Well I'm nothing if not persistant

Or as my family likes to call it, stubborn.

After my last post, I figured out what I was doing wrong with my N-plying so, I decided to give it another try.

I plied two small skeins of New Scarecrow.

And one full 4oz skein from Spinfusion called Viola.

I also finished my Monarch Paws scarf

It's a little wonky but I still like it.

I've been a little busy

My spinning wheel FINALLY works.

This is Fiber Fancy's "New Scarecrow" in Merino and Tussah silk. I took it off the wheel to try N-plying because that's what I'd like to do with this yarn. Needless to say, I won't be ruining this pretty yarn with my N-playing (s)kills. For some reason, I spin even thinner on the wheel than I do with a spindle. My automatic spin weight seems to be fine lace for singles, which is annoying the heck out of me. I'd love to get some nice squishy worsted yarns.

I've set aside this scarf in order to try one a little less attention intense.

This is my Monarch yarn knit in the Cat's Paw Lace Scarf. I hadn't realized how much the tension had changed until I'd laid it all out like this. I probably should knit an entire project in one day so my knitting isn't drastically different in the middle. Hopefully with blocking it won't be so drastic.

And lastly, we lost a member of our family two weeks ago. It's taken me this long to be able to go through the pictures of him.

His younger years.

R.I.P. Echo aka old puppy.

14 years

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!

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

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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 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.

tdf day 17 - Drum roll

I finished plying the merino/tencel!

4 oz braid

Single

524 yards of 20-29 wpi. That makes it LACE WEIGHT! I actually managed to do it. It's not all even, but if you figure lace weight to be 18+ wpi, it's lace weight even at it's thickest.

I wonder how much yardage I would have had if I'd not had a lot of 1 single left?

I also spun some angora bunny

watched: Hogfather, Angel

tdf day 16

PLYING!!

watched: Little Shop of Horrors, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Angel.

tdf day 15

I am so not motivated today. I'm really sick of this fiber and I'm soo very close to the end but I just can't work up the umph. I spun for about 2 hours so far today, and will probably do more tonight after shopping, just to get through it.

watched: The Who's Tommy, Serenity.

tdf day 14

I've done a lot of spinning since this picture was taken six hours ago. I have just two more hanks like the one shown here and the last 2 ounces of this fiber will be spun. I should have it spun and plied by the end of the weekend. Then I can pull out a bunch of samples for the Spinner's Study team.

watched: The rest of Firefly. Good show that shouldn't have been canceled. Now if I can find Outlaw Star (I put a bunch of my dvds in boxes to store) I'll watch that the rest of the night.

tdf day 13

Still plugging away at the merino/tencel

I've also been playing with the phat fiber June (sci fi) sampler box

watched: Firefly marathon. It's a total rip off of Outlaw Star but it's still a good show.

tdf day 12

I haven't done much spinning yet today.

I got started on the second half of The Critter Ranch's Monarch colorway (merino/tencel)

watched: How to Train Your Dragon, news, VH1 classic, will probably watch Fraggle Rock before the night is over.

tdf day 8

Wow. I didn't even realize that yesterday marked the one week mark.
Accomplished so far

I finished half of the 4oz braid of Monarch, 2 ply Romney, and 2 ply Black Welsh. I'm also half way through some Perendale but I didn't start working on that until after dark so no picture yet.

Watched: Foo Fighters concert, Heavy Metal on VH1, Phantom of the Opera, and Amadeus.

tdf day 7

I am really in danger of burn out. This 4 ounces is taking forever to spin. What's on the spindle isn't even half of the braid and I've all ready put a LOT of hours into it.

Watched: a documentary on Rush *loves* and something else. I can't remember what it was.

tdf day 6

Day 6? Already?!

I took the kids to the zoo today so I only got in a few minutes spinning time this morning.

Watched: my coffee getting cold.

tdf day 5

This is beautiful in person but it's a slow spin.

More 'war wounds!'

Cara has been combing wool with me while I spin. This is what happens when you drop the comb.
Tomboy toes!

Watched: lots of classic VH1 stuff and Ferris Bueller.

tdf day 4

Very slow start to today's spinning. I slept in (after staying up until 3 with the kids watching Dr Horrible extras) and took to long posting and trying to keep up with boards.

This is The Critter Ranch's Monarch colorway in merino/tencel.

I decided to take pictures of the 'paper cuts' the Romney gave me because this is all about documenting my first Tour de France. They aren't healing because they were put there from the motions of plying, so plying the Black Welsh just tore them up again.

Have you ever tried to take pictures of your own hands?

With a dumb ass camera

That never wants to FOCUS

There. Documentation of my 'war wounds'.

Watched: Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog (I really have to take that remote away from my daughter ; ) a show about I band but I can't remember who it was, Whoe's Line old school marathon.