finished binding off Manu on Saturday then wove in the ends and blocked it on Sunday (it’s still drying). I finished spinning and plying up Garland yesterday – the last fiber I was working on for Tour de Fleece in July. I washed and whacked it this morning so it’s drying right now. I am also trying to knock out my WIP bin in the sewing room which includes a dress for my niece’s upcoming birthday and a duvet cover for our bed that I have had all the materials for, for umm at least two years…my how the time flies! :D

Tour de Fleece 2011

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In July I participated in the Tour de Fleece that coincides with the Tour de France. The concept is that you spin every day that the cyclists are riding in the tour. I decided it would be a great time to dig into my Hello Yarn fiber club fibers that I have been hoarding stashing for the two years or so I have been in the club. I wanted to try as many of the fibers as I could and also try some different plying techniques.  I spun up some Romney, Shetland, Polwarth, Corriedale, Finn, Targhee, Superwash BFL and Merino/Bamboo/Nylon combo. I am really excited and pleased with some of the yarns I created. With so much dedicated time at the wheel I feel like my spinning skills have quadrupled over what I’ve accomplished by spinning in very very intermittent spurts over the past two years.

One of my more exciting accomplishments for the tour was my Buckland. I was able to spin up an entire 4 oz onto one bobbin. Normally I have extra that I have to put onto a second bobbin. I then managed to pull off a pretty successful n-ply that left the boy saying that it looked like yarn I could get in a shop. I’d say that’s a compliment on my more consistent spinning. :) Hopefully I can use these skills to tackle my fiber stash closet.

Tour de Fleece 2011 total spinning

Tour de Fleece 2011 total spinning

  1. Mystery brown wool – 4 oz spun, 7.5 oz plied, 292 yds total, 623 ypp
  2. HY Minerals in Shetland – 4 oz spun as singles, 306 yds total, 1224 ypp
  3. HY Cauldron in Polwarth – 4 oz spun and 2 ply, 212 yds total, 848 ypp
  4. HY Grim in Superwash Merino 60%, Bamboo 30%, Nylon 10% – 4 oz spun, 2-ply, 178 yards total, 712 ypp
  5. HY Night Sky in Superwash BFL – 4 oz spun, n-ply, 228 yards, 912 ypp
  6. HY Timber in Romney – 4 oz spun, n-ply, 118 yards total, 472 ypp
  7. HY Buckland in Finn – 4 oz spun, n-ply, 308 yards total, 1232 ypp
  8. HY Prism (polwarth) and Hither (corriedale) – 8 oz spun, n-ply, 140 yards total, 280 ypp (3 skeins – blue/yellow, dark purple, and red purples)
  9. HY Garland in Targhee – 3 oz spun

The top row is made up of the baby skeins of the other skeins.

All in all I spun up 42.5 oz (or 2.65lbs) and plied up 1782 yds (or just over 1 mile). Pretty impressive considering I haven’t really touched my fiber and wheel much lately. Just goes to show how much you can get done if you do a little every day (or you know beg your husband to do the household chores so you can spin all evening every day).

I really like these group challenges, they allow me to just dive in and tackle something that’s been sitting around. Now I am trying to apply this concept to my sewing. Hopefully I will have some FOs to show soon!

Plying Fun

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Last night I finally plied up the singles I spun up in September. Looking at the green and grey one I think I may run them through to add some more twist, once I figure out the plan for that.

Plying Singles of random fiber

When the green single was added to the grey single the grey single suddenly looked much more purple. Funny how that works, eh? There was a little bit left on the light pink and the grey singles so I spun them together, too. By the end of the process I was feeling a lot more comfortable with my plying and some of the yarns were even looking how I wanted them to. :)

New Toy

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I went out to Wool Gathering today with Betsy. We got there shortly after it opened and began making our first lap around the vendor booths. I got to say hello to some of my old chums from the Dayton Knitting Guild and to Susan from Ball and Skein. Then I wandered over to Fiberworks where Arlene happened to have spinning wheels for sale. Shockingly enough she had 3 Lendrum DT wheels. After a quick call to the boy I was writing her a check and grabbing my new toy. Witness:

New Toy in the box

Lendrum all put together

Once I got home I put it together and began working on some of the fiber scraps I had around. Now I am trying to figure out what to do with the 4 bobbins I have. I could ply them together on themselves or try to combine the colors into a 2 color yarn. Thoughts anyone?

Grey, Light Pink, Dark Pink and Lime Green fiber.

The best part is after I finished up this roving the boy hopped in my seat to take the wheel for a test drive. He’s having all kinds of fun playing with it and figuring out how it works. :)

The boy treadling

Fleece washing

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This morning I hung out with my little. We went to brunch and then wandered around town ending with a short nature walk in a park. I also surprised myself by being able to pull myself up onto monkey bars and hanging upside down. :) I should try that more often, it will help keep up my back strength as well as make me feel good about myself!

After I dropped her off it was just too gorgeous a day to pass up. So I called the boy and told him to ready the motorcycle. We went and “got lost” for about an hour and a half. It was great! We also got to really test out the headsets I bought him for Christmas. They worked really well and I could hear him with no trouble at all. As the driver he tends to get a lot more wind noise so when we’re at speed he can hear me talking but not always hear what I am saying.

Then my good friend Orchid came over to help me work on processing the fleece I bought at MDSW. First we rolled the fleece out and decided what went where on the sheep. The boy came over to verify the softness quotient. :P Then we got to work pulling out locks and placing them into lingerie bags to go in the wash. I took the occasional break to educate the boy on the crimp and other characteristics. :) We then filled my washer with hot water and let the locks soak. After the soak we spun the excess water out and laid them on the table and drying rack to air dry. They came really clean and I can’t wait to play with them and figure out what I can do. :) Pictures below.