And in this corner...

Fiberfancy's merino/bamboo/silk along with

Friendsinfiber's BFL/silk

together will make

A nice scarf.

I'm finding it very hard to find time to knit or spin lately. My 14 year old daughter has found out the wonderfulness that is the Beatles, and we've been enjoying their music, movies, and even the goofy Beatles cartoons I loved as a kid. She even has a favorite that just happens to be mine as well. I love that we both get along with each other so well.

I never did follow directions well

In my last post I told myself that I needed to pick a pattern and spin specifically for that, since I suck so much at knitting.

So of course I went on to knit something without a pattern.

This is the 2 ply lace that I spun for tdf this year. It's just the basic knit stitch and with 500+ yards I figure I should have enough yarn to make it a decent length. Hopefully the pretty colors will make up for my lack of knitting well.

Speaking of tdf, I won up to 10 patterns from KTLV! I figure it will be years before I'm good enough to knit any of them, but hey, I won something!

How much yarn could a non knitter knit if a non knitter could knit yarn.

A scarf that's only 26 inches long?

And I ran out of yarn before I could balance the end with the beginning, so if I were to keep it as a scarf type thingy I'd have to undo the last several inches to balance it.
Maybe I could sew it together as ear warmers?

I think my best bet, for next time, is to have a pattern planned and spin for that. Still I'll have to have a vague idea of how many yards you get per ounce.

The deconstruction of a scarf-type-thingy

This was once this

Which was once this

Which began it's life as this

It's always nice to look back and see how I much I can screw something up, don't you think?

No, I'm not really upset. This was a lesson I needed to learn AND, I got to use my little right side/wrong side sheep!

Post tdf

About half way into the tour I kept wishing I could wrap yarn around needles and MAKE something with some of this finished yarn. Now that there's time to do that

I'm reminded that I really suck at it.

Oh well. This blog will also be used to document my journey into the world of learning how to knit.

Because I'm not using a pattern I'll write it down now before I have to stop knitting and forget what it is I'm trying to do.
1-9 k
10-15 k3 p5 k3 p5 k3 p5 k3 p5 k3
16-18 k
19 - ? repeat 10-18
end with repeat 1-9 at end of yarn.
I'm hoping there's enough yarn to make a decent scarf.

tdf day 23

I had to get pictures taken and posted here so I can post them to the tour board before I lost the light so, I'll get the complete pictures tomorrow.

Everything I've spun for Tour de Fleece 2011 except the skein of Leicester Longwool (it went missing ?!) and a little skein of Phat Fiber June box that I'm still plying. Total weight 1 pound 7.6 ounces (23.6 ounces). 1971 total yards spun.

All of the yarn (except that elusive Leicester Longwool & the Polworth that I forgot to include) that was spun for the Spinner's Study team.

All of the yarn (except the one I'm still plying) that was spun for the Phat Fiber team. 14.5 ounces.

All of the yarn was spun and plied on spindles for the Spindle team.

This has been an incredible experience for me. It was my first tour and I learned so much. I learned that it takes time, not only to do the spinning, but to keep the team boards updated and follow their rules. I learned to not be so afraid of the prettiness that I've bought. I know sheep will always make more wool but that doesn't mean I can afford it. I learned a little bit about colors and how they change when plied. By spinning 9 different types of wool I learned how different fibers react to being spun and how I react to them. I learned how many hours it takes to spin 4 ounces of fiber (and even that, how many hours each different type of fiber it takes to spin it), and through the support of the other team mates I've learned not to be afraid to show my less than perfect yarns.

It's been a good time and I'll be excited to do this next year as well.

watched: Dirty Jobs marathon

--------------------------------------------------------------

And if the tour didn't make me create enough yarn....

I had to pick this out and start spinning. What is the saying about it taking three weeks to form a habit? Well I guess it's better for me than smoking.

tdf Day 22

Wow, almost done. This month has gone by fast!
A bit of catch up.

I bought 4 ounces of raw CVM from The Spinning Loft (love that shop)

I washed it and combed it with 2 pitch combs. The little balls felt a lot like firm sponges. They were really weird and when I drafted them they reminded me of rubber being stretched.

2 ply and not a very good job of it at that. I will say though that this is wonderful fiber once spun. It's soft and squishy and I wouldn't mind a sweater made of it.

4 ounces of raw Leicester Longwool, again, from The Spinning Loft. You can see where the lanolin is melting into the label. I had to move the dehumidifier in the basement because it was blowing very warm air all over my wool.

The Leicester got washed and was combed by my daughter C. This was the first fiber she combed and hopefully she learned what not to do. (Love you C!). I believe this was also the fiber she was working on when she dropped the comb onto her foot.

Again, a 2 ply skein. This yarn isn't very soft but the luster is wonderful. You can't really see it in this picture but it's there. I want to buy more and add it in with the coopworth for the rug.

Polworth
I had washed 4 ounces of gray Polworth to use for the challenge day, thinking I'd spin it both for the challenge of lace weight, and as a new-to-me fiber, but with my completion of lace weight with the merino/tencel, and since this was the same color as the shirt I'm wearing today, I decided to spin this.
This fiber laughed and stuck it's tongue out at me. Since my usually mode of spinning is to over spin, I've been trying to lighten it up and spin a softer, less twisted yarn. This however kept falling apart and once I realized it was daring me to spin it as tightly as I could we got along just fine.



watched: Sherlock Holmes.

tdf day 21

Spun, plied, and washed.

wpi 13 = worsted/sport
yards = 164

This is still damp but in this humidity that's to be expected. I have to take it downstairs and throw it on the electric sweater dryer.

This yarn was a study on spinning a thicker less twisted yarn. I failed miserably. Well, no I guess I can't say that. It's thicker and less twisted than I'm comfortable spinning. It's just not balanced or spun evenly. Still I love it. I love the green of it and the barber pole. I also LOVED that it didn't lose any color in the washing. The last skein I spun went from brilliant colors to washed out tomato-y prettiness because so much color was washed out. This though, kept it's color.

And to show off a weeks worth of work (so far)...

watched: Firefly, Black Death, 3rd Rock from the Sun.