So it begins!
I am doing the Tour de Fleece for another year.
It is the first year with the lovely Lady Rue. She is terrific.
I signed up for toooo many teams! Six in total.
Two fiber specific - Loop & Into the Whirled. Two wheel specific - Schacht & Babe. Two others - Spin Your Stash &
Browncoats. The prior is pretty
obvious. The latter is a Firefly
group. I don't have any Firefly specific
fiber. But they don't care.
Day 1 - July 4th
On day 1, I spun over half my lovely Into the Whirled
Falkland batt in the Excursion colorway.
I started on the second half as well.
I scored this lovely at Maryland S&W. It is a beautiful
colorway. So much I love it that I also
got sock yarn in the same colorway!
*laugh*
It is *definitely* a learning experience. I haven't ever spun a batt with color
transitions. It is interesting. I like it.
But it does require some attention.
For some of the transitions, I worked across the row. Others that were solid color, I could just a
chunk of fiber in whatever worked for the fiber.
I was originally thinking a shawl with the yarn. So I started thin & then realized that
wasn't gonna work. It needed a more
woolen touch.
I really like it. But
I have to confess, I don't think I like Falkland. It is a bit tough for me. I am definitely curious to see the finished
yarn. I think it is kinda gonna surprise
me.
Though I also learned what *NOT* to do! A bobbin of some samples I had spun were
resting on the on board Lazy Kate. They
kept spinning. I thought it was about the wind of wheel spinning making them
turn. It hadn't happened before. But the probably was less than a couple
ounces of fiber on the bobbin.
Remember the wheel is new to me. Only got it in May. So I am still getting used to what it
does. So I thought cool.
Yah. About that. Not so cool.
Here's what happened...
The single wrapped around the shaft of the wheel! It means it got wound around it.
I am soooo grateful that they were different colors in the
samples. And it changed from grey to
this blue/black colorway. So I could see
that it wasn't the same. *sigh*
So that killed almost half an hour. Getting it unwound and back on the
bobbin. Mind you, it was tons quicker when
I pulled the bobbin off the Kate & just treadled if off the wheel. So part of my time was about me not doing it
in the most efficient way. But live and
learn...
Day 2 - July 5th
Day 2 went pretty smoothly.
The second half of the Into the Whirled Falkland batt got
completed.
Though I learned a valuable lesson. Never watch a movie with the assumption that
the kids are playing. So you will be
able to spin in peace & watch it.
I long time guilty pleasure of mine is Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band. Yes...the musical from
the 70s with the Bee Gees & Peter Frampton made up of Beatles songs. Don't you judge! *smirk*
The kids are 4 & 5 1/2.
I really figured they would look at it once and wander back into their
room to play. But instead, Elder
Munchkin wanted to watch it. And Little
Guy didn't want to play alone. So there
was a whole lot of them asking who the bad guys were and them asking what was
happening. And me thinking I should just
turn off the movie as there was a whole lot of explaining that I didn't want to
do...
Another live & learn experience... Whee.
Second half of the Into the Whirled Falkland Batt in the
Excursion colorway. Singles done &
resting.
I LOVE the colorway and am sad to be done with the
singles. But it will be interesting
trying to match up the colors when I ply it.
I hope I am up for the challenge.
Maybe I should do that on one of the TdF challenge days. We shall see!
The white bobbin in the pic are some samples I spun
pre-TdF. There are actually nine
different fibers on it. Little bits
& bobs from a terrific Etsy seller.
I plied them yesterday to get them off my bobbin for the next project!
That plying actually helped when it comes time for matching
up colors as I was plying them from a single bobbin. So I had to break the singles to match up the
quantities. Worked well. And was useful in figuring out how to manage
the yarns.
Day 3 - July 6th
Today, I am letting the Into the Whirled singles rest while
I start on some of the Loop fiber.
This is a beautiful purple Bump I was hoarding from
myself. My terrific SIL picked it up at
Maryland Sheep & Wool in 2010. I
ended up sick so I couldn't make it that year.
She was so great to get it for me.
It never made it into my Ravelry stash. So it was pretty much forgotten until the
move last year unearthed it again.
I realized that with the sparkle, I should really let it
go. The deep purples are sooo very
me. But the sparkle, not so much.
Since it is only Day 3, I am tackling two Bumps & plying
them. *gulp*
I realized that I can *probably* eke out a sweater for Elder
Munchkin with two Bumps. So I am hoping
to keep this on the thinner side, but with enough loft to make it lovely to
wear. I am crossing my fingers I finish
the two Bumps in time.
I am going to pair it with Water Ballet which I picked up
specifically for my daughter.
Here's the pic:
I think the two will be super stunning together! But it is hard to go wrong with any
Bump. They are such a joy to spin &
such amazing colors. Yum!
Day 4 - July 7th
I hit the black hole!
The fiber is super dark. I think
black with silver sparkle. (Need to look
more in daylight...)
And so I only took two pics.
Even that was pressing it to make a point as it is yet more black with
silver!!
It is also tricky because I am spinning at night. So I have to take pics with the flash. And the sparkle & flash aren't a good
combo. But hey, it is what it is.
Okay! I am posting
this. Otherwise it will continue to sit
here. Whee.
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