In the Nick of Time.

After a marathon of flicking, carding and spinning over the past few days, I am done. Actually, I should probably restate that... I am as done, as I'm gonna be. I have only today to pack for me, the children and the dogs for a lengthy trip to BC, clean my house and do all the little things around the home that need to be done before I go.

First of all, I want to say that I'm pretty damn proud of myself. I took a fleece... straight off the sheep's back (The Sheep and The Process) and transformed it into yarn.

Unfortunately that yarn, did not fully meet up with my expectations:

A) It's under plied (you can see this quite clearly in the pictures below). This is a problem which I might be able to fix, if I had more time, but I don't and I still want to bring the yarn with me on my trip. However, if I manage to do all of my chores today, I might run it through my wheel again, to somewhat fix that.... we shall see.

B) It's too thick. I had planned on a laceweight yarn, but my finished yarn turned out to be fingering weight.

C) My dye job.... Actually, the colour is PERFECT. Exactly what I had in mind.... regrettably, the areas where the yarn was tied, did not dye (there is a reason that it's called Tie Dye, after all).... so there are lighter and whiter patches in the yarn in these spots (you can see this in the last dye picture). I knew this was going to happen, but in my rush to finish last night, I forgot to check...... I could dye the yarn again, but as I mentioned already... I am out of time and so, I will knit the yarn as is and if the whiter spots bug me, I'll attempt to over-dye the finished shawl.




D) I have 1300m. The pattern calls for around 1350m. I am taking a big risk here. I did a Ravelry search for a new pattern, but I have my heart set on Evenstar. And so ..... even with the problems mentioned above, I am going to use my yarn to attempt to knit it..... and hope for the best..... if worse comes to worse, I guess I will have to finally admit defeat and use a mill-spun yarn for the shawl... because I WILL knit this shawl.

Stay tuned for THAT adventure...... although blogging will be limited to non-existent while I travel.....

And for a final picture.... Look at my cutie doggies.... they had a fresh haircut yesterday. I LOVE it when they're newly clipped, they look ridiculous.....

Infinity.

Will it ever end? To paraphrase German philosopher  Friedrich Nietzsche "I have stared into the abyss and it has stared back." I've been flicking and carding and spinning (Oh My!) for days and it feels like I've barely touched the pile of fleece at my feet..... I would REALLY like to have this yarn finished for my big trip to BC next week, but I'm starting to think that's not going to happen....

I started with this:

Did a whole bunch of this:




I've spun this (I'm guessing it's about 150 grams, hopefully close to 2500m of singles, if it's less, I'm in trouble and probably won't be able to finish this yarn for my trip... I still have to pack for me, both kids and the dogs for a 4-5 week journey. Plus, I need to clean my house, take the car in for a tune up, check out Stampede, deal with Chey's last week of pre-school, keep both kids occupied AND knit my stripe of the latest WCOBBS blanket that I've volunteered for... this means that  I need to finish spinning this by tomorrow to have any hope of dyeing and drying this yarn to go. Yikes!):

and I still have this:

I had no idea........

Temptation

I am, basically, a monogamous person. I don't have the time or the energy to expand my focus and attention in a multitude of directions.... I like the peace and quiet of a singular relationship. The steady monotony and security appeals to me. Perhaps part of the issue is that I don't like to lie.... and I am a rule follower to the extreme and often to my own detriment. That's not to say that I am not occasionally tempted. Something periodically captures my attention and I waiver, ever so slightly, in my determination to remain faithful..... But.... I can normally reign in the wanderlust and refocus my attention where it belongs..... that was, until a few days ago, when Evenstar caught my attention...... I was immediately captured, enthralled, enraptured and beguiled.... caught up in the elegant beauty of the design and I felt something move, deep in my soul.....It was my moral knitting compass and it had shifted, ever so slightly (yes, I said knitting.... perhaps you thought this post would be more titillating than another post about knitting??).... It wouldn't be SOOO bad to start another project, right??? I am "almost" done my current project and it wouldn't hurt to have a slight delay in its completion, would it??? Maybe not for most people, but for me..... a delay in my internal knitting timer, sets off all kinds of alarm bells..... and yet, I am still tempted... I was mulling over the issue in the shower this morning, when the solution occurred to me.....

Spinning....... spinning is NOT knitting and therefore, does not fall under my weird internal monogamous knitting clause........ Take that! Justification as a workaround.... I wonder if anyone has ever thought of that before...... ;P

I plan to use the fleece that I purchased in April.... It's already been washed and a few locks have been carded (the staple length is too short for combing, which I prefer)..... 1400 meters of 2 ply lace weight should be just about right....  stay tuned...

PS... I know the side bar says that I have 3 projects on the go, but let me explain.... one is hibernating until the fall, when it will be more appropriate to finish it.... One is my travel project, which is rarely worked on at home... and one is my MAIN project.... my singular project that must be completed before new projects are started...... more justification, I suppose...

Adventures in Fleece. Part 2

8 down, 10 to go...... My thoughts on each of the first half (almost) of the Super Fiber Sampler that I started to blog about many months ago.... (which are also being recorded on my stash page on Ravelry).


My first sample was the Polwarth; I loved working with this fleece and super soft yarn was the result. Carded and spun from rolags. Resulting yarn is approx. 11 WPI

The Polwarth





Border Leicester was next. It washed up from golden yellow to white (I actually liked the original colour, but while reflecting on the CAUSE of that colour, I quickly changed my mind). I didn’t like the feel of the fleece even after washing. It seemed very coarse in comparison with the Polwarth, I would even go so far to call it "squeaky and plastic-y" feeling. Combed, but had a lot of waste wool… not sure if that is my fault, the combing’s fault or the sheep’s fault (I, rather highly, suspect its mine and with some further research have discovered that combing does leave a lot of waste). Resultant yarn is approx. 10-11 WPI, a beautiful cream, but coarse… wouldn’t use it for anything. Maybe it could be blended in small amounts with something softer to add some strength and luster??? Although, honestly, I doubt I would buy it again and so, probably won't find out.....







3) Icelandic: I did the stove-top method of washing this fleece and really liked it….. although there was a lot of VM left in the locks, the rest was very clean. Have combed it and did not find any separate layers although my understanding is that it should have two layers. It pretty much combed out as one length and I had much less waste than the Border Leicester. On reflection this is most likely due to the fact that I did a much better job of washing the Icelandic fleece. It feels coarse in comparison to the fine wools, but is softer than the Border Leicester, I would consider it if I needed something with strength, maybe even blending small amounts with something softer for toes and heels of socks??.....



4) CVM: Very soft and greasy even before washing…. I’m definitely preferring the “fine” sheep breeds so far…. I even prefer the smell.. more sheep-y, less poop-y…. I messed up when I was spinning this and plied a section in the wrong direction and then underplied when I realized and corrected my mistake, but I'm still liking it... the colour is particularly nice.



5) Corriedale: Another soft fine wool. Doesn’t feel as greasy as CVM, but I love how soft it is….It feels a bit coarser (coarser in comparison to the other fine wools I've processed so far) now that it's spun and washed, but would still be a nice wool for cardigans. I wouldn't use it for anything next to the skin, but I am slightly sensitive to wool and even find some merino slightly itchy (I wear it anyway! I'm determined!)... I carded and spun this from rolags, but my prep wasn't very good and the resulting yarn is a bit slubbier and less even than I'd like.




Here are the singles of Corriedale, CVM and Icelandic (left to right in photo)




6) Perendale: This is a longwool, but the softest of the three so far (my initial pre-wash impression). Well, crapOla...... I stove-topped the hell out of this wool.... I washed the wool on the stove and then was doing the first rinse (also on the stove)...... I decided to turn off the stove and let the rinse cool and soak for a bit while I ran out...... I came home to the worst FunkE smell Eva! Sort of like a.... rotten boiled eggs served in a manure infested barn, kind of smell..... Apparently, I only THOUGHT I turned off the stove and my wool cooked for a good two hours....... The resulting mess was partially, but not fully, felted and I decided not to bother with it...... Perendale now rests in the garbage......

7) Cormo: This is by FAR my favorite so far. It felt lovely even when dirty and even though I slightly felted it (I think.... I'm not sure if it was felted or just compacted as it combed out quite nicely), I decided to comb it and use it anyway.... and I still love it......



8) Romney: The softest longwool I've done yet. Because I felted the Perendale, I can't remember which is softer, but I'm pretty sure the Romney is... It was one of the easier to process and combed out with very little waste.



The main things I've learned so far:

1) It's OK to be harsh when picking though fleece. Throwing out the matted bits, the really short bits and the combing leftovers is fine.... The sheep police are not going to break down your door and arrest you for throwing perfectly good wool in the garbage, even if you cut off the tips of the locks with scissors.

2) I need an electric spin dryer. Perhaps "need" is the wrong word, but I want one and a salad spinner isn't going to cut it for me.... (I like my gadgets). Drying time needs to be cut down so that I can do my own laundry and use the drying rack for clothing, rather than just fleece. I also need to pick up some Tulle. I found I had to do a second and third cleaning with a pillowcase and my sweater bags were too small making it difficult the lock structure.

UPDATE: I did purchase a spin dryer and LOVE it! It is fantastic for all of my handwashing items.. I haven't used it for fleece yet, but I set the twist in my last 2 of this batch and the resulting yarn was almost dry. A heavy knit sweater dries overnight (with a fan) using this gadget..... I bought mine from The Laundry Alternative. The small countertop fits 3 light knit sweaters (store bought or fingering weight) OR 2 medium knit sweaters (dk to aran weight) OR 1 heavy sweater.

3) Combing/carding is hard on my wrists. I don't think washing/prepping a fleece is something I'll do all the time and it'll take me a while to finish this sampler because of it.

4) Washing/prepping my own fleece has taught me a LOT about wool (and I even understand more about spinning worsted vs. spinning woolen!) and I think this Fibre Sampler is an invaluable tool.

Test knitting...

I've recently asked to be included in a test knit for Lily (lprajogo on Ravelry). I saw the request, liked the sweater, had some yarn for it and, more importantly, was between projects (kind of, we'll talk about that later) and voila!. This is the sweater . I am currently doing a gauge swatch (properly, meaning I'm actually going to do a full size swatch and wash and dry it before it's measured. I thought a test knit was due proper respect) in a lovely superwash merino from Indigo Moon. I hope it's the right yarn for the sweater because the colour is lovely. If not, I have a couple of other options in my stash.


I, also, have finally finished the cashmere gloves that I started at the beginning of summer. I shortened the cuff and the fingers and made each finger a bit skinnier for my little hands....








Still working (OK, the term "working" might be a bit strong... perhaps "thinking about working" would be more appropriate) on the Super Fibre Sampler.... I'm nearly finished with the first portion (only 2 left to spin and ply) then I can post about it....

Another FO

Lookie what I finished yesterday..... isn't it purdy??? Details of the modifications I did are on Ravelry



I'm still working on the Super Fiber Sampler.... I haven't been that motivated, truth be told... but I will finish the first half soon (I guess another week or so is still "soon", right?)

Adventures in Fleece

I finally finished the spinning project that was holding up my fleece processing adventures. I purchased 8 oz (227g) of a lovely 70% Merino 30% Silk Top in "Mackenzie Tartan" from WC Mercantile's etsy store a few months ago, in order to make a scarf as a gift for someone special.







The yarn is wonderful. I ended up doing a 2ply from a center pull ball and got 5 skeins (should have been 4, but one broke) totaling around 400m of sport weight yarn/dk weight yarn. The yarn is more blue than the pictures and has little flecks of red, green, white and gray. I think I'll use it to make My So Called Scarf (Ravelry Link)







Once the yarn finished with a good wash and thwack, I immediately grabbed the Polwarth that I washed last week and started to card it. So far, so good..... I think...




I haven't only been spinning.... I also cast on for Vivian I plan to knit it without a hood or zipper and am using the suggested yarn in "Biscuit".

The Sheep are calling me....

Phew.... I finished Eli's BTSS 2009, on the second day of school. It turned out great!! He loves it and it looks cute on him. I haven't washed it yet, but I'm not worried about that.



I used almost all of the green I had and half of one skein of black. Sweater was knit top-down with a knit on kangaroo pocket and hood. The hood was interesting as I just kind of did it..... no pattern, just knit... although it did take two tries to get a result that I was happy with....

Now that the BTSS is finished, I can move on.....

I mentioned a while ago, that I ordered some fleece samples "in the grease" from The Spinning Loft. They arrived last week and have been bleating plaintively from the couch, begging me to forget my other projects, both spinning and knitting and start the adventure.......

Today, it began......... I had Chey pick the first sample..... She chose the Polworth, one of the fine wools in the box of 18. I washed it (as per the many directions I've read) and then set it out to dry... It's lovely! Here are some pictures of the process so far.... 3 washes and 3 rinses (although I think I only needed 2) and then re- organized the locks to dry.

Polworth in Package	Dirty Sheep (actually, it was very clean)
Bath Time	Clean & Fresh

I have some other spinning to finish, but I am hoping to start the actual combing or carding (haven't decided what to try first) and spinning of this in the next couple of days...