Procrastinators unite

This has nothing to do with anything I'm supposed to be working on, but it's so pretty I can't keep my fingers off it.



This is Brown Sheep yarn mill ends - black tone from, The Sheep Shed.

I love this stuff. It spins up to a really pretty heathery grey. I'm thinking of spinning a 3 ply yarn and making a hat/mittens/scarf set. I have some beautiful green mill ends too that I'll use with this.

Here begins the overposting.

Ravelry has changed they way they do things again and since I don't have the money to buy the 'extras' that allow me to upload a picture directly from my computer, you dear readers, will have to put up with my daily tdf progress all through the tour. It's the only way I can post to the daily threads. Otherwise you can come back after July 21st when I will resume my regular off and on postings.



tdf13 countdown: 24 hours.

I pulled a stupid.

I certainly did. A combination of being over tired, in a rush, and having a kitchen that's inadequate both in space and useability has led to a broken dye pot. Yep, I broke the crock to my dye pot crockpot. And I was just two colors away from being finished dyeing for tdf13 too.

Grrr!

This means that I will not be able to find out if I can spin 3 pounds of fiber in under a month. Yeah, I was crazy to even try that but I did want to see how far I could get. But anyway....

This is what 2.55 pounds of my hand dyed, drum carded, fluff looks like.


I'm actually thinking of going back to the thrift store and picking out another basket as my regular spinning basket is too small now.

That's the one on the right. I had to pull all of my wips out of my old sewing basket (left and hasn't had any sewing stuff in it for years) just to give all this fiber a nice place to stay while it waits to become yarn.

To give you an idea of size, most of these batts are around 2 ounces, give or take.

In between carding all of these up I've been frantically trying to finish a scarf for my niece for Christmas and being on a Hercule's Legendary Journeys kick. I was busy having kids when it originally aired so while I enjoyed it when I happen to catch it on I wasn't in a position to watch it often. Now thanks to Netflix I'm seeing every episode (and in order) and having a lot of fun. I am so tempted to buy the dvds just for the commentaries. You gotta love Michael Hurst.

In training.

Last year I couldn't do Tour de Fleece (a.k.a. tdf) with everything that was going on/wrong. This year things are a little better and I've got my daughter helping me.

For Christmas I'd like to try to make these for family members. (For those who don't have a Ravelry account, they are hand knit advent wreaths). It will mean knitting in ways that I've never knit before and I figured hand dyed/hand spun would make them mean even more.

Of course it could just mean that I'll be sending family members lumps of unrecognizable wool. We shall see.

Since I need to do the spinning anyway I decided to make it my tdf project. Tdf runs from June 29th through July 21st, so right now I'm in 'training', which is another word for GET READY TO SPEND EVERY WAKING HOUR AT YOUR WHEEL! The last time I did this my wheel wasn't working (or I didn't have it yet, I can't remember) and did it all on spindles. This time I'm hoping I'll be able to spin about 3 pounds of fiber.

I dug into my fiber stash and found some super fine BFL, Colonial, and Baby Suri alpaca.


Pulled out some Country Classic acid dyes


Mixed them up


Weighed out the fiber


tied it up


And dyed them in the designated crock pot. This is one is spruce.

Normally I wouldn't be dyeing this fiber this way but since I have to blend fibers together afterward I decided to go the easier rout. I love the ease of dyeing in the crock pot.

I had to make the decision of how I wanted to prep them so I divided up one color (teal) and drum carded half then used my hackle to prep the other half.


And did a test spin of both before deciding that I wanted to card all 12 colors.


I also hired my daughter to photograph my progress for me. You can tell the difference in our cameras in all the above photos. That and she's willing to take them outside to get the really good shots. It's a small price to pay and it really helps me out by allowing me more time prepping and spinning. She was going to do it for nothing but I wouldn't let her.

As it stands today, I have half of the 12 colors dyed and in various stages of prep. I'm about to go put another color on the drying rack so I can dye more and tonight I'll be sitting at my drum carder again making nice fluffy bats.

Tdf13 teams I've joined:

Peleton
Climbers
Hopelessly over committed
Spin your stash.

Ashford
I think I got a little cared away this year.


What we'll watch during tdf, because my daughter will be doing her crafting stuff along with me while I spin:

Sherlock (BBC)
Star Trek movies (old & new)
Jungle cubs
merlin
jungle book
The Hobbit
My little pony
Russell Howard’s good news
Year End Review
Simon & Simon
Being human uk
Jack Benny on utub
Wild America
Short circuit 1 and 2
Kung Fu panda
Saiyuki (+ Gaiden if we can find it online)

The above is subject to change since we just signed up with Netflix again and Hulu plus for the first time.

Trying to catch up

I've been in a frantic spinning mode lately.

Spunky Eclectic July 2011 club- Headache in Wensleydale. 234 yards 2 ply lace weight.
This was back from March of this year. The rest are just from the last month.

Falkland 416 yds light fingering.

Fiber Fancy 80's club- Madonna. 374 yrds Polwarth light fingering. I REALLY loved her Beatles club, and generally I love her regular colorways, but I'm not so fond of this club. Everything is PINK. That's the one color I can't stomach. You can find a link to her shop in past posts along with her fiber that I did love.

Into The Whirled club - Ravenswood 630 yrds Merino/silk light fingering. I was very sad when I couldn't renew this club for financial reasons. This and Woolgatherings will be the first clubs I rejoin when I can.

Springtree Road - States of Waking and Dreaming. Merino/tencel lace weight. Yeardage unknown. I started crocheting a bag with this as soon as it was dry. I've included Springtree Roads own sale picture (first one) to show just how gorgeous this fiber is.

The last two are from Woolgatherings club. Both Polwarth/silk. 306 and 388 yrds respectfully.

I'm going to try to knit Woolgatherings two skeins along with another I've spun (it's still drying) into a warm cozy shawl.

I just realized that I've not kept up with the knitting/crochet/spinning counters in the side bar. Those are way off. I'll reset them with the new year.

I get Autumn fever like most people get Spring fever. I have to get the house cleaned, organized, and I get interested in fun things again. I just hope some day I'll feel well enough to be able to keep up with myself.

Here's a little more pretty to look at. Our last walk through the park.

I'm trying really hard to get my heart set on tdf this year. It's hard though with all the stuff that's happened and is still happening around here.

Teams joined: SHERlocked, Into the Whirled, Tardis, Stashbusters, and Peloton. I might join Hopelessly Overcommitted but it seems to me that by the time you get to the point you should join that one you are all ready doing to much in everything else.

Spinning: ITW's Doctor Who series. Snow Angles with an Ood x2, Mercy Hartigane, Bigger on the Inside, and Children of Time. Also, Pickin and Spinnin's Doctorin' Up the Tardis. Some undyed baby alpaca for "John's Sweater."

Goals: To spin and post every day.

Training: I have GOT to get the kids year end portfolios completed and sent out before the 30th of this month.
Organize my stash and figure out what I want to spin.
Decide on what teams I'll be spinning for.
Pre draft fiber before it gets too bloody hot to do it.

Mix and freeze: 28 batches of bread, 4 batches of rolls, 6 batches pie crust, 3 batches granola bars, 2 batches cookies, and 4 batches of pizza dough to freeze. Baggie up: 4 batches muffin mixes, 4 batches 'hamburger helper' mixes, and 2 cake mixes. Plan 93 meals and pre-make anything I can that I haven't all ready thought of so I'll have as little food prep going on in July as I can.

Get the house in a state of cleanliness that would let me ignore it, for the most part, for the month. Yikes!

Plan viewing list:
Sherlock series 1 and 2 (re-watch)
Sherlock Holmes movies 1 and 2 (re-watch)
My Little Pony (gods help me)
River Monsters (re-watch)
What ever Agatha Chrisie movies are on netflix (re-watch)
Stargate SG-1 (re-watch)
Stargate Atlantis (re-watch)
Doctor Who- last season (re-watch)
Doctor horrible (re-watch)
Living planet series
Serenity/firefly (re-watch)
Beatles
Star Wars trilogy (originals) (re-watch)
Star Trek (original) (re-watch)
Bones

tbc


Find some interest in doing any of the above.

I detest pink and color combinations that look like Walt Disney threw up on them.

And now you know.

The start of 2012

I knit my first hat.

I used Into the Whirled's Cerulean Dreams club in Romney. I knit it using this pattern but ran out of yarn about 10 rows from finishing so I had to top it off with some Black Welsh.
I'm rather happy with it as first knit hats go. I'm going to wash up and spin a bunch of white and brown llama fleece that I have laying around and use that to make a bunch more hats.

My daughter asked me if I made any New Years resolutions. I usually don't because I inevitably break them and then I feel disappointed in myself. On that note, the following pictures aren't proof of a resolution so much as a reminder to myself of why I don't need to renew my fiber clubs.

All of these are looking into a 22 gallon tub.

22 gallons of randomly purchased braids and bumps.

22 gallons of fiber clubs.

And looking into the same sized container, we see my handspun yarns.

I need more fiber like I need another hole in my head, but once the clubs start renewing I'll get all excited and want to rejoin. What I really should do is not buy anymore until I've gotten a lot of this spun.

Wish me luck getting THAT accomplished.

My first attempt at knitting lace

It's fun to do but something tells me I need a lot more practice at it.

When does your 'workplace' become your 'studio'?

Why do I love drum carders?

Because they take a compressed mass of mess and turn it into something soft and fluffy.

I was working in my workplace/studio..thing all day today and had to stare at this.

I've been hungry for peas, carrots, and red bell peppers all day now. Thank goodness I got out of there before I set the blue up to dry or I would have had to run out and get blueberries too!

Exciting news.. for me anyway.

Remember this post?

Well, that was all about this:

My mother received a nice sum of money that she didn't even know was owed her and was generous enough to share with several members of the family. After pondering long and hard I decided to use it like this.

Kaydessa Wool picker
Fancy Kitty drum carder
Card Weaver's Surf Board.

Can you see me doing The Dance Of Joy now?

The Kaydessa Wool picker is pretty neat in theory.

You put your compacted fiber in one end, drag the lid (containing multiple sharp nails) across the bottom (also containing multiple sharp nails), and as you do this you catch the fiber which opens it up to become nice fluffy mounds on the other end while all the vegetable matter (VM)is left in the bottom.

That's how it works in theory. The top picture is staged. You can't draw that much fiber through at one time. Also, that mohair was so compacted with tight curls that I had to pick it open with my fingers before sending it through so the picker didn't tear the fiber. The nice fluffy mound of fiber on the right hand side of the picker was hand picked once and sent through the picker twice after that. While it did help remove a lot of VM, there is so much of it in this fleece that I had to hand pick it once, send it through the picker twice, hand pick it again before drum carding it and still there was a pile of VM under the carder when I was done while the new bat contains too much VM for my liking. This is not the fault of the picker though. This fleece is terrible in it's amount of VM. So much so that I'm not buying from this local "award winning" shepherdess again.
Anyway, with a long fiber like mohair, the picker tends to pull and rip the fiber too much. I tried it with a small amount of merino/targhee x and it pilled terribly. I'm going to have to play around with this thing more to see what it likes to work with. I don't mind hand picking smaller amounts of fiber but, even with it's flaws, the Kaydessa wool picker will come in handy with 5 VM filled mohair fleeces to work with.

The Fancy Kitty 90/120 drum carder

This is what I thought I'd never be able to afford. It's taking some getting used to, and there's certainly more of a learning curve than when using combs, but it sure plows through large amounts of fiber in short order. In this picture I've carded some professional top, dyed by me, and some more of that mohair, also dyed by me. Orange and blue are not my usual colors but there's something about a drum carder that begs you to play outside your usual field.

I've carded two bats of this same blend and hope to knit some sock/slipper things with it.

My favorite purchase, by far, was the Card Weaver's Surf Board.

Please excuse the messy picture. It's sitting on top of my floor loom which was piled high with clothes sorted for an emergency trip out of state for a family funeral.
Anyway, I love this little thing. No more having to strap my work to my waist, or try to find a table or other surface that won't be needed for as long as it takes to finish a project. I LOVE this thing. There are a few things I would change about it but just the fact that it's light weight and oh-so portable makes it's well worth the money. There will be a lot more tablet woven bands around here now.

Lose a crock pot - gain a dye pot

When the lid to my 7 quart crock pot bit the dust, I couldn't just throw the whole crock pot away. "Crock pot" doesn't sell replacement lids, and the way the handle broke off would mean super glue could potentially melt into our food if I tried to glue it back on.

This crock pot has been relegated to the basement as a dye pot and I'm having so much fun using it like this.

6oz total of merino/targhee x, finn/dorst/targhee x, and some cormo thrown in for good measure.

I pre-soaked the merino/targhee separately because that was the only fleece of this combination that wasn't coated and was full of VM (vegetable matter).

I used Country Classics dye in the Bluebonnet colorway.

I dyed it in two batches. I wouldn't want to try to dye more than 4oz at a time in this pot. Then I dried it on the sweater rack...

and when it was barely dry, spun up a tiny sample skein and plied it with some natural white finn/dorset/targhee x. I love this little yarn and have decided that I need to dye more of this color and ply it with more natural white because, this dye job has been slated for plying with more of Fiber Fancy's Weekend Enjoyment. Hopefully it will be a scarf that looks like just the light blue end of this one.

We both like the light blue end of this scarf better and now I have enough of the light blue to make a whole scarf like that.

By the way, if you've never tried dyeing your own fiber, it's very addictive.

This is more finn/dorset/targhee x in pine green. I have merino/targhee x in raven cooling down right now so I can dye the mohair that's been soaking over night to become what ever color strikes my fancy this morning.

eta: This is VERY addicting and if it keeps up, I'm going to have an excuse a reason for buying more fleece.

Fiber play & Autumn fun

The "Enjoying the Weekend Blues Scarf" is finished!

It ended up being just over 7 feet long! I was going to knit until I ran out of yarn but it was getting ridiculously long so I cast off. It's nice and soft and warm though. I hope my sister likes it.

The only thing left I have to make for Christmas is the Plums and Olives scarf, which I'm spinning now. I'll block both scarves at the same time and make life a little easier on myself.

Fuggly is almost finished. He's the perfect size for sleeping on the couch so I'm keeping him long and narrow. He's about two and a half times the width of that picture but he's just more of the same ugly acrylic yarn so I'll wait to take a final/final picture. All I have left to do is crochet a boarder but I'm happy leaving him as is for now. What I really need to work on is my son's afghan in black, grey, and red. Not colors I'm looking forward to knitting, and I'm using Red Heart Super Save yarn (ick) but he needs some winter warmth. I've started knitting it in the same pattern I used for the Enjoying the Weekend Blues Scarf. It breaks up the monotony a little bit without making it so hard that I can't concentrate on it while I'm watching tv.

The weaving bug has bitten again and I've been weaving little squares with leftovers.

I'm really not happy with my little handmade looms though. I'm thinking I may just have to take all the junk that's accumulated on my floor loom (it's an automatic coat rack & table for taking pictures of my projects) and get someone to help me move my huge warping board to a place where I can use it and have a go at a larger weaving project.

Something totally unrelated:

Halloween.
Some of my kids still love the holiday. My daughter looks forward to it all month. This year she made adorable little cupcakes.
This one's my favorite.

She carved an awesome pumpkin

I just realized we didn't get a picture of my youngest son's pumpkin. I'll have to get one before it gets icky.

And, along with her sister-in-law became a Silent Hill nurse. That link will take you to a creepy/violent video. Be forewarned.

They both love the movie and games (as does my oldest son). I just find it very disturbing.

Last but not least, our walk in the park yesterday.

Credit: Cara took the last two pictures.