Yummy Fiber Pic!

As promised, picture! It would be pics, but I seem to have the hardest time capturing this fiber on camera.

Here is my day 3 & 4 of the Tour de Fleece progress:

It is from a custom dyed Decadent Fibers Jelly Roll. I should have gotten the Spun Sugar as it is already in strips. But this way just requires more predrafting of the fibers. And that has been great for my learning.

It is only a single. I will have to spin another single after this one and ply them together. But my hope is to complete this for the Tour de Fleece.

BTW, I am curious. If anyone knows why there are two different Tour de Fleeces, let me know. I am just curious though my guess is like everything online. someone got mad at someone and took their toys to play in another sandbox. *chuckle*

The Yarn Harlot joined the other one. I wasn't going to join at all because that one requires you spin from your stash (and there were only about 4-5 people signed up when I checked). Then I found the one I joined. This is the one with the Ravelry group.

It is just curious... *shrugs*

Okay. So I Can't Tell Dates... *sigh*

I am so frustrated. I was so proud that I started the Tour de Fleece on time despite being on vacation. I was so happy.

Then yesterday I checked in the Ravelry group. Started posting to the daily threads and realized - I CAN'T TELL DAYS! *shakes head*

The Tour de Fleece started SATURDAY. Not Sunday as I got stuck in my brain. *sigh*

That bites.

I missed the first day all because I can't manage to get dates right.

I think I will just make sure I spin on at least one of the two rest days and consider it a wash. It was an honest mistake.

I hope to have some pics of my spinning efforts. But I forgot to send them to myself. Hoping my DH will soon. *crosses fingers*

Day One, Two and Start of Three of the Tour de Fleece

I am very excited to be participating in the Tour de Fleece http://keeponknittinginthefreeworld.blogspot.com/ or Ravelry group http://www.ravelry.com/groups/tour-de-fleece

I was on vacation in the Adirondacks and just got home late yesterday. I really suspected I wouldn't get to spin on Day 1 Sunday or Day 2 yesterday. I was prepared to just bring my spindle and the silk hankies so at least I could get in a bit of spinning.

I kiddingly said I could sneak my wheel into the car to my hubby. He said why not! So I brought my lovely Babe wheel along. It is very light and with it being PVC it seems to travel well. The woman I bought it from used it as a training wheel and would take it to classes. So I figured it would be fine and it was.

Saturday, I stopped by a place Newcomb, NY called Adirondack Woolery. http://www.adirondackwoolery.com/

They had some wonderful fibers. There is some natural colored sliver from their own sheep. I bought 4 oz. of it. And guess what I did on Sunday? Spun the whole 4 oz.! Woohoo! I think that is a good start to the Tour.

I need to post pics. But see previous post!

Yesterday I spun for about an hour and a half. I used the lovely Decadent Fibers roving I have been spinning. I am getting to the point where I can spin it thinner than before which seems to indicate I am getting better at spinning.

I also made skeins of the yarn I plied before leaving. I like how they came out. Not super chunky like most of my previous attempts. I think they look pretty good.

I soak them. The water got pretty dark with color which is a bit worrisome. I did it in warm water, but not super hot as I didn't want it to felt. The color still looks good so I am hoping it is just excess dye washing out of the yarn. *crosses fingers*

I also did about a half hour of spinning with the Decadent Fibers roving this morning. So that is good too. I will do some more when I get home.

So not bad for my first days on the Tour de Fleece.

Yarn Stores In the Adirondacks

I was up in the Adirondacks for the July 4th weekend. I wanted to hit some fiber stores of course. I was really interested in some roving for spinning. So I asked on Ravelry and some wonderful folks gave me some suggestions.

I am going to do these in order I hit them as it is the easiest way.

The Yarn Angel

485 Glen Street

Glens Falls, NY

518 761-2031

Stopped here on the way up to Camp on Thursday afternoon.

The Yarn Angel is a nice LYS. They carry a lot of Berroco yarns. But I was interested in something local that I couldn't get at home. I found some Eastside Weavers superwash sock yarn (Ravelry link). It is lighter purples than I would normally purchase, but I like it. They also had some other yarns by that company and some others. They have the Morehouse alligator pattern as a kit paired with some Berroco Ultra alpaca. It looked great. If I liked alligators at all or knew anyone who was a fan, I would have picked one up. I think the yarn really made it look & feel better. The woman at the store was very sweet and super helpful.

Adirondack Woolery

48 Pine Tree Road

Newcomb, NY

518 582-3663

http://www.adirondackwoolery.com/

12-5 Saturdays & Sundays or by appointment

Stopped by Saturday a bit before noon.

I loved this place! I would have stayed even longer by my husband and I weren't on our way over to Vermont! So I only spent an hour there. *laugh* They have some lovely roving. My favorite is some natural colored sliver from their own sheep. The woman at the store, Pam, wasn't exaggerating when she said it practically spins itself. *sigh* It is so yummy. It is grey with some brown in it. It spins 'like butter' to quote Pam. I spun up all 4 oz. on Sunday to start the Tour de Fleece or Ravelry group. I really love it an need more.

I also bought several other kinds of roving and some sheep locks. Pam was kind enough to show me how to spin them. They are this lovely grey with black. I am not sure I am ready to spin them yet. But I am going to give it a shot. Those are from a sheep she met elsewhere (I think the name was Pansy). I will pick up a brush before I try those to open up the locks. But I definitely like it.

I also got some other lovely rovings. Can't wait to spin them up!

I shouldn't leave off the yarn at all! They had a lot more yarn than roving. Some of it was beautiful handspun done by Pam and Judy. They also had some knit scarves and other items as terrific prices. It is a wonderful place and I will definitely stop by the next time I am up there.

Pam was even so sweet as to give my husband coffee to go! He asked if there was a Stewarts in the area. She said there wasn't and offered him coffee in a cup. She said just to drop the cup back after he was done with it. That was so kind of her. She is great.

Gore Mountain Farm

2642 State Route 28

North Creek, NY

518 251-3040

http://www.goremountainfarm.com/

Store & farm tour from 10 am to 6 pm daily

Stopped by Monday a bit before noon.

Barry, one of the owners, took me around to meet all the alpacas. They have 21 or 22 of them. They were so beautiful. Though Paul thought they were sorta funny looking. *chuckle*

They were in 3 different pens. It seems the males can get aggressive so they are kept away from the females & babies. I really loved getting to meet them all.

Then we went to check out the store. It is a room in their home. It has a lot of their awards hanging up. It seems they have made out pretty well. And it had got me curious about the show where they won so many awards. It seems that it will be in November. I might need to go back up!

They have a lot of items made with alpaca. They also carry alpaca yarn & what I was after, roving! I got 7 oz. of black alpaca fiber. Yummy! I can't wait to spin it. I have some off white I got from Granny Alpaca's etsy store. I might do a single of each and then ply them together. It could be a great way to go with it. Loads of yummy alpaca fiber. *sighs happily*

Turns out that while looking up the event in November, I came across a video from one of the people at the farm. It is pretty cool as it is some of the alpacas I met. *grin*

I do want to check out Moonlit Alpacas on the Vermont side on one of my visits. I tried to stop by Saturday after the Otter Creek brewery tour. But they close at 4 and it was 4:02! *sigh* Ah well. Gives me something to look forward to next visit, right?

I will definitely have pics to share of my goodies. But it will have to wait until things come out of the freezer. It was probably nothing, but I did see a moth in the house in the Adirondacks. So I figured it was better safe than sorry to freeze it all just in case. I didn't see anything in the yarn or roving, but I would rather be too cautious than end up with a house full of moths. *shudders*

All in all, this was a great fiber trip! Probably spent too much. But on the flip side, it was a lot more reasonable than it would have been down here. So I am thrilled with it.

*happy wiggle*

Decadent Fibers Custom Dyed Jelly Roll

As promised, pics of the lovely roving from Decadent Fibers.

Generated by Flickr Album Maker

Why only two pics you might ask?! Well, I took about 15. Yet only these two actually came out well enough to share them! *shakes head* It is hard to get the camera to focus on the roving for some reason. The majority of them seemed to be coming out blurry.

I ordered the Jelly Roll as I thought this was their roving that was custom dyed colors. As it happens, the Jelly Roll is one large piece. The Spun Sugar is the stuff that it already in strips. Whoops!

The sweet folks Decadent Fibers explained I can just take off strips to spin them. I can blend the colors or keep solid areas. So I just have to create strips to spin them. I have been going with solid areas. Though when it is plied, it will be interesting how things blend together.

It almost seemed a shame to tear into it as it was so pretty as one piece. *grin* But it is getting ripped up none the less!

It is interesting to spin with it. As I am getting more practice, I am able to spin more finely than I was when I started. Though sometimes it will break on me while I am trying to spin it. That can be a bit of challenge. I think I am sometimes not putting enough twist into some areas (while still overtwisting others). I am learning a lot though. And there is a lot of fiber to do it with.

Also, the photos look more like brown than black. But it is black in areas. The reds & purples seem to make the color look a bit brown in the pics.

I love the colors in this. It is really beautiful. I suspect I will be ordering more from Decadent Fibers for certain.

So Called Scarf in Handspun Romney

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Cast On:

June 25 2008

Completed:

June 29 2008

Pattern:

My So Called Scarf by Allison Isaacs

http://imagiknit.com/?p=60

Yarn:

Shepherd's Mill Farm Romney Roving Handspun by Me

Colorway Purple with some Grey

8 oz. about 90.0 yards (not including the fringe that is some extra that is overtwisted & very lumpy from spinning it on spindle)

Purchased at Delaware Highland Games

Needles:

Knitpicks Options US 13 / 9.0 mm

I cast on 18 sts which is a lot less than the pattern calls for (30). On the other hand, the yarn I spun is thicker than the one they used. And if I cast on too many stitches, it would have been another short, wide neckwarmer! I already have done two of those with handspun. I would really rather not do a third.

When I started, I wasn't sure if I would continue or frog this. I was worried the yarn wasn't the right texture to show the pattern well. The Romney does have a lot of fibers sticking up. But I think it is working. It isn't as clear as others, but it still gives an interesting pattern to it.

It is very dense. There isn't a lot of movement to it. I debated ripping it out. Then again, I avoid frogging like the plague, so that didn't happen. *laugh*

I used the yarn I created with the spindle as fringe. It was really too thick and different in gauge to knit with. It added some length which is nice.

It measures around 4” wide, 35” long without the fringe. The fringe adds another 5” to each side, so 45” total.

The yarn is definitely overspun. It is pretty rough and I can still feel the lanolin in the wool. I won't put this next to my skin. But I am learning more with each fiber I spin and even more when I knit it into something. So I am enjoying the process.

Nothing on My Needles

I really can't believe for the second time in a recent memory there is nothing on my needles. It is so bizarre.

The next thing that will be going on my needles are a pair of socks for my friend Meredith. But I am doing them as part of the July Sock Knitters Anonymous Knitalong. So I will wait until tomorrow to start them.

It is definitely odd not having anything on the needles!

I hope I will remember the pictures tomorrow. I took pictures of the scarf I finished last night as well as the Decadent Fibers roving I have. Of course, I forgot to upload any of the pics yet! *grin*

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I am really happy. My fiber from Decadent Fibers arrived yesterday. *happy Snoopy dance*

It is really beautiful! They custom dye the colors you want. So of course, being me, I went for black, burgundy and purple. *grin*

I took some pictures last night but of course forgot to get them off the camera. So I will have to do that soon.

The funny thing is that I ordered the Jelly Roll. I thought when I read it that that was their name for their custom color roving. So I was a bit surprised when I pulled it out of the box and it was one big piece. *blink*

I went to their site and realized I made a mistake! The Spun Sugar is their roving that is in strips. Oops! *laugh*

I wrote the terrific folks at Decadent Fibers. I explained my mistake and asked what I could do. The kind person explained that I can just pull off bits and said I can mix the colors or take the color off in strips to get distinct areas of color.

So last night I spend some time pulling off sections and predrafting them.

It is definitely spinning nicely. It has a good bit of crimp to the wool. It feels similar to the Romney to me. I am very curious to see how this comes out. I certainly have a lot! So I will be working on it for some time to come. It is good as when I start the Tour de Fleece, it will be good to have that much fiber. *grin*

Cool Mosaic Meme

I saw this meme on Stephanie/Stuffywump's blog.

It is very cool. And I love the images. So of course I had to do it as well.



1. Claustro San Michele in Isola, 2. Melting Chocolate, 3. Brookfield Zoo, Oct 8 AMUR TIGER (FORMERLY KNOWN AS SIBERIAN TIGER), 4. Red purple black brown and green, 5. Ewan McGregor on his bike in Namibia, 6. Fort, 7. Fountain, 8. coffee and chocolate mousse cake, 9. FYS 2008 019, 10. Orchids from my husband!, 11. Intelligent Design, 12. 190220071342

The Questions (and The Answers):

1. What is your first name? Michele

2. What is your favorite food? Chocolate

3. What high school did you go to? Brookfield

4. What is your favorite color? Black, red & purple

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Not big on celebs. But if I have to chose one, Ewan McGregor. Love the accent and his down to earth demeanor.

6. Favorite drink? High Gravity Beers

7. Dream vacation? Brewery tour of Europe with my hubby

8. Favorite dessert? Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting

9. What you want to be when you grow up? An indy yarn dyer?

10. What do you love most in life? My husband

11. One Word to describe you. Intelligent

12. Your flickr name. akkasha

Now go ahead, make one of your own. Here's how:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

It was really funny with my flickr nick. It seems two of my images have been picked for other people's mosaics. *laugh* One was some Southwestern Bamboo yarn. Another was the tip of my Malibrigo lace shawl. Very fun.

Scarves in Handspun Yarns

Diagonal Scarf with Handspun

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Pattern:

Go Diagonal Scarf by Sophia Kessinger

http://yarnovermanhattan-free-patterns.blogspot.com/

Made for:

Me probably though could be a gift

Yarn:

Finn Handspun & Handyed

Around 55.0 yards

Colorway - Tropical Punch & Grape Kool Aid

Fiber was given to me with my wheel

Needles:

Knitpicks Options US 13 / 9.0 mm

The total measurement on this is only 5" wide, 23" long. So another neckwarmer! *chuckle*

I would have been happier if it had been longer. But otherwise it was good. It was a quick knit that was very simple and features the yarn pretty well.

This is my first batch of handspun where I plied two singles together. I wanted something that would feature the texture without overwhelming the yarn. This project was suggested on the Ravelry knitting with handspun group as being good with thick & thin yarns. It seems to be working very well.

It is super simple to knit and is going very quickly. Though as I feared there wasn't enough yarn to make a scarf. My second handspun neck warmer! *laugh* That is all I could make with the first handspun I made given there was no length to it. I wish this one was longer, but it wasn't.

I ended up going with 19 sts wide as I like scarves to have some thickness. I suspect I should have gone thinner. But I am not a fan of skinny scarves.

I am still not sure about the colors. They were dyed with Kool-Aid. I may overdye it with some more Kool-Aid. Though I might also spin some more fiber and add it to each end instead. Not sure yet.

So Called Scarf in Handspun Romney

Generated by Flickr Album Maker

Pattern:

My So Called Scarf by Allison Isaacs

http://imagiknit.com/?p=60

Yarn:

Shepherd's Mill Farm Romney Roving Handspun by Me

Colorway Purple with some Grey

8 oz. about 90.0 yards (not including some extra that is overtwisted & very lumpy from spinning it on spindle)

Purchased at Delaware Highland Games

Needles:

Knitpicks Options US 13 / 9.0 mm

I cast on 18 sts which is a lot less than the pattern calls for. On the other hand, the yarn I spun is thick. And if I cast on too many stitches, it would have been another short, wide neck warmer! I already have done two of those with handspun. I would really rather not do a third.

I am not sure if this will keep going or get frogged. I am not sure the yarn is the right texture to show this well. I think the Romney might have too many fibers sticking up. So I may not look good. I will knit some more of it and see if I like it.