Tour De Fleece 2018

The annual Tour de Fleece is always great fun and a really nice way to focus on some spinning over the summer.  The Tour officially kicked off on Saturday, July 7th, and will run through Sunday, July 29th.  I'm a bit late getting started since I was in DC until Tuesday, but I did get home with enough time on Tuesday the 10th to at least put the start of a spin on my wheel.  (If you're a spinner and you'd like to come join Team Wooly Wonka, we've got a lovely small group of like-minded folks here.  Very casual - you can spin anything you'd like!)

My first spin for the Tour is another one out of stash.  This is Calavera from Two If By Hand, on Polwarth wool.

I decided I would try to get through a couple of braids in the next week or so at a DK-ish weight before I knuckle down and try to work on a thinner-grist spin.  I've got 2 Two If By Hand braids earmarked for the heavier-weight items and I think I'm going to tackle a small amount of a 50/50 angora bunny/silk blend I've got as my lighter-weight yarn - but that is subject to change based on my schedule of things around here. 

I've started the first half of the singles and hoping to get the first half finished up tomorrow.  Here's where that stands so far: 

I'm really looking forward to working on some more deep stash fibers for the Tour!

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!

Playing Catchup

Seriously y'all.... my blog has been really sorely neglected this year except for book posts.  I'm going to try to remedy that the second half of the year, so I'm going to try to get back to my prior Mon/Wed/Fri posting schedule.

Today being Friday, how about a spinning-related post?

Tour de Fleece 2017 is almost upon us!  It starts July 1st this year and runs thru the 23rd.  I've participated in the Tour for the last 5 or so years, I think. It's one of the few things I look forward to in the summertime, since I am not a hot-weather person and we usually take vacations in the fall or winter months.  I'm hoping to get my wheel freed up this weekend so I'm ready to go for July 1st.

I have been slowly, ever so slowly working on spins from stash this year.  Right now, I've got a club fiber from Winter 2011 from FatCatKnits on the wheel.  It's a 75/25 BFL wool/silk blend.  There were 2 colorways (as Ginny normally did for her Mixed Blessings Clubs), with 2.5 oz of each.  The original roving is jewel tones - one warm and one cool colorway set.

I had waffled a bit about how I wanted to spin these.  I originally thought about spinning them individually and keeping the colors separate, but I decided to go ahead and spin up the singles and ply them together in a 2-ply.  So far, here's where I am:

It's coming out like a pretty stained glass colorway.  It might be just the thing to use with a dark purple or black solid colorway in a 2-color project when it's finished..... someday. 

As a carrot to help keep me motivated to get this done, I pulled a random braid from a bin this morning that'll be my first braid on the wheel for TdF.  I'm not setting any specific yardage or ounces to spin goal.  I'm just going to go for 30 minutes of spinning time a day and whatever I get finished, I get finished. 

First up: Pirate Jenny from Two If By Hand on superwash merino.  

I'm pretty sure I'm going to split this braid (which is dyed as a gradient) up and do striped yarn for socks.  At least that's the current plan as of today - stay tuned. 

Have a great weekend!

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!

New Podcast Episode (#41 - 12/22/2016) - Happy Holidays!

Episode 41 is now live (recorded 12/22/2016);

In this episode, I talk about:

Trunk Show at Yarn and Coffee in Santa Fe, NM on January 7, 2017.

FOs:
Snowdrops Mittens (January kit in the Herbarium Club for color/texture).

WIPs:
Sekret sweater project for Spring 2017 Filament magazine.
Cabled vest project for spring 2017 release.

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.
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.

Spinning/Handspun Yarn:
Superfine merino/alpaca in “Charcoal” from Pigeon Roof Studios.
Oceanwind Knits

Stitching:
January Word Play from Thy Needle and 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!

My Personal Blog: An Evening of Wonders

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 and new podcast

Episode 30 is now live (recorded September 19, 2016):

In this episode, I talk about:

Salida Fiber Festival

FO: 
Coffee Date shawl. Pattern by CC Almon. Yarn is Ceridwen Sock in Miss Fanny Price, Low Tide and Unicorn.

WIP: 
Sekret Knitting project for March in Kid Silk Haze. 
Sekret Knitting project for March in Wooly Wonka Fibers Aeslin DK. 
Ribbed socks for my mum in Jawoll sock yarn

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. 
Gilmore Girls KAL: Hosted by Jilly of The Knitting Broomstick. Runs through September 30, 2016. 
Filament KAL – any pattern from the new Filament Fall 2016 issue. See more details in the Ravelry forum.

Upcoming: 
Soctoberfest and sock yarn sale

Handspun Yarn: 
SW merino/nylon in Sushi colorway from FatCatKnits. 
August club fiber – 1967 colorway from Oceanwind Knits. 
BFL packs in the Persimmon colorway from Greenwood Fiberworks

Sewing:
Decorating the Wreath pattern 
Babushka’s Blossoms pattern

WIP Wednesday and Episode 28 Podcast

Episode 28 (recorded August 28, 2016) is now live:

For those of you interested in the drive-by version, here are all the links to things I talk about in this episode:

In this episode, I talk about:

FO/Design Release: 
Blackberries Stole and Scarf pattern

WIP: 
Sekret Knitting project for March. 
Coffee Date shawl. Pattern by CC Almon. Yarn is Ceridwen Sock in Miss Fanny Price, Low Tide and Unicorn.

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. 
Gilmore Girls KAL: Hosted by Jilly of The Knitting Broomstick. Runs through September 30, 2016.

Upcoming: 
Soctoberfest and sock yarn sale

Handspun Yarn: 
SW merino/nylon in Indian Corn colorway from FatCatKnits

Sewing: 
Little House Needleworks cross-stitch ornament 
Heaven and Earth Designs 
A Stitching Shelf pattern 
Decorating the Wreath pattern

WIP Wednesday and Podcast Episode 27

Episode 27 of the podcast (recorded Sunday, August 21st) is now live:

In this episode, I talk about:

FOs: 
Plain vanilla socks in the “Janis” colorway from Desert Vista Dyeworks in the Viso yarn base.

WIPs: 
Sekret Knitting project for the Wooly Wonka Fibers shop. 
Coffee Date Shawl: Pattern by CC Almon. Yarn is Wooly Wonka Fibers Ceridwen Sock in Unicorn, Miss Fanny Price, and Low Tide.

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. 
Stash Dash 2016: Hosted by the Knit Girrls Podcast. Runs from May 27 through August 21, 2016. 
Coffee with CC KAL: Hosted by Jilly of The Knitting Broomstick. Runs through December 31, 2016. 
Gilmore Girls KAL: Hosted by Jilly of The Knitting Broomstick. Runs through September 30, 2016.

Filament: 
Ravelry group. 
Instagram. 
Pinterest. 
Pre-order page on the website. 
Look book/preview of the collection.

Sewing: 
Bertie’s Year applique quilt blocks 
Little House Needleworks cross-stitch ornament

WIP Wednesday and New Podcast - August 17, 2016

Episode 26, recorded August 14, 2016, is now live!

In this episode, I talk about:

FOs: 
Boardwalk: Pattern by Heidi Kirrmaier. Yarn is Scottish Campion in the Mogit colorway. 
Corrugated scarf: Pattern by Cabin Four. Yarn is Spirit Trail Fiberworks Brigantia in the Wisteria colorway.

WIPs: 
Sekret Knitting project for the Wooly Wonka Fibers shop. 
Plain vanilla socks in the “Janis” colorway from Desert Vista Dyeworks in the Viso yarn base. 
Coffee Date Shawl: Pattern by CC Almon. Yarn is Wooly Wonka Fibers Ceridwen Sock in Unicorn, Miss Fanny Price, and Low Tide.

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. 
Stash Dash 2016: Hosted by the Knit Girrls Podcast. Runs from May 27 through August 21, 2016. 
Coffee with CC KAL: Hosted by Jilly of The Knitting Broomstick. Runs through December 31, 2016. 
Gilmore Girls KAL: Hosted by Jilly of The Knitting Broomstick. Runs through September 30, 2016.

Filament: 
Ravelry group. 
Instagram. 
Pinterest. 
Pre-order page on the website. 
Look book/preview of the collection.

Classes for the Austin Yarn Crawl: Contact The Happy Ewe at 512-284-7408.

WIP Wednesday and Wooly Wonka Podcast - August 10, 2016

Episode 25 of the Wooly Wonka Fibers podcast is now live:

In this episode, I talk about:

Londonderry Jacket pattern

WIPs: 
New Sekret Knitting project for the Wooly Wonka Fibers shop. 
Boardwalk: Pattern by Heidi Kirrmaier. Yarn is Scottish Campion in the Mogit colorway. 
Corrugated scarf: Pattern by Cabin Four. Yarn is Spirit Trail Fiberworks Brigantia in the Wisteria colorway. 
Plain vanilla socks in the “Janis” colorway from Desert Vista Dyeworks in the Viso yarn base.

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. 
Stash Dash 2016: Hosted by the Knit Girrls Podcast. Runs from May 27 through August 21, 2016. 
Coffee with CC KAL: Hosted by Jilly of The Knitting Broomstick. Runs through December 31, 2016.

Filament: 
Ravelry group. 
Instagram. 
Pinterest. 
Pre-order page on the website. 
Look book/preview of the collection.

Wooly Wonka Fibers Podcast - Episode 24

The newest episode is now live!  (Recorded July 31, 2016).

WIP Wednesday: June 29, 2016

This week's podcast is now live:

Lots of details in the podcast, including a new pattern release (the shawl you see behind me).

For the quick version, here you go!

FOs: 
Talisman Shawl: Pattern by Helen Stewart. Yarn is Wooly Wonka Fibers Gaia Sock in the “Bluebells” colorway. 
Beitha Shawl pattern release. Yarn is Wooly Wonka Fibers Nimue Sock in “White Birch” and “Black Forest”. 
Handspun Cabin Socks. Original fiber from FatCatKnits in the “Denim” colorway.

WIPs: 
White Sands self-striping socks. 
Design for Austin Yarn Crawl/The Happy Ewe

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