A Hank

I am down with a case of pink eye-it's been a while, why not, right?!  

So, since I couldn't see much, I sat and spun for a long time yesterday

 and finished the wool/linen/silk blend of fiber.

  As soon as I finished spinning the last few ounces (out of the 8 that's here)

 I began plying and did it all!  

I love it when a skein comes out perfectly balanced!

A beautiful skein of 400 yards of two ply.  

The silk makes a bit of slubs along the way but it is a very pretty periwinkle hank of yarn.

You can see the bits of linen sticking out-it was a very good spin, actually. 

 I purchased this fiber from Paradise Fibers. 

 Now to figure out what to knit with it! 

 Always a good problem. 

 But first, I will admire it for a while, with sight from one eye!

 

Sunny Spinning!

 After I dropped off the boys, I went to do some spinning by the river.  

It is day three of the Tour de Fleece, you know! 

 I managed to ply the first bobbin full for skein number one of the Southdown fiber.

 This was my view of the river today.

On the way home, I took a picture of the construction going on at the Dunn's Creek Bridge;

it will be a four lane bridge in another year or so! 

 The boys enjoy spotting the construction vehicles each time we drive by!

(and because no one was behind me, I slowed down and took this pic out my windshield!)

TDF 201 Day 9 RECAP

The Dorset wool is spun and ready for plying.

I was so happy to see the skein perfectly balanced right of the wheel!

430 yards of very soft Dorset yarn just calling to be knit!

My work so far for the Tour de Fleece! 

The colors all work together!

Tour de Fleece 2016

I am spinning for the Tour de Fleece 2016-the spinning event where spinners spin while the race of the Tour de France takes place.  You compete with others on Ravelry and generally push yourself to do more and try new fibers, etc.

I started out strong by spinning off and on all day-this is 9.2 oz of Florida Gulf Native sheep roving.

This is the roving I dyed with the prickly pear cactus fruit.

Next for the race will be plying these singles to make my 2ply yarn.

I will begin this tomorrow afternoon after church.

We will see then how many yards I have spun!

The last few days produced these three starflower dish cloths. 

I also sewed a pile of half square triangles.  60 to be precise. 

And these are the two blocks I finished.  (blue ones) 

This is Nyki sleeping on my bed-she was very comfortable I'd say!

The click of the camera woke her up just enough to see her eyes!  lol

Fibers Feel Good

There was a beautiful courtyard at the hospital that we spent a lovely hour exploring.

We didn't recognize this flower but it was so pretty.  Anyone recognize it?

I did finish the hat from the One Skein Wonders book.  It was simple but fun with the lace edging. 

This morning I decided to spend some quiet time spinning up this Wensleydale top for the joy of it. 

It is a lustrous long wool that was a good spin in every way.  Being in top form (combed) made it a bit slick at first but I caught on . 

I have 250 yards of this fingering weight yarn.  I do not have anything in particular that I will be doing with it.  I wanted to try it and now I have! 

The skein is much creamier colored than it looked in the roving but there is still luster to the fiber even after washing!  I would call this a good spin. 

Tonight as I enjoyed recliner time, I did something very out of character for me;  I knit on three different projects!  The more I think about it, the more I am learning;  pain makes you a stranger even to yourself!

Spinning but Not Dizzy!

I haven't done any spinning since my frenzy for the Tour de Fleece in July.

I won this *braid of BlueFacedLeicester from the Ravelry group, FiberPusherPodcast for spinning the most yarn. 

The colors are all over the place and so it is entertaining to spin as the colors feed through your fingers!

I separated the braid of roving into four parts; each gets its own bobbin and then two are plyed to make a skein.  I like short repeats like this so I can make a pair of mittens or a pair of socks; both items are a good choice for this kind of fiber. 

The bobbin looks so differently than I expected looking at the fiber in the braid;  part of why dyeing and spinning can be so creative and spontaneous! 

I now have 150 yards of fingering weight yarn!

*Here is  link to the artist's insight for this fiber's dyeing process!

TDF 2015 Finish Line

I finished plying this skein of superwash merino (233yds)

and spun up this little sample of FL Gulf Native Sheep when I found some I had missed!  This sample will allow me to knit up a little swatch for my fiber record.

Here is the Grand Finale of the fiber I spun over the course of the race!

There is a total of 2,988 yards of yarn here!

(I couldn't have done it without my electronic spinner which allows me to spin from my recliner, no treadling required;  and it has a Woolee Winder which means I do not have to move the yarn as I spin it onto the bobbin which just saves on the fine motor skills of my fingers!)

This ought to keep me in stitches for a few months! 

Yesterday, I made this little ruffled skirt for Ella!

They are just too much fun to make!  (the pattern is free from Purl Soho)

TDF 2015 Day 17 --Yes, it's Me!

I did a bit of simplifying on the blog layout.  I hope it works out for both this author and for you!

I have carded some more of the Gulf Native fleece for the other bobbin...it is very relaxing to hand pick the fiber and then feed it into the carder.  It comes out looking like a Santa's beard!  I then stretch it out to make my own roving (rope of fiber) so it is ready to spin.

I ended up with 300 yards of 2 ply yarn fingering weight yarn. 

It will be nice to knit with this wool when I am done with this spin-a-thon! 

The cowl is in the naughty bucket for a bit!  Like a fool, I knit until I ran out of yarn (like when I am going to add another color only this was the last color and I should have bound off the row before this!  It was not fun to unknit all 360 stitches!  I finished it and then didn't feel like playing with it any more today!  It will wait for me.......

I finished Mom's quilt!  I will have a better show 'n tell picture when I can get Bill to hold it up for me outside! 

I have the first (or last really...) rows all sewn together!  It is really shaping up! 

Millie brought me two more quilts that need quilting!  This one is from a box of vintage 9 patches she acquired.  She had to trim them to a uniform size and then sewed them with the white blocks.  Its so much nicer to have these beautiful blocks in a quilt finally!  The fabrics are a great catalog of old fabrics! 

I'm doing some simple stitching for this new, old quilt!

TDF 2015 Day Fourteen and Fifteen & Connected!

I worked for hours today to figure out the scraps of little connecting blocks!  I finally feel like I have a handle on this layout! 

I also worked on Mom's quilting;  it is getting near the finish line!   

There is nothing like  box to make the kitties happy.  They hide like this and then explode out of the box to pounce on the unsuspecting passer-by!  The box has been there or a week and they are still enjoying it so I will leave it until they're bored!  (Notice the flattened air packing-they loved popping them!)

Not a lot done for the Tour de Fleece the last two days;  I have three ounces here on the bobbins.  Tomorrow is a race rest day but Wednesday I will card and spin another ounce and then I will be ready to ply.

My body is not cooperating with the activity level I am asking of it.

Pain is such an exhausting state of being.........

TDF Day 10

I spun a new-to-me fiber tonight, a black Welsh Mountain roving.  It spun up so nicely like so many of the medium wools do.  (It was a bit more boring to spin the brown and not multi-colored roving but I imagined a roll of dark chocolate and did just fine!)

In the yard, our Angel Trumpet is blooming away. 

The bloom is very large and is pretty heavy;  waxy looking, too. 

There is no sweet aroma but the inners are fascinating! 

Even the buds are unusual!  (And large) 

A nearby bromeliad is happily blooming. 

I also found a bit of fabric for a romper for Eli.  I have a master sheet I trace off the patterns....I used this pattern to make rompers for his dad.  I'm feeling nostalgic!