Tour de Fleece roundup

It's been a wooly few weeks.

That right there is 2425 yds of spun yarn (of varying ply numbers ranging from 1-3), totalling 51.3 oz (3.2 pounds) and 20 oz more of handdyed BFL fiber that I got distracted with somewhere along the line there (more on that later perhaps). Clockwise from the right side: 3 skeins of 3-ply Romney from Hello Yarn in "Timber" with a mini-skein of chain plied leftover singles, 1 skein of merino/alpaca/camel/silk blend from Krafty Koala that I picked up at Knit Nation and couldn't resist, 5 mini-skeins (~30 yds each) of natural colored Shetland that I spun up as bulky samples for a biiiiiig sweater coat project idea percolating in my head. Then there's a teensy skein of purple merino/Shetland blend that Judith handed out in her class at Knit Nation which I finally plied and washed. Next up: my experiment with thick and thin singles in Amy's "Twenty Ten" Corriedale. Then David's glorious Polwarth in "Cairns": one skein of 3-ply and one skein of 2-ply from the leftover singles. Finally, in the middle, 4 skeins of incredible drapey mohair/nylon/merino from Hello Yarn again. Originally one colorway ("Loch") of orange/olive/blue/green, which I split into two color groups and spun separately. The Romney is going to become a sweater for me me me, and I think Loch will be some kind of triangular shawl with some garter ridges. The rest of it is as yet un-assigned to particular projects.

Once again, the Tour de Fleece was an absolute blast. I did about 12 oz more then I managed last year (one of the goals on my List), got through one of my (at least) three sweater lots of Hello Yarn fiber, and got to spin new-to-me fibers (Polwarth, mohair blend, merino/alpaca/camel/silk). Plus I've got material for several weeks of Fiber Friday posts.

I must say that I'm not terribly motivated to start the wheel spinning again anytime soon, but...tomorrow is Tuesday, and according to Stephanie, Tuesdays are for spinning. There is some Spunky Eclectic Panda that I was wanting to get to...

Knit Nation recap

I'm a bit slow off the mark here with my weekend report, but it's been a crazy week. Truly crazy, and more then a little slapdash in a number of ways. In any event...

Last weekend I was able to go to Knit Nation 2011, an extravaganza of knitting, spinning and wool fumes strong enough to knock out a shepherd. On Saturday afternoon, I took Merike Saarniit's "Spinning for Knitting" class. Although it was largely targeted at beginning spinners, there was plenty to keep me busy, including some new-to-me fibers,

From left to right: merino/silk, kid mohair, handdyed wool top, 100% bombyx silk, superwash merino, Coopworth roving in three natural colors, more handdyed wool of some kind, baby alpaca and two more wool/silk blends

and an opportunity to do a bit more spindle spinning then I normally do. I discovered that sampling on a spindle is really quick and easy, and a great way to try out a new fiber. I also found that spinning up the samples on my wheel was way too fast!

All done :-(

I stopped by the marketplace on Saturday afternoon and did a wee bit of damage. I got 500 gr of the merino/silk that Merike had samples of from John Arbon, a Devon-based wool purveyor/mill/yarn/handknit producer. And then I got a braid of fiber from Krafty Koala: a dark and gloomy (but wonderful!) merino/alpaca/camel/silk blend which has now leapt on to the wheel, pushing all Hello Yarn fiber out of the way in it's mad scrum to become yarn.

There was also a fair bit of German eye candy still around by 5:00 pm on Saturday, but I managed to refrain.

On Sunday, I headed in to Imperial for a class on spinning for Shetland Lace from the master herself, Judith Mackenzie McCuin. We were unfortunately stuck in a class in the basement, but all that was just background when she poured out piles of freshly washed but otherwise not processed Shetland fleece on to the carpet. The next three and a half hours flew by in a blur of the history of sheep domestication, specific characteristics of Shetland sheep, descriptions of life on a sheep farm in Montana, dehairing, more dehairing, throwing bits of Montana vegetation all over the floor and a bit of spinning. Here are some pictures:

Fleece!

One Shetland lock

One Shetland lock, dehaired

Detritus

Bits of Montana

We spun up a bunch of samples from our freshly prepped fleece. Starting with the outer coat, we spun a 4-ply cabled yarn that is probably strong enough to tow a truck. Next up was a worsted spun 2-ply, then a woolen spun 3-ply. Unlike most things I've read/heard over the years, Judith defined worsted and woolen spinning not primarily by fiber prep, but by drafting style - worsted spinning means no twist in the drafting triangle, while woolen spinning means the opposite. An interesting way to think about it.

She then pulled out some batts, and we experimented with blends and fine spinning, with different joins, with long draw from rolags, and so on and so on. It was an amazing day, and by the time I got home I was more or less incapable of coherent speech due to information overload.

In addition to the fiber, I came away on Sunday with a signed copy of Ysolda's book, which I am greatly enjoying. I will admit that the patterns hadn't really grabbed me terribly hard before, but having now looked through it several times, there are at least 4 that I think I could happily knit. Plus the designing info and all the stuff on fitting makes it well worth it.

So, Knit Nation 2011 gets a huge thumbs up. Sadly, there is no event planned for 2012 (damned Olympics!), but my fingers are crossed for 2013.

Fiber Friday: Tdf Yarn #3

Hooray! The huge whacking pile of Romney is done!

Fiber: Hello Yarn Fiber Club September 2010 offering, "Timber" Romney
Spun/plied: 9.25:1/8.5:1, 3-ply (and chain ply for the leftovers)
Stats: 1087 yds/23.5 oz, ~10-12 wpi, ~730 ypp, about DK weight.

My first experience spinning Romney was not terribly successful - it was fun to spin, but the finished product was scratchy and not so pleasant. I suspect that spinning from the fold was the culprit, leaving all those coarser staple ends to stick out. This time around I spun worsted style, and the finished product is a win.

I had six bags of fiber, and I wanted to mix up all the colors as much as possible. I split each 4 oz piece into fourths, then strip each length into four pieces. I lined up the six bags and put a strip into each one sequentially. I won't know until I start knitting it up how well the mixing worked, but I'm pretty certain there won't be a predictable stripe sequence!

Given my prediliction to overtwist, and the tendency of coarser fibers to get wirey with too much twist, I choose to spin this on a lower ratio then I usually use, and to ply on an even lower ratio. This is the first time I've used the plying head for my Lendrum in almost 4 years, but it was perfect for this yarn (and gave me 8 oz skeins!). I tried to be sure I wasn't putting in too much plying twist especially - I wanted the yarn to be nice and loose and drapey. The first skein is perfect, but the other two might have a bit too much plying twist. I debated going back through and taking out a bit of twist, but decided to leave it for post-TdF.

I had 0.5 oz of singles left over which I chain plied - I don't know the yardage yet, as they're drying on the back porch as we speak - and I hope there's enough there for trim on something. It's kind of neat to see how the chain ply compares to the 3 ply in terms of how the colors play off each other. The 3 ply looks pretty garish up close, but from farther away (or on the spinning bobbin as I was skeining it) the colors blend really nicely.

Now I've got to decide on a sweater pattern. I'm thinking something with garter stitch because of the 3 ply, maybe Cobblestone, but I need to go do some pattern searching on Ravelry. After the Tour finishes however...there's about 12 oz to go on my list!

Day 14: 32 oz of a proposed 44 finished. I only need to do another 8 oz to beat last year's total!

TdF Yarn #2 and a Rest Day

My second TdF project was/is 1.5 lbs of Romney from Hello Yarn.

So I started in on the spinning. And I spun. And spun. And spun. And all my bobbins were filling up, and it didn't really feel like I was getting anywhere. Here's a photographic rundown of multiple days of spinning:

Day 5:

Day 6:

Day 7:

By Friday I was over the Neverending Romneying. Over. It. So after I finished that third bobbin, I totally jumped ship, threw the plying maiden on the wheel, and banged out this.

1.5 hours, 227 yds/4 oz of my first attempt at thick and thin singles. The fiber is Amy's Corriedale in the "Twenty Ten" colorway (from my 4 Oz Challenge prize last fall). Fun colors, quick yarn, end product is soft and squishy. Love it.

And then it was back to the Romney, Day 9:

Today is a rest day, and so far I have: read on the porch with the girls.

Played with (and bathed) the dog.

Gone raspberry picking.

Made raspberry chocolate chip ice cream.

As yet, there has been no spinning. I suspect that won't last, as I'm on a tear to get all these singles done so I can start the neverending plying. The extra special good news is that I've cracked open the last bag of fiber, so the end is in sight!

Now I just have to decide what's going to be next...

Tdf Yarn #1: SCF Cairns Polwarth

Fiber: Southern Cross Fibre's Polwarth, in the Cairns colorway, 115 gr
Spun/plied: 12:1, 15:1, short forward draw (worsted)
Stats: 3-ply skein: 168 yds/3.5 oz, ~10 wpi. 2-ply skein: 49 yds/0.7 oz, ~14 wpi.

This was my maiden voyage spinning Polwarth, and I wasn't really sure what to do with it. Out came my handy dandy copy of "In Sheeps Clothing", which recommended worsted-style spinning. Okey dokey. I prepped the fiber Saturday night while the girls were having a bath: I split the entire length of top into three equal pieces by weight (40 gr, 40 gr, 39 gr). One length I left alone, one I split in half and one I split into fourths - hello fractal spinning!

Spinning on back porch while girls/dog played in sprinkler = win/win

This particular braid of fiber was also my maiden voyage into David's world, and was part of my prize pack from last year's 4 Oz Challenge event. I enjoyed every single moment of this spin, and it went by far too quickly! I managed the to finish the three bobbins by yesterday morning, and started plying last night. Finished off the plying today - I ended up with extra singles from the half-width and quarter-width bobbins, and put those into a 2-ply mini-skein.

3-ply

2-ply

I wasn't sure as to the provenance of the colorway name - living in the UK, all the cairns I've ever seen are mostly rock colored. Or covered in moss. But a quick Wikipedia glance reveals that Cairns is actually a city in Queensland that serves as a starting off point for going to the Great Barrier Reef (among other things). So the images of coral reefs and gorgeous blue and turquoise oceans that were floating through my brain while I spun this weren't far off. Well done David!