Tour de Fleece Finale

After leaving you at the end of the second week, I managed to spin another two bobbins of white merino, making 4 in all (4th one isn't photographed here, but you can see the beginnings of it flick carded and ready to spin).

The problem with spinning 4 bobbins of white fleece is that they all look alike, so I didn't want to bore you with endless photos of white yarn.

Towards the end of the third week I rounded up all my yellow onion skins (there were a lot!) and made up a dye pot.  In the photo above the onion skins have already started to cook down, but when I first filled the pan they came right up to the top, and this is quite a large pan :-

I just managed to get all four skeins into the dye and then cooked them for about an hour, letting them cool in the pan.  The colour is really pretty in real life - I can't really describe it, except that maybe apricot is the nearest.

I'm now spinning more of the merino to go with this, maybe in a contrasting colour, I haven't quite made up my mind.  But I plan to knit a cardigan with this.

Here's what I managed to spin over the 3 week period.  It doesn't look a lot, but I'd been very lax about prepping the fleece beforehand, so had to do that as well.

Final amounts :-

140g Cria Alpaca (333 yds/307m)

345g Merino (987 yds/911m)

So, as usual, can't wait until next year's Tour de Fleece . . . no, wait - there's going to be another one in September when the Tour de France rides!!  

Black and White Tour de Fleece

After all the uncertainty this year with the Covid 19 pandemic, no-one was sure if the Tour de France would happen this year.  As it turned out, it was cancelled until late August. However, the Tour de Fleece organisers decided that the Tour de Fleece would go ahead in July anyway!  And there's an added bonus this year because we're having a second one starting at the end of August!!  What fun!

This year I rooted through my stock of fleece sacks and found this very messy cria alpaca (baby alpaca's first shearing) which was given to me about 3 years ago by my friend who runs an animal park over here.  We were actually visiting on the day this little girl (her name is Liesje) was born, in fact we probably arrived less than half an hour afterwards, so it feels extra special to be spinning her fleece.

This fleece has quite a long staple and probably would have been difficult to card, but it was really all the straw that decided me to use my combs to prepare it.  I couldn't face sitting for hours picking all the vegetable matter out only to then have to card it.  Combs get rid of everything, so that was the way to go.

All ready for the big start up (note the extra large fan to keep me cool through all the hot weather we've been having lately) :-

The finished bobbin has a lovely sheen and quite a nice halo.  I'm hoping to be able to use this on my weaving loom, but will need to spin more alpaca to go with it.  I'll probably use Liesje's Mum's fleece as she's black too.

Next up, I unearthed an even older bag of merino fleece that had never even been opened.  I've prepared it by flick carding each end of the locks into lovely fluffy piles and then spinning from the cut end.  This is being spun "in the grease" as I don't really like to wash fleece before I start to prepare it.  I don't like the lock structure to be messed up, and however careful I am washing fleeces, the lock structure always seems to suffer.  This way, it's easy to separate the fleece into piles of individual locks and then flick.

The first full bobbin arrived 3 or 4 days later

and was plied.  Here's the next bobbin being prepped.

The second bobbin was finished and plied by the end of the second week.  Guess what's next?

Last night (afternoon in the US) our TdF team had a Zoom meeting over a 4 hour period. It was really good to be able to meet up face to face.  There was one lady there who joined the DIY and Dye group in May 2013 (same as me) and I'd never ever even seen a photograph of her.  So it was lovely to be able to meet her "in person".  We have new people joining each year too, so it was good to be able to put faces to names.  We all sat spinning, carding, combing and generally chatting and I got quite a pile of fleece flicked ready for my third bobbin.

So, next week is the final week of the first 2020 Tour de Fleece.  I'm planning to spin this third bobbin of merino and then dye it all using the copious amounts of yellow onion skins I've been saving.  I really want to knit a cardigan with this yarn and I realise I won't have enough with just three skeins, but I'll spin the rest after TdF and then dye it to, hopefully, complement these three.  Maybe I could do various colours and knit a Fairisle pattern.

I'll be back next week with the finished yarn skeined and ready to use.

TdF Weeks 2 and 3

Just in case you thought I'd given up part way through, here are my final contributions to this year's Tour de Fleece.  I must admit life got very busy during the second week and I didn't get as much spinning time as I'd planned.  I only managed one skein during week 2, and one and a half in week 3.

For this week's challenge, I chose "tonal yarn" where the yarn is dyed in different shades of the same colour.  As you'll see at the end, this didn't actually work that well, but never mind, I like it as it is anyway.  I went rummaging in my fleece store and came up with some of this :-

I have no clue what this fleece is - it was stuffed in an old pillowcase and I couldn't find a label in there.  I'm pretty sure this will have been gifted to me by someone in the past, so maybe it isn't labelled because I never knew what it was in the first place!  It's pretty good fleece though, quite fine.

I carded up about 100g of it and spun it as finely as I could.  The fleece helped there because it really needed to be spun finely.

After filling the bobbin I transferred it off and made a plying ball.

By this time I was pretty tired of seeing natural coloured fleece.  I really needed some colour in my life!  So I quickly got it plied and skeined off

and probably went a bit mad with the hot pink dye I chose.  I washed and rinsed it, then lay it in a bowl and applied the dye in different strengths around the skein.  When it came out though, the stronger colour seemed to have seeped into the lighter areas!  You can just see a few lighter bits on the next photo, but it really just looked badly dyed!

So at the end of week 2, this was my "Non-Tonal Yarn" :-

As I said, it may not be tonal yarn, but it is pink!!!

For week 3's challenge I picked out some more of my lovely super-kid mohair fleece and dyed it in the team colours again (grey, teal and violet).  I used the same dye batch as I had some left from week 1, but I think I maybe put more dye on this time because it definitely looks stronger in colour.

I separated it into the three different colours again and started carding.

Finished rolags :-

The challenge I chose this week was "Accidental Boucle" which is actually an opposing ply yarn, i.e. one ply is spun clockwise, one ply anti-clockwise, and then ply anti-clockwise. So one ply loses twist (the clockwise) and one ply gains twist (the anti-clockwise).  First bobbin finished and looking good :-

Second bobbin was spun anti-clockwise.  Here it is alongside the first bobbin :-

After plying and taking it off the bobbin, I was a bit disappointed.  It was supposed to have loops and kinks, but mine just looked a bit wavy.

In the next photo I put it alongside the skein I spun during the first week, so you can see that not only is there a difference in colour, there's definitely a difference in texture.

After throwing it into hot water though, my loops and kinks suddenly arrived.  Magic!

Final photo shows it off quite well I think.  So from "Accidental Non-Boucle" before washing, I think I can now call it "Accidental Boucle" after washing!

I finished this one with 2 days left to fill before the Tour de Fleece ended so I needed a quick project to use up those 2 days.  I chose some alpaca (from Cadbury, my neighbour's animal) which was in pretty good shape and I knew it wouldn't need much preparation before I could start spinning.

For alpaca, it didn't have an awful lot of vegetable matter, but it did have a lot of dust!  I just pulled handfuls out of the bag, pulled it apart, removing vm and second cuts as I went, and literally threw it through the drum carder.  Each batt went through twice and I made little nests ready to spin from.

By the time Sunday came to an end, I'd managed to spin this much :-

but I still had more to spin.  I've since finished and plied it, but it still needs to be dyed :-

At the moment it's still on the bobbin, but I plan to dye it soon.  In fact, a couple of friends are really interested in natural dyeing so I'm hoping to invite them over for the day and we'll have a woad dyeing session.  I'll be interested to see how this colour fleece will take the dye.

Final round-up of yarns achieved during this year's TdF (except for the alpaca) :-

So, that's the end of the fun for another year.  Time for a rest?  No chance, I now have to spin and knit a baby blanket for my brand-new step-granddaughter who arrived 2 weeks early on 2nd August.  I'm going to have to be pretty quick with this one!

Eeeeeek!!! A Steek!

A number of weeks ago, I found an abandoned project bag in my cupboard which contained the body of a v-neck sweater, but no sleeves.  I honestly don't remember when I started this, but I thought it was time to finish it.  I had no clue which pattern I was following at the time, so a bit of research was needed.  Turns out it was the Simple Summer Tweed Top Down V-Neck by Heidi Kirrmaier.

I'd chosen three yarns that really went together quite well.  The first was a World of Wool Botany Lap Waste mix which I spun in March 2015, and if I'd had enough, I would just have used this, but there wasn't quite enough so I found another to complement it.

Botany Lap Waste Mix

The second was spun in January 2016.  This was made up of 1 ply pure Cashmere (from Hilltop Cloud in the UK), and 1 ply "Extasy" by Faerie Fibre here in France (Merino, Tussah Silk, Bamboo and Stellina).

Faerie Cashmere

Last but not least, I chose this boucle which was spun during the Tour de Fleece in July 2015.  This is my first (and so far only) attempt at boucle.  It's made up of mohair, alpaca and tussah silk.

TDF Boucle

It didn't take long to knit up the sleeves, but then I decided to put a rib on the bottom and round the neck.  You can maybe see the boucle in between the bands of colour, I just knit one row to separate them as I knew I didn't have much of it.

Finished Sweater

When I'd finished, and tried this on, I really wasn't happy with it.  It just didn't do me any favours at all - the colours were fine, it was maybe just the shape (or, more to the point, mine!!)

I plucked up all my courage, and did something I swore I'd never try (scaredy cat!) . . . a steek . . . eeeeek!!!!

On to the internet I went and looked up "how to do a steek".  There were a few different methods but I liked the crochet one best.  This is where you find the centre stitch and crochet the right side of it with the left side of the next stitch, all the way down the sweater. Then you start at the bottom and crochet together the left side of the centre stitch and the right side of the next stitch, all the way back up to the top.  You then have two lines of crochet which lean outwards away from each other.  There will be a "ladder" of yarn in between them, and this is where it has to be cut.

I have to confess that I didn't really have enough confidence in my crochet, mainly because of the boucle rows - I couldn't see exactly what I was doing when I picked up the loops from the two stitches and realised if I hadn't got it right, I was going to be in trouble. So I cheated!  I ran a sewing machined stitch down each outside edge of the crochet so that if the boucle failed, it would be held by the machine stitching.

Steek in Progress!

I didn't get a photo of the cutting part!  I was so nervous, I just wanted to get it done in one, and once it was cut, I just wanted to get the stitches picked up so I could finish the thing off!  Anyway, it actually worked pretty well and I had no disasters, thank goodness.

The finished cardigan (unblocked as yet - apparently we're getting a few days of rain, so I'll do it when that's passed over) adorned with 2nd use buttons from my late mother-in-law's button tin, which I inherited.  She was the type who, if she bought something she really liked, she'd buy some more in different colours.  I have to say, I'm glad she did, because I really like the mix of different colours and I think they go perfectly with the cardigan.

Gift Bags

First of all, Happy New Year to you all, and I hope Santa was good to you!

With the aim of using up some of my hand spun stash, a few more crocheted bags happened recently.

One of my friends in the UK usually sends me something that she's hand made, so she was the first one to cater for.  I used the same pattern as I used previously for my sister - the English Garden Reversible Tote - a lovely, easy, crocheted bag which I suspect will be used a lot in the future.

The first was made from hand-spun and mostly hand-dyed yarn.  The brown is the only natural colour  - this is a blend of Jorrocks' baby alpaca and some charcoal bamboo.  The pink was raspberry acid dyed Falkland/Silk, the orangey one was all naturally dyed Falkland and the blue actually wasn't dyed or prepped by me - it was an unknown blend that I bought here in France.  The bobbles were made using a bobble making frame sent by my friend last year (the same one who'll receive the bag).

I've not been very organised about taking photos recently, so this (plus the next one, shown inside out) is it!

Incidentally, the fabric used for the inside of the bag was a hand-made dress I made years ago.  It was never worn because I realised after I'd cut it out and started to sew it, that the pattern was turning out a really peculiar shape.  I don't think it would have fit anyone!  I put it in a box with other fabrics and left it there to fester in disgrace.

The second one (same pattern) is for my next door neighbour, Tammy, who's birthday in on Saturday 6th January.  I finished this one this morning so for once, I'm not chasing my tail trying to finish something in time.

Again, I forgot to take photos of the yarns before I started, but this is what was left after I'd finished it:-

The main colour is a real mix - merino, alpaca, silk, soy, silk oil, nettle and a bit of sparkle plied with black alpaca.  The one at the bottom left was, I think, mixed fibres from a World of Wool Botany Lap Waste bag with some merino and Falkland mixed in, the top left was the remains of the pink from the other two bags - Falkland/Silk, and the blue was left over from the first bag I made.  Bit by bit I'm ending up with quite a little stash of small balls of yarn, which I have no clue what to do with (except there is that bobble making frame sent by my friend - maybe they'll all become bobbles)

Anyway, here's the finished bag :-

I think, out of all of them, this one is my favourite, but then they're all my favourites while I'm making them!  I don't know what I'll do when that raspberry pink Falkland/Silk runs out - I've used it on all of them so far.

Here's the bag showing the inside :-

The fabric was reclaimed again from a hand made item which was never worn - can't remember why!  A skirt this time.  

I'm looking forward to making one for me before too long, but I've a few more projects to do first, so, as usual, I'll have to wait.  I'm currently working on a baby blanket for a friend's impending arrival, so hopefully I'll be able to show you that soon.

Spinzilla 2017

Spinzilla 2017 started on 2nd October and ran until midnight on the 8th October.  I've often followed this event, but have never joined in - until now!  I'd been umming and aahing over whether to do this or not, when another member of the DIY and Dye group on Ravelry said, "Oh go on, I will if you will!"  That did it really, I couldn't say no.  I joined a group "DM Fibers Old School Spinners" which was being captained by our DIY and Dye leading lady - it felt like home.

Before the competition began I started preparing fibres.  I bought some merino fleece at Le Lot et La Laine festival in July, so started carding that about 6 weeks ago.  By the time the event arrived, I'd only made about 60 rolags.  By this time though, I decided I needed to spin "easy", so got out all my commercially prepared fibres and pre-drafted some of them.  I was ready when 12:01 Monday morning arrived and I was able to start spinning.

My goals were clear before we started : I would be happy to spin a mile, and ecstatic if I managed more than that.  This was based on my view that I'm not a fast spinner.  I always seem to spin less than anyone else during the Tour de Fleece each year, so knew I really had to try harder for Spinzilla.

This is what I started with :-

I knew I wouldn't be able to finish all of it, so decided to start with the most important.  The white fleece at the back right is 520g of super wash Falkland.  This is going to be a baby blanket for our friend Nico's first baby which is due in March.  So, just after midnight on Sunday night/Monday morning I started spinning that.  I finally finished on Wednesday after 2.5 days spinning.

Next up, I needed some colour, so chose this pink :-

This was a mix of kid mohair, suri alpaca, Teeswater and Tussah silk.  It was only 75g so a very quick spin.  This was finished by the end of Wednesday too.

On Thursday I started to spin some Tussah silk to ply with the pink, and on Friday I decided I'd better start plying before I had too much of a build up.  It took me over six hours (!) to ply the white Falkland, especially as I had a ginormous tangle to contend with when my final plying ball decided not to play nice.  I wasted about 2 hours trying to sort it out.  Eventually though, it was all done and I could carry on spinning the silk.

Saturday morning I plied the pink and silk

and then got started spinning this green mix of Blue Faced Leicester, Merino, Polwarth, glitz (whatever that is!), baby alpaca, Tussah silk and gold Angelina.

There were two batts, amounting to 115g, which had been hand-painted with the dyes - an interesting way of applying them.

It doesn't really show on this photo, but this was very sparkly.  I'm always surprised at how these batts turn out once they're spun because they almost never look the way I'd anticipated, and this one was no exception.  I've no idea what happened to those pinks and blues - they just sort of became absorbed.  This was made into a plying ball and plied from both ends, which behaved perfectly this time!

This brought me to 8:45 p.m. on Sunday evening.  Just enough time to spin some of my merino rolags in the grease.

I had some of the silk left from the pink yarn, so, when it got to 11:30 p.m. I started plying. At 11:40 I ran out of silk, so spent the next 10 minutes spinning some more.  At 11:50 I carried on plying and finally ran out of silk again with 3 minutes to go until midnight. Seemed like a good place to end!

This morning (Monday) I finished calculating how much I'd spun.  By 6 p.m. on Sunday, I'd managed 3.75 miles, so there was only the merino/silk to add.  Would it add up to another quarter of a mile?  I really didn't think it would.

So, my final mileage after spinning for 46.5 hours, was . . . 4.078 miles!!!  You could say I'm ecstatic!

It's been a busy week, especially as we had visitors on Thursday who stayed for lunch and dinner, and then left just before midday on Friday, and then our group played at a charity concert on Saturday which meant we had to leave home at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.  Not as much spinning on those days.  So, would I do it all again next year?  Bring it on!!