Tour de Fleece Progress - Days 1-7

Here is my progress report on the Tour de Fleece as it nears the end of week 1.

Day 1:

The big oops. Thought day 2 was day one. Ah well. I will work on a rest day or both to make up for it.

Day 2:

This is 4 oz. of natural colored wool sliver roving. This is the stuff I picked up at the Adirondack Woolery.

http://www.adirondackwoolery.com/

I spun it all 4 oz. in one day. Which as a novice is a major achievement.

It really spins amazingly well. It is so easy and just really is beautiful to spin. I want to get more!

It is mostly grey, but there is some brown in there too. My husband loves it. So I suspect it will become something for him.

I am going to see about buying some more from them. I love sliver roving!

Days 3-6:

I got this roving from Decadent Fibers. It is the Jelly Roll. I should have order Spun Sugar as it is already in strips. Whoops! But it is teaching me a lot about the fiber to doing the pre-drafting. So I was probably good.

I have a hard time getting the colors of this. They are terrific. I used the flash to take this one which isn't ideal, but it is better than no flash!

Day 7 - Today:

So, I need a larger ratio bobbin free before I can spin any new fibers. I only have four of the large ones.

One is filled as you can see by the day 3-6 pic. I have a second with some more of the Decadent Fibers on it. I want to try something else as all the fiber came out of the freezer yesterday. So of course I want to play with it.

So here are the other two bobbins I have.

Left:

Merino/Silk Blend (fairly certain it is Ashland Bay in the Pewter colorway)

Purchased at the Yarn Tree in Brooklyn

http://www.theyarntree.com

Right:

Mixed Wool Sliver Spun on Day 2 Tour de Fleece 2008

4 oz. of natural colored wool sliver roving. Purchased at the Adirondack Woolery.

http://www.adirondackwoolery.com/

I was looking at these two and trying to figure out what to do. Looking and debating. It dawns on me that they are both grey blends. They can be plied together. Thus, freeing up two bobbins at the same time. Good news! And I think it will look good together.

So I set up to ply. But I study the merino/silk blend again and again. I can't find the end! I pull out tape, trying to find the missing end. No luck. *sigh*

I decided to break off an stand and start working. I did it with the first batch of the Decadent Fibers singles. It will work this time, right?

So I am working along for a while. It is going well. Then I find the stand is buried in the yarn and I can't pull it out without tightening the whole thing. Okay. So I try to get it out. Nope. That isn't working. It is pulling the strands tighter around stuff that it shouldn't.

I will just start another strand. It worked before, right? I try. Break. Nope. That didn't work. Try again. Nope, that is deeper in the yarn than I thought. This is bad. The more I am pulling on strands, the more it is tightening around the base and making things worse. So it is getting worse, not better to get strands off. So I am trying to take off pieces. Hoping to get them through. And I don't know how, but the end of the bobbin popped off again. Whoops. (The bobbins I got with the used Babe had ends that popped off. I have crazy glued them and they seemed fine.)

So I decide to slide it off onto a knitting needle. This way the parts that were pulled tight won't be as bad. That is the theory. So I move the single off the bobbin (and re-glued it).

I tried to work some more pieces off the mess I have made. I am able to do it, but not without a lot of effort and attention, trying to thread it through the mess. *sigh*

So I am left with a couple options:

1) Take the bit of yarn I have plied and make it into a ball. Save it for edging or something. Take half the natural wool sliver single and move it to another bobbin or ball. Ply the natural wool together.

2) Continue to try to sort out the ends of the merino/silk single and keep plying it with the natural wool single. It does look good. I like it, but it is a lot of effort.

If I go with option one, that leaves me to decide what to do with the merino/silk single. Do I take it as a loss and just toss it. Or do I keep working at the ends to get some pieces out of it. I really do not know about that one.

It is commercial roving so it was only $5.30 for 2 oz. Though ummm. I just realized I messed up anyhow! I thought I had 4 oz. of the merino/silk. That would have been about the same as the natural wool. But it isn't at all close!

It looked the same one the bobbin. But it isn't the same amount at all. So the yardage is probably very short. I think that may make my decision much easier.

I think that has decided it for now. I will put it into a bag for now. I might try sorting it out later. I may just decide it was a learning experience.

I am definitely putting something on the ends of my singles in future. I really do know *how* I lost the end. That is the first time that has ever happened.

I do feel like I am making progress on the Tour de Fleece. Though this is quite a start to day 7.

I think I am pulling a Scarlett O'Hara. "I'll think about that tomorrow." *grin*