Tour de Fleece - Week 2

We are mostly thru week 2 of the Tour de Fleece, heading into the final days.  (The Tour finishes up this year on July 29th).

I finished up another spin, which is the 80/20 merino/silk roving from The Yarn Yard.  I finally dug out the information on it and it was from a co-op-type fiber club where we had 6 different indie dyers sending out packages that shared a common theme for the 6 months. The theme for this one was "Scottish Fauna", and I do think it did a great job of portraying salmon, red deer, rainbow trout and heather.

I spun up a 2-ply sportweight yarn with 294 yards/3.5 oz in the final skein.  I love the fall-ish colors in this one and the hues are close enough, I think it almost works as a neutral.  No specific plans (I'm a broken record with that, aren't I?) but one more out of unspun stash into yarn stash. 

Next up, I've put a Three Waters Farm SW merino/merino/silk blend on the wheel.  The colorway for this is "Satisfied With Summer".  Hoping to finish this before the end of July!

Spinning Friday - June 22, 2018

I haven't done a Spinning Friday update in eons and since I finished up a spin yesterday, I'll count this as perfect timing.

I pulled out a roving I had been gifted in a swap from the Alaska Yarn Company, a 70/30 wool/alpaca blend, pin-drafted roving. The colorway was Silver Blues (a handpaint colorway).  Dyed over the natural gray of the roving, I really liked how the jewel tones were softened and made a bit more subtle.

There were only 3 oz of this, but I divided it evenly.  (Or so I thought - turned out I was actually pretty far off and I lost about a half an ounce when I got to the end of one bobbin while plying).

This is a 2-ply, fingering weight yarn with 200 yards and 2.4 oz in the finished skein.  It is lovely and soft with a nice gentle halo from the alpaca.  I plied it a bit loosely to maintain the drape, and I think, with the limited yardage, it'll likely grow up to be a cowl or something I can wear and still feel the softness of it.  It also nicely fit the "blue" prompt for the June Wonkapalooza craftalong, so I'm counting it for that too!

Spinning Friday: January 26, 2018

I finished up my first official spin of 2018.

Fiber: 100% superwash merino wool.
Dyer: Oceanwind Knits, from the 2017 Oh Canada fiber club.
Colorway: Lake Louise.
Specs: 230 yards/4 oz of DK-weight 2-ply.

I loved spinning up this soft, bouncy fiber.  It was an easy spin which I spun fractally, splitting one half of the braid into 8ths and one half into 3rds. No specific project earmarked for this, although it's a guy-friendly enough colorway I might use it for a hat or other accessory for the Mittens for Akkol group.

Currently on the wheel is a set of 1-oz colorways from a 4-color Potions Pack, dyed by Two If By Hand.  Colorways include: Luna Lovegood, My Little Pony, Shimmer and Fairy Wings.  I'll be spinning these up into little mini skeins and then will use them (and possibly also the other 2 packs' worth I've got) for striped socks or mittens.

I've got the first oz spun up, and I've started on the singles of the second.  Probably won't get much work done on these this weekend while I'm visiting with family, but will get back to them next week.

Spinning Friday: January 5, 2018

A bit late, but I finished up my final 2017 spin on January 2, 2018 (and since most of it was spun during 2017, I'm not counting it in my 2018 production.)

Fiber: 80/20 superfine merino/cashmere roving - OMG! SOFT!
Dyer: Oceanwind Knits.  This is from an ancient fiber club from Lori.
Colorway: Peppi.
Specs: 208 yards/1.9 oz of a 2-ply fingering weight.

Super smooth and easy to spin, this one was an absolute delight to put on the wheel.  Originally this was colorway #2 of a 2-braid set for the club, but I spun the other 2 ounces (which were plain merino, if memory serves) a while ago and knit them up for something else.  Enough yardage here for fingerless mitts and the skein is a lovely herby-green color with slate blue highlights.

I have two spinning-related resolutions for 2018:
1.  Spin 15 minutes a day if I'm at home (which I am most of the time).
2.  Spin at least 5 pounds of fiber from stash.

With those in mind (and with the Wooly Wonkapalooza "gray" colorway prompt as well), I grabbed another Oceanwind Knits roving from this year's fiber club to tackle first this year. 

This is from February 2017 (so, comparatively speaking, not that ancient for my stash).  It's inspired by a photograph of Lake Louise in Alberta. All of Lori's 2017 club fiber colorways were themed on something Canadian (she's near Toronto).  This is on superwash merino.

I've started spinning the first half of singles and I'm looking to make a sportweight(ish) 2-ply yarn from this for either socks or mittens.

Sunday Spinning (12/3/2017)

Haven't done a spinning update in quite a while, so I thought it was time to get one posted.  I'm still (wo)manfully working on my stashdown. (More on that momentarily.)

I'm currently spinning up a braid of Finn wool from Bride Flight Studios (I don't think they are any longer in business.  A Google search didn't find anything current anyway.)  This is from a shop update in 2009, and the colorway is Alchemy of the Word.

I decided to spin this up into a fractal spin, so bobbin #1 has multiple thin strips spun up and bobbin #2 has only 5.  I split the braid in half, and then split each half into those thinner long strips before spinning.  All the singles are spun up.

My plan is to get these plied this week and then pick one more stash fiber to spin before the end of the year.

Looking forward to 2018 (which is one of my favorite things about this time of the year - planning ahead for another year), I'm definitely sticking with my stashdown goal.  One of the things I really am going to make myself accomplish is getting all of my current personal stash - both yarn and fiber - to fit in the 3 cubbyhole-type bookshelves that I now have for my office/crafting space.  When we had the floors redone last month, I went through and sorted all the stash, sold some things, and I got most of the stash redistributed into the bins. There are, however, a few larger Rubbermaid containers still lurking in the garage and I would like to get the point in 2018 where all of that stash can get put into my new storage shelving and have it all in one place and nicely organized.

I've got a few -Alongs I'm going to be participating in next year to try to keep me motivated.  I really find I do better at sticking with goals if I have a public forum to be accountable to. I've joined the Blaine Fleece and Fiber Ravelry Group's Spin Your Goal-Along for 2018.  My goal for next year is to spin 5 pounds.  That's 20 four-oz braids or their equivalent and that would be about a braid and a half per month.  I thought that way months like February, which will likely not be very spin-friendly, and months like July with Tour de Fleece, which will be more spin-heavy, could balance each other out.

And if I can accomplish that, it will free up about 2 of these cubbyholes in the current stash set-up.

Stay tuned for more 2018 plans to come this week in knitting and stitching.  I'm on a mission.

Spinning Friday - July 15, 2017

A bit over halfway through the Tour already!

I finished up the first braid I was working on.  Originally dyed as a gradient, I broke this up and spun for 2-ply self-striping socks.

Roving:  Superwash merino, dyed by Two If By Hand. in the Pirate Jenny colorway. 
Weight:  Fingering/sock weight.
Yardage/Ounces: 320 yards/3.7 oz

Next on the wheel, I started a braid of Falkland wool from FatCatKnits in the Cassidy colorway.  I'll be working on this over the next week or so.

Spinning Friday: June 30, 2017

I finished up the FatCatKnits BFL/silk (75/25) roving I had on the wheel this past week, in preparation for kicking off the Tour De Fleece tomorrow!

I spun each of the individual colorways (which were 2.5 oz each) and then plied them together.  I love the effect this created - a sort of stained-glass look.

Roving: 75/25 Blue-faced Leicester/silk roving from FatCatKnits Mixed Blessings Club, Autumn 2011.
Weight: Fingering weight/sock weight.
Yardage/Ounces: 547 yards/4.8 oz.

No immediate plans for this, but it'll go in the handspun stash bin until I'm ready for it.

On to TdF!

Spinning Friday: January 13, 2017

TGIF!  I've got some spinning to share this Friday with y'all. 

This is the December 2016 club fiber from Wooly Wonka Fibers, a blend of dyed merino and a slate-gray sparkle.

I spun this up into singles, and then plied them to get a 2-ply yarn.  (Can you see the sparkly bits in the finished yarn?  Love em!)

Project Specs:

• Roving: Custom Blended Merino/Sparkle roving from Wooly Wonka Fibers Handspinner's Club, December 2016.
• Yarn: 2-ply, 339 yards/4 oz of light sportweight. 

Spinning Friday - 2016 Recap

As I'm trying to get back into the groove of blogging more frequently, I thought I'd revisit my Spinning Fridays with this post on the final Friday of 2016.

Some of you might know that I participated in the 2016 Spin the Bin Challenge over on Ravelry.  I had earmarked a total of 125 oz of fiber to spin and while I did spin a few other braids this year, that 125 oz was what I mainly focused on.

If you are interested in all the various and sundry rovings and fibers that I picked for the challenge, you can visit my Ravelry project page for that here.

Most of what I spun were 4-oz increments, but there were a few 8-oz'ers and a few 4-ozs that I paired together for a larger combospin.  I had a couple of smaller batches too, but not many of those.

Here's all the skeins spun up and ready to have grown-up lives as yarn!

There are individual project pages on Ravelry under my Handspun tab if you want to find out any details about them.  The total yards spun from the bin were 9553 yards, which I'm pretty daggone proud of.  More than half were fingering-weight yarns, with just a few sport to DK thrown in there, and only 2 worsted I think.  (I didn't include the odd other braids I spun in that yardage total, but I know it was over 10K yards with those included for the year.)

I've already used 2 of the yarns to knit up items (1 pair of socks, 1 hat), but I can see a lot of other fun projects waiting to be started here.

I'm not going to participate in the 2017 challenge.  I decided I wanted a little less pressure on my spinning time, but I do plan to continue working on my stash next year.  There are still a lot of pretty things to be spun up!

Podcast Episode 40 and What I'm Working On

Episode 40 is now live!

In this episode, I talk about:

FOs: 
Self-striping holiday gift socks. 
Balloon Fiesta Shawl: Pattern is here. Yarn is available here. More information on the KAL is here.

WIPs: 
Sekret mitts and cowl for Spring 2017 Filament magazine. 
Sekret sweater project for Spring 2017 Filament magazine.

Ongoing KALs: 
Handspun KAL: Hosted by me. Runs through December 31, 2016. 
Box O Sox KAL: Hosted by Kristen of the Yarngasm Podcast. Runs through December 31, 2016. 
TBK Sock Club 2016: Hosted by Jilly of The Knitting Broomstick. Runs through December 31, 2016. 
Coffee with CC KAL: Hosted by Jilly of The Knitting Broomstick. Runs through December 31, 2016.

Upcoming: Spin From Stash-Along 2017: Hosted by me. Begins January 2017.

Handspun Yarn: 
SW merino from Two If By Hand in the “Boardwalk” colorway. 
Superfine merino/alpaca in “Charcoal” from Pigeon Roof Studios.

Stitching: 
The Winter Garden from The Drawn Thread

The 2017 Clubs! Listings for all the clubs (Fiber/Handspinner’s Club, Sweater Club, The Herbarium Club (Lace) and The Herbarium Club (Texture/Color) can be found at the Clubs tab on the website here. For more details please also see the thread in the group here!

Around the Year in 52 Books group on Goodreads.

WIP Wednesday and New Podcast Episode

Whew!  I have fallen off the blogging waggon - it's been crazy busy in the dye room right now, but I'm going to try to get back into the blogging habit.  (And thanks to gentle reader, Laura, for a nudge - I promise some reading updates tomorrow!).

For now, tho, I've got a new podcast episode up, recorded this past Sunday, October 16, 2016.

In this episode, I talk about:

Austin Yarn Crawl and the Happy Ewe in Jonestown, TX

FO: 
Cenote Shawl and Spin + Knit magazine

WIP: 
Sekret Knitting project for March in Kid Silk Haze. 
Strawberries and Cream socks. Pattern by CC Almon. Yarn is Wooly Wonka Aerten Sock in Parfait.

Ongoing KALs: 
Handspun KAL: Hosted by me. Runs through December 31, 2016. 
Box O Sox KAL: Hosted by Kristen of the Yarngasm Podcast. Runs through December 31, 2016. 
TBK Sock Club 2016: Hosted by Jilly of The Knitting Broomstick. Runs through December 31, 2016. 
Coffee with CC KAL: Hosted by Jilly of The Knitting Broomstick. Runs through December 31, 2016. 
Filament KAL – any pattern from the new Filament Fall 2016 issue. See more details in the Ravelry forum.

Socktoberfest KAL - hosted by me. Runs through October 31, 2016.

Handspun Yarn: 
Spinning merino/bamboo blended roving from Hilltop Cloud

Stitching: 
Babushka’s Blossoms pattern

WIP Wednesday: June 22, 2016

All the details about my WIPs can be found in this week's podcast episode:

For the short version:
FOs: 

Caramel Latte Socks: Pattern by CC Almon. Yarn is MCN Fingering from 2IBH in the “Fauve” colorway.
Shetland Shoreline:  Pattern by me.  Part of the Knitpicks Joyful Lace collection.

WIPs: 
Heathered cardigan 
Talisman Shawl 
Handspun Cabin Socks 
Design for Austin Yarn Crawl/The Happy Ewe

WIP Wednesday: May 25, 2016

This week's podcast episode is now live wherein I talk about all the things (and I mean ALL the things) that I've got on the needles right now:

For those of you just here for the drive-by version, I'm working on:

Sekret Knitting:

• Fall 2016 design collection sweater #2: I've got the body just about done on this.  I have half the front to finish shaping at the neckline and about 14 rows to knit of the back.  Sleeve #1 is done, so I plan on working on sleeve 2 this weekend.
• Fall 2016 design collection shawl:  On the needles currently.  I just cast this one on (it's not even mentioned on the podcast!), but it's my focus project this upcoming week. 

Personal Knitting:  A caveat that I have several things at the 99% done stage - I'm waiting for Stash Dash 2016 to start on Friday (05/27/2016) to cast those off to be able to count the yardage.

• The Lizzie Shawl: I have 1 repeat of the knit-on lace edging to do and then this is done!
• Hermione's Everyday Socks:  I have just the final toe decreases to finish and then these are done!
• Espresso Macchiato Socks: I have 1 final heel to knit and then these are done!
• Handspun Targhee socks:  New to the line-up.  I'm not using a specific pattern, per se, but just a plain vanilla sock over 60 sts with size US 2 needles. 

• Whirlwind Romance shawl: Cast this on using one of my oldest stash yarns, Lisa Souza Sock!, 100% SW merino wool.  I'm using some silver-lined clear beads for this.

Spinning Friday: May 20, 2016

I haven't had a spinning Friday post in a while - but here's what I've been up to most recently!

This past week, I've been spinning the singles from the May Wooly Wonka Fibers club, which are a lovely soft blend of 80% merino wool and 20% silk.  The colorway was inspired by Salvadore Dali's painting "Persistence of Memory".

I've spun up the first half of the singles, which I'm trying to keep fairly fine with the aim of producing a 2-ply fingering weight yarn from this.

I'm going to try to get the second half of the singles spun up over the weekend, and while I normally like to ply things up fairly promptly, I'm going to hold off on these and ply them after StashDash 2016 starts, so I can count the yardage.

WIP Wednesday: March 9, 2016

And here's what I'm working on this week!

Sekret Knitting:

• More by the skin of my teeth than I'd like, I got the final magazine deadline project out the door.  (And no, it wasn't overnighted but I have issues about paying the Post Office a gazillion dollars to ship something, so I just power knitted for 2 days and shipped it out Thursday a.m. so it would arrive Monday via regular Priority Mail.)  Whew!
• I've moved onto a design I'm working up for Jen at Spirit Trail Fiberworks for her booth at Maryland Sheep and Wool.  While I can't share the design details with you, I can show you the fantastic colorway she sent me to work with.  This is on her Sunna fingering weight, which is a 75/15/10 blend of superwash merino/cashmere/bombyx silk.  She will have some of this colorway (Angel's Trumpet) up on the website shortly if you don't have plans to attend Maryland and want to pick some up.  It's a seriously beautiful yarn and I'm thrilled with the design so far.  This will be a summer/warm weather garment, with a bit of lace and minimal finishing that you can toss on for all sorts of occasions.  I'm just about finished all the upper portion of the bodice and I'm ready to start the lacey bits.  My plan is to have the sample finished by March 18th, so I'm focusing primarily on this right now. 

• Next in the design queue will be the Heroines shawl for May 1st.  I've got the yarn dyed for my sample and have the basic construction plotted out.  I need to tweak charting before I start knitting, but that'll be my focus project for the end of March. 

Personal Knitting:

• I'm still working on the sample sock(s) for the self-striping colorway for April.  I should have the first sock finished up at least in time for my podcast next week.
• And I cast on Kirsten Kapur/Through the Loops gorgeous Seastripes shawl pattern.  I'm knitting this with a handspun gradient that I spun last year with fiber from Hilltop Cloud.  I'm a wee bit farther along than this picture shows, but still working on the garter stitch section at the top of the shawl and just enjoying the knit.  I'm saving this as a relaxing and fun project for weekend knitting, so no real goals or timeframe on it.  I'll just work on it over the course of the month and see how far I get.

Spinning Friday: March 4, 2016

I've kind of lost track where I am in showing my spinning projects after the week-plus hiatus to and from Stitches West, so I'm just going to jump in with my most recently finished project (and if you want to see where I am in the crazy 52 spins in 52 weeks project, you can always go here.)

This week, I worked on a Spin the Bin fiber from deep stash.  This was 4 oz of mixed BFL from Funky Carolina in the custom colorway "Adler".  A moody-broody blend of dark pine green and a deep plum and herby greens.  The original roving looked like:

I split the braid in half, and then split each of those halves again lengthwise - one half I split into 4 pieces and the other into 8.  I then spun each of those halves into singles, and then plied them together for a 2-ply heavy DK weight yarn with 224 yards in the skein.

My grist was a little bit wonky on this one - I spun it in small bits of time this week (like 15-minute sessions) and it was much harder to keep a consistent size for my singles.  I also purposefully spun this with a light twist, trying to keep the BFL loftier, as I think it's slated for either mittens or a hat, and I wanted it a bit soft and squishy (and normally my BFL winds up being very worsted-spun with a tighter smooth twist).

Next up, I'm starting a spin with 2 coordinating braids of Finn from Three Waters Farm for a challenge in their group.

WIP Wednesday: February 17, 2016

For all the details, please see the podcast, episode 5, which is now live:

Otherwise, for the drive-by version:

Sekret Knitting:
The only deadline project I'm working on right now is the final sweater due March 8th.  I'm about 2/3rds of the way up the body to where I need to cast off for the underarms and then shape the rest of the garment top.  I've got sleeve 1 started, and I'll get that and the body finished up for sure this week, and hopefully get sleeve 2 cast on (and done if possible), which will just leave the front bands/collar and finishing to do when I get home!

Personal Knitting:  The only things on the needles right now are self-striping sock yarn samples.  I'm cutting myself off from any other personal projects for a bit while I finish my deadline knitting with the carrot that I get to start a new handspun shawl project if I can free up those needles.

WIP Wednesday: February 10, 2016

Sekret Knitting:

• I finished up the second Heroines Club shawl and blocked it.  I even shot photos for it yesterday and my tester is finishing up her version. 
• I'm halfway up sleeve #1 of the current sweater project, and I've cast on for the body.  I had some detail at the bottom hem I needed to fuss with regarding numbers, but that was less painful than I thought it might be (easy in fact), and so I am now cruising along on the body.  This is my focus project for the next couple of weeks. 

Personal Knitting:

• I finished my Dewberry cowl and love it!  It's soft and drapey, and was a quick fun project that used up some handspun.  What's not to love?  My version used a sportweight yarn - the pattern was written for Aran, so it's a bit smaller than the original.  I'm actually thinking I might knit it again in a heavier yarn just because.

• With Dewberry off the needles, I cast on a Quaker Yarn Stretcher with my recently spun Mirro Lake colorway BFL from Three Waters Farm.  I'm a bit farther along since this picture was taken - I knit on this during the Superbowl this weekend, and it's a quick and easy knit as well, so I made a lot of progress on it. 

At the rate I'm going, I'll probably have this finished up this weekend as well, and I've selected a more complex pattern to knit up with a gradient skein of handspun for my next on-the-needles project. 

• I have finished up the March self-striping socks colorway - those will preview on the podcast on Monday.

Spinning Friday: February 5, 2016

I've got 2 finished spins to share with you today!

First up is the December FatCatKnits club fiber, which was a swirl merino (dark and light merino blended together) in the Scarlett and Rhett colorways, the final installment in the Famous Couples Club offering this go-round.

The original roving consisted of two 2.5 oz braids.  The bright one is Scarlett (lots of red, royal blue, emerald green and purple) and the more muted one is Rhett (charcoal, black and a gray-blue).

I spun each of the colorways up into singles and then plied them together to yield a fingering-weight 2-ply with 530 yards/5 oz of yarn.

While I haven't decided for sure the grand plan for this yarn, I do have enough yardage for a decently sized shawl, and I'm eyeing Romi Hill's Artesian as a possibility.  This one will marinate a while while I decide on a final project to try with it.

I also spun up 4 oz of BFL from Three Waters Farm as part of the CTA first-quarter SAL in the CTA Ravelry group.  The colorways Mary Ann dyed up were inspired by 1930s artwork and this colorway is Mirror Lake.  The original braid looked like:

I decided at the front end I wanted to use this colorway for an asymmetrical triangular shawl, something like the Quaker Yarn Stretcher or the like.  When I unbraided the roving, I found I had 3 basically equal sets of color runs so I pulled the braid apart into thirds.  Then I split one of the thirds in half and spun each half into singles, followed by the other third so that I had a shorter run of the colors and a longer run of the colors repeated twice over the length of the singles.  I then plied the 2 plies together to produce a 285 yard/4 oz skein of sportweight. 

The theory is that since this type of shawl starts with shorter rows and increases to longer ones the color blocks will stay more proportionately the same over the course of the increasing/shaping of the shawl.  We'll see if this actually works out in the final project when I get there!

Currently on the wheel, I'm spinning an 8 oz combo spin of some of my oldest fibers - two braids of BFL from FatCatKnits that I'm spinning a ply of each and then will ply these together.  I've gotten the first 4 oz of singles spun so far, and will update progress next week!

WIP Wednesday: January 27, 2016

Sekret Knitting:

• What was sweater #2 is now sweater #1:  Both sleeves are done and joined to the body.  I'm working the raglan shaping/decreases and have 5 more sets of those to go - so almost there.  Once those are done, I'll have the collar and front bands to knit and then the sample will be finished!
• What was sweater #3 is now sweater #2: I've swatched this and got spot-on where I wanted to be after blocking, so I just need to wind some yarn and get this one on the needles this weekend to get started.  Woot!

Personal Knitting:

• I've worked 14 of the 16 suggested chart repeats on my Hogmanay shawl, so I'm nearing the finish line on this.  I'm planning on working on this tonight at Knit Nite and will maybe try to get it finished up this weekend.  Currently it looks like:

• Still knitting self-striping sock samples.  I suspect that won't change for a while since I'm trying out new colorways as I develop them.  Right now, I've got the March Colors of New Mexico colorway on the needles.