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.

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!

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

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 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 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

]]> http://blog.halfacregoods.com/2009/09/19/new-toy/feed/ 0 http://blog.halfacregoods.com/2009/05/30/fleece-washing/ http://blog.halfacregoods.com/2009/05/30/fleece-washing/#comments Sun, 31 May 2009 00:56:33 +0000 LittleWit http://blog.halfacregoods.com/?p=1403 Continue reading →]]> 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. 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.

[Show as slideshow]

I think tom’w night will be another movie night and I will try to get the yoke going on Vivian. Then I think there will be some cleaning in order for this weekend and possibly some sewing. Then of course, Sunday is filled with Easter festivities. Hmm other than that, I got nothing. Have a good night.

I am on row 110 of the same sleeve from yesterday. I thought I was going to have until the end of the Championship game to knit tonight but well things didn’t look so hot at half time so we left the house we snuck into to watch the game and headed home. Yes, we’re resourceful folks who found someplace else to get TV since we don’t have it here anymore. Hmm not much else exciting going on. I am going to try and power through as much of Vivian as I can this week so I won’t feel bad when I want to play with the wheel next weekend. Good night!

Oh back to my point about being in the car. I started one of the Vivian sleeves last night and am now on row 72 of 147. Almost halfway there! Hooray!

What’s that? You didn’t know I was shopping for a spinning wheel? Well now ya do.

1. Finish Vivian.
2. Cast on one of the tops with the Shelridge W4. It looks like the Fern Fitted Shell may pull out as the winner there. Unless Green Gable makes a last minute effort to come through.
3. Knit at least 2 more inches on that lace scarf that’s been dawdling.
4. Make a decision about the Belgian socks, to rip or not to rip? Will they fit a normal man’s foot? Are they really that big? Who knows?
5. Pick out the next pair of socks to be knit and cast them on if everything else is progressing alright.
6. Spend at least half a Saturday in the sewing room – clean up and oil the machines and pick out projects for the fabric laying around.
7. Get the indoor vegetables planted.
8. Spend at least 2 hours on the drop spindle to see if I can reclaim that spark.
9. Begin the clean out of the backroom for our guests that are coming this summer.
10. If there’s another free Saturday start piecing together my t-shirt quilt.

Oh and just for something pretty to break up the monotony of the text – one of my recent yarn purchases:

Pretty!

my first handspun all plied up

my first handspun in the skein

my first handspun in the hank

The way the colors played together really surprised me. I wasn’t convinced they would all look good together but when they were plied with the undyed BFL they all seemed to just kind of flow. I am well aware this is quite thick and thin but I figure it will make a nice soft cowl for me.