cosmicpluto knits!

tour de fleece – the final wrap-up

So! I accomplished my goal of spinning every day, and got quite a bit done.

These four skeins are the only ones I spun in their entirety during the Tour – I also plied some silver merino/silk and spun and plied the rest of some tussah silk.

So how about some glamour shots and stats?

Ashland Bay Merino Silk in Cranberry – 300 yards/100g of 2ply, worsted weight.

Spirit Trail silk/camel – 320 yds/4oz of 3ply (chain ply), DK weight.

Foxfire 95% cormo, 5% silk – 350 yds/4oz of 2ply, sport weight.

and one that I snuck in the last few days of the Tour – a skein of 100% cormo that I am absolutely in love with!

100% cormo, 300 yds/100g of 3ply (chain ply), sport weight.

I’m not sure what my grand total is, because of the aforementioned finishing stuff up that was already on the bobbin. But I do know that I’m feeling really re-inspired to get back to the wheel, and I’ve already started some awesome wool/angora. I’m gonna keep spinning down the stash until Rhinebeck!

silk, silk, everywhere

I finally, finally (after ripping and reknitting several times) finished the little shrug I was working on before TNNA, out of Sweetgeorgia Merino Silk DK. The yarn stood up surprisingly well to the ripping, not a pill anywhere!

Unfortunately it’s too big for me. I made a bit of a math error and although it’s proportional and everything, it’s just about a size too big. I’ve blocked it and woven in the ends already (denying to myself the fact that it was too big) and I don’t want to rip again. So it’ll go off to a friend and I’ll work up another one. At least this time it’ll be even faster since it’ll be smaller?

In latest spinning news, I pulled out some tussah silk that I’d started spinning well over a year ago.

It’s Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks, definitely purchased at Rhinebeck – maybe the first time I went? I had spun up the first half of the fibre and it was just sitting on the bobbin all this time. I spun up the second half fairly quickly (not very evenly, really) and plied it together to get 430 yards of laceweight (2oz). Should be enough for a little shawlette! I love the colour.

I think my last bit of Tour spinning will be this silk/camel. It spins like a dream, but the pink comes off on my fingertips a bit. Super soft though! I’m planning to spin up the whole 4oz and chain ply by the end of the week.

After the Tour is over, I’m definitely going to keep spinning – it’s really given me that kick to get back to the wheel. It’s meditative, doesn’t require math (like my knitting always does) and it’s a good break from working on my knitting like I always am!

Have you achieved your Tour de Fleece goals? What are you planning to do with your spinning after it’s all over?

spinspinspin.

I’ve been doing lots of both!

This is the cormo/silk I was working on this week – it’s a blend of 95% cormo wool, 5% silk that I got at Rhinebeck awhile back. The roving was quite narrow, almost like a pin-drafted roving, which was lots of fun to spin.

Unfortunately, being such a fine wool, cormo is tricky to prep. This roving was pretty neppy – neps are little sort of ‘blobs’ of fibre that get tangled up when the wool is processed. They made spinning this fibre evenly pretty challenging, and the resulting yarn looks pretty rustic. Good thing it’s still super duper soft and squishy! I got 352 yards of sportweight 2-ply out of the 4 oz of fibre.

This wasn’t spun during the Tour, but I thought I’d just stick it up here anyway – some laceweight singles from a colour shifting batt. They’ve been sitting on the bobbin waiting for plying, but I decided to just wind them off. 430 yards.

I’m really fired up again about spinning! Last night after I wound off the cormo/silk I wanted to keep going but I really had knitting to do. I’ve been rooting through my spinning bin digging up interesting fibre to spin, and there’s bags of stuff sitting around my studio. I hope that after the Tour is over I still have this energy for spinning – it’s fun!

tour de fleece! day 5

I’ve been spinning!

Okay, so these two skeins were spun up ages ago. Months ago. But I only just wound them off the bobbin, so here’s the photo! These from from a Blue Moon Sheep 2 Shoe kit that I got at *last* year’s Maryland Sheep and Wool. Crazy colours. Superwash merino, chain plied into a DK/sport ish yarn. There should be plenty of yardage, though I haven’t actually counted.

And what I’ve done since starting the Tour on the 3rd. The silver merino/silk singles were already done (8oz of Ashland Bay stuff) so I plied those up into a couple of big skeins. On the right is a big skein, about 100g and 300 yards, of cranberry Ashland Bay merino.

I don’t have a lot of goals for this Tour, but the main one is to spin every day. So far I’ve done it, although last night I only did 5 minutes at 11:55! I’m also teaching a wheel spinning class this month so I guess I’m in more of a spinning mood. I’m also trying to vary my technique a bit – as with a lot of spinners, I get stuck in a rut and produce a “default” yarn style and weight.

I’ve currently got some cormo/silk on the wheel, and it’s a bit challenging because it’s a woollen prep that’s a little bit neppy. So it doesn’t really want to spin up into my usual smooth type of yarn. I’m trying to go with it and spin it a bit thicker and with lots of air and more thick-and-thin than I usually do.

Of course the other reason I’m doing the Tour de Fleece is so I can spin down the stash a little before Rhinebeck! Just three months away and I already can’t wait.

a return to the needles

Thanks for all the sweet concerned comments! Luckily I didn’t have too bad a reaction, took some Advil and the swelling went down overnight. Today was a rainy day, I stayed in and worked on various things, including the switch/reorganization/weeding out of winter to summer clothes, and did my taxes. Sadly I’m not getting anything, but neither do I owe. So it could be worse! (I am getting the GST credit, though – and that’s over $300!)

The other day I had the crazy idea that I could knit something new for Maryland, and I’m trucking along:

Jo Sharp Silkroad DK tweed – makes a really lovely fabric and is nice and light! I just might need a little something in the morning and evening, the way the forecast is looking.

As for the new wheel, no photos yet – I had a bit of an allergy attack to it due to it coming from a cat home (I never thought I was all that sensitive before, but it might be getting worse) and it’s in a bit of quarantine after a wipe-down. Any ideas for de-allergen-ing a wheel?

more and bigger

I’m extremely busy this week but I thought I’d pop by with some more photos of my giant granny square!

This is all five balls of yarn that I had, and it’s about 42 inches square.

I still need to find something to crochet a row of border, and to do that whole fabric-backing thing. I love it though! Just in case anyone missed it, I used the Purl Bee granny square tutorial.

Knitting? Yeppers, although just now I’m feeling a little stuck in terms of actually getting started on projects. I’ve got lots of ideas, I just need the time to sit down and work them out so I can get knitting!

This is some Koigu that I really love – but this attempt got ripped. Working on something shawl-y.

Spinning down the stash is going…okay. I’ve been working on some merino/silk – it’s probably Ashland Bay, and I got it at Rhinebeck last year.

I’m almost done the second half, so then I can ply and be done with it! But I’m spinning it a touch finer, so of course it’s taking longer. Next bit I pull out of the fibre stash is getting the fast and furious treatment!