FF: The first of the unfinished TdF yarns

Et voila! My second spindle-spun Tour de Fleece yarn is finally finished.

Fiber: Corriedale from Hello Yarn, colorway "Seasick"
Spun/plied: on my Wildcraft spindle
Final stats: total yardage is 170 yds/4 oz (680 ypp), ~7-9 wpi, bulky weight.
Comments: I had two bumps of this Corriedale from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club, and when I needed something to take with me to France, one of these seemed like a good bet.

I split the fiber into three different color groups: yellows, browns (with a bit of yellow) and blues (with a bit of yellow). Then I split each piece of top in half lengthwise and spun up two balls of singles to ply together.

I managed to get through the yellow and half of the brown singles before the Tour ended. Over the last couple of weeks, I've spun up the others. And then there was much plying.

72 yds yellow,

27 yds brown,

and 71 yds blue. I have no idea what this yarn will become though, but I like the colors split up like this.

There's always that other bump to play with I suppose...

Fiber Friday is back: the Tour de Fleece final report

This year's Tour de Fleece was an unparalleled success! I spun up 8 lbs of fiber, including 3 sweater lots and 2000 yds of lace weight!

Ha ha ha ha ha! Actually, I didn't meet my TdF goal in any way, shape, or form. Here's the final output:

I ended up with two finished skeins and a bobbin and a half of singles of the Gotland fleece.

I'm pretty happy with the final yarn - it's definitely a bit "rustic", as you would expect from inexpertly handcard fiber, and it will definitely end up as an outerwear sweater rather then a next-to-skin cuddly sweater, but I like it. My goal for the weekend is to finish up the bobbin that's on the wheel and ply those up and see what my yardage is. Based on these first two skeins, I'm going to need 8 or 9 to get the yardage I need for the sweater. That shouldn't be a problem unless I get super sick of carding.

I didn't even touch the Hebridean rolags - they went missing! I had several weeks of panic because I couldn't find the box they were stored in, and I was convinced Himself had thrown them away in a fit of tidying. However, when unpacking boxes from the move, lo and behold there they were. Phew!

Since we were traveling, and life was a bit nuts with moving, I did a fair bit of spindling in addition to the fleece on the wheel. I just went in to my stash and pulled out some Hello Yarn fiber (because Adrian's genius makes up the bulk of my dyed spinning stash, and so I could post in their threads!) and threw it on the spindle. 


HY Burnished BFL, 2-ply, spun on a variety of spindles, 177 yds/4.4 oz (644 ypp). The colors on this are gorgeous - it really does look like metal. I think this will become a cowl or a hat or something like that. Maybe some simple mitts? Dunno.

I was planning on the BFL lasting through our trip to the Pyrenees, but I finished it before we left. Back to the HY stash for another spindle project.

This is Seasick Corriedale. I've got two bags of this (approximately 8 oz), so I took one bump, split it into the component colors (i.e. yellows, browns, blues), and then split each piece of top in half lengthwise for two singles.

Here you can see the yellow and brown singles in balls ready for plying. I used my Wildcraft spindle for this fiber, and it was a bit tricky - the Corriedale wanted to be spun a bit thicker then is optimal for the weight of the spindle, which meant I had to be really careful about keeping the spindle going in the right direction - but I'm happy with the singles. I think this will end up being an aran or bulky weight 2-ply, once it's washed.

So there you have it: three weeks, about 550 yds of finished yarn, and a whole load of other stuff going on. So be it! At least all that spindling meant I got some good pictures...


So given that my Tour de Fleece was an abject failure a bit underwhelming, my Ravellenic Games goals have to change as well. Now I'm thinking that I'll hope to finish the spinning of the fleece by the Closing Ceremonies. Then I can get to work on the sweater in September. Which works out well, to be fair, cause it's not really the best weather for rustic-heavy sweater knitting.

Quelle disaster!

Over the Easter holidays, we took a lovely long weekend trip over to Paris, via the ever-fabulous Eurostar. On our previous trip to Gay Paree, the girls were three years younger, and it was the end of July (which means the end of Le Tour!), so the city was hot and mobbed. It's a much nicer and calmer place to visit in late April (with a 5 and 7 year old vs. a 2 and 4 year old), and spring was everywhere.

Devil had so much energy that she managed to get caught on some ironwork outside of Notre Dame, and tore a hole in her Sprout Tappan Zee that her Mummy so lovingly knit for her last summer. Argh!


She managed to not only put a hole in it, but also to snag and snap the bind off in several different places...


We came home and the sweater sat on the shelf in my wardrobe for about five weeks - I just couldn't face it. Then, last week, on the eve of a trip to chilly, rainy Somerset for part of the half-term holiday, I decided to get on with it already and fix the damn thing.

First step: remove wee hedgehog button and insert a circular needle through a row of stitches above the hole (note appropriate beverage companion).

Second step: unravel the bottom edge, picking out the little scraps of unusable yarn, and spit-splicing (with appropriate beverage) the rest.


Third step: pause and admire your handiwork (conveniently not documenting how off you were in the row of stitches you picked up).

Fourth step: reknit the bottom two inches of cardigan. Don't forget button hole. Reblock, and then pack still damp sweater in the back of the car to finish drying on the way southwest.

Wiktory! I had a big ball of yarn left over that I had ready to draft into the bind off if needed, but I think I ended up knitting a couple of rows less this time around, so I had plenty for the bind off.

Dev still seems enamored of the sweater, and Boo is looking longingly for another cardigan, made of softer yarn. Must sort through handspun stash and see what would work for her.

Question: does this count as an FO post? Methinks so...

FF: George R. R. Martin is everywhere

You may have noticed this yarn in yesterday's post.

That is what happens when you take this fiber,

and spin it into sport/fingering weight singles.

Fiber: Hello Yarn Fiber Club 2011, BFL/silk, colorway "Night Gathers"
Prepped by splitting each 4 oz bump into four lengthwise pieces
Spun at: 9.25:1, point-of-contact drafting
Stats: 460 yards/8 oz, ranges from fingering to about DK weight
I finished with a fulling wash (hot, cold, hot, cold, hot, cold)

There is not much to say about this fiber other then yum. And that it is in imminent danger of being balled up, and cast on to start another Clapotis. According to the doctor, I have mild carpal tunnel syndrome, and I should use my hand as little as possible. And here, take these honking massive anti-inflammatory pills for a month - if it's not better, come back and we'll start with the fun tests*. Sadly, I can only manage the balling up part at this point in time. But let me figure out how to knit with my hand in a brace, and I'll be on this so fast it will make your head spin...

* And by fun, I mean So. Very. Not. (nerve conduction recordings and muscle stimulation via electric shocks? Sign me up please!) (Or not, thankyouveryfuckingmuch)

FF: Just in time for spring

Last week I finished up and photographed an absolutely lovely pattern - the Matanuska Eternity Scarf, created by one of my fellow Hello Yarn Fiber Club Members, Melinda Peiserich. It rocks!

It's a very simple pattern with slipped stitches, which is perfect for breaking up the stripey nature of most handspun yarn. I used 3-ply Finn in "Buckland", which was the club fiber from November 2008 (!). I loved spinning this yarn and was saving it for something really special - I had two skeins of 3-ply and one of 2-ply, so I used up all the 3-ply on this piece, a total of 472 yds.

More details:
Needles: US 6.0/4 mm
Start/finish: 3 February - 21 February (it's quick too!)

I love the colors in this yarn knitted up even more then I loved them in fiber/yarn form.

I'm particularly taken with the Bright! Chartreuse! Green! that shows up next to the richer red/brown/pink combination. I was a bit concerned that the Finn would be a bit scratchy around my neck, but it is getting softer and softer as it gets worn.

Sadly, the days for wearing it are probably numbered, as this interloper

is now wide open. Welcome to spring!