The Tour de Fleece Continues

Day 7 Continued - Friday

I pretty much decided that I was going to just ply the natural sliver with itself. But I did spend some time untangling pieces of the silk/merino blend. I may decide that that I will try plying that with itself in hopes that it will work well in combo with the natural sliver.

Here is the natural wool sliver I got at Adirondack Woolery plied:

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It is kinda rough. I think I am still overspinning the fiber some. Though I hope it will loosen up a bit after a soak it and let it dry. But I do think I am getting better at spinning which is good. *smile*

There is a very small ball of the natural wool sliver plied with the merino/silk blend. I really like that one and wish I hadn't messed up the bobbin.

I did spend some time Friday night trying to sort of the merino/silk with some hopes of saving it. I was able to do one decent piece. But the rest are pretty short. I may still try plying it together and seeing what happens. Figure it is better than just wasting it completely.

Day 8 - Saturday

Saturday was a light spinning day as I was out of the house from 10 in the morning til at least 10 at night. I just spun some more of the Decadent Fibers Jelly Roll in the morning.

On the plus side, because I was going to be in the car for a long while, I finally got around to casting on the socks I have been meaning to start since I got my friend's feet measurements.

I wish I knew why I *always* seem to have trouble with casting on 2 socks on 2 circs! Every time I miss it up in some way. But I got it moved into the correct position on the needles. I got the cuffs done which is good. I didn't have a row counter with me so I had to wait til Sunday to start the pattern in the leg.

Day 9 - Sunday

I continued working on the Decadent Fibers roving. I have a lot of this still. So I will keep plugging away at it. I filled the second bobbin. So now I need to ply them which I may do tonight.

Here are the two full bobbins together:

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I decided to try a new fiber. So I picked up the superwash wool I bought from Etsy. The shop is The Ranches Angoras. It is commercial dyed fiber that is blended by the seller. I really like it. Here is a current listing the seller has for sale.

I am surprised. It wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. I am able to draft it out much thinner than other fibers I have done in the past. That may be about my skill level increasing. But it may be because it is much more slippery. So it slides very easily. I have more trouble making sure not to do it too thin that it will break before I can get enough twist into it.

My only concern is the twist might be too tight. Thus, it would take out a lot of the elasticity that is needed for socks. But I figure at worst I will just not be able to use this for socks and make yet another scarf. *laugh*

Start of Day 10 - Today

I did some checking and I think it makes the most sense to do a 3-ply with the superwash wool if I want to try to use it for socks. I am still not sure I am leaving enough elasticity in it given the amount of twist in it. But I am hoping it will work. *crosses fingers*

I divided up the fiber into three equal parts in hopes of creating the 3-ply. It may not work perfectly, but I am hoping the yardage will be roughly equal.

I should get some more spinning in tonight. But I also want to skein off all the wool I plied over the weekend. So I think I need to do that before I start any other spinning tonight. It needs to be soaked.

I am thinking that it makes the most sense to ply the Decadent fibers stuff. I need to get that off my bobbins as well. So it would make sense to do it. But I will see how I feel when I get home. I am on summer hours which means I have to work until 5:45 at the very least. And I have a lot of work I should tackle today that isn't done. *sigh* So it will depends on that too as to what time I get home.