On crossing the finish line

Somehow, along the way I seem to have fallen off the wagon with keeping the posts going during the tour.  I seem to have done very little besides spin and go to work.  I've just finished my last yarn - literally in the nick of time.  I just finished plying some fibres that I had hand blended on the old carders and looked at my phone - 00:00!  And now the tour is done.  Feeling surprisingly empty now, even if my stash is decidedly not - it's now (and I had to double and triple check this!) 3316m richer!  And again for those who find it as hard to believe as me - 3316 metres of yarn spun during the tour.  And that's finished yarn, and not including the very small amount I did on my spindle.  I need to take a group photo at some point and this week I will (mental note to self) upload more info on it all, but for tonight, I'll leave you all with today's little project:

My longdraw technique still needs work, as does my carding, these rolags ended up spinning quite uneven with loads of nepps, but I still like the overall effect - 234m of squishy worsted goodness, which I'm hoping will even out a little more with soaking and a good thwacking.

On being the very weird lady on the train

Am off to a teaching day today, with a ridiculously early start on the trains to get there. And in the spirit of the Tour, I've packed my Turkish spindle. The commuters of Somerset can handle that... Right?

Stash diving

When I sat down on Saturday, very last minute, to plan my Tour for the year, I knew that I had a few days off and then I would be very busy with work.  So I wanted to create a reasonable, achievable list.  Which I did, as follows:
1)  linen - to spin something new.  A gift from a secret santa last year.  This will be my challenge of the tour.
2) Merino/possum blend picked up at WW this year.
3) Elderflower BFL/silk combo (50g of each) for some fibre prep on a rest day.
4) Some batts from Hilltopcloud
5) Rainbow gradient dyed BFL, to finally master n-plying on the wheel, as I haven’t been 100% happy with my previous attempts.
6) Darling, also gradient dyed.
7) The shetland set of natural colours I got at WW. 200g, 4 shades, for a natural colourwork project.
8) Then finally, if I get the time and decide definitely that it’s a good idea, I’ve got 2 100g braids in green colourways - 1 is the euphorbia club (BFL) and some BFL/alpaca/silk in Copse Green. The later is paler and more muted. I’m not sure if using the two together (one ply of each) is too eclectic a blend to go well together.

So this morning as I sat down, I realised I most nearly halfway through that list! And several of the others, such as the linen and the BFL/silk are for later in the tour.  So, what better excuse to dive into the old stash bag and pull out something new.  Which is what I did, finding this UK merino in lovely calm shades of blue, which spun up and plied like a treat for a soft, squishy 2ply aran-ish weight.  I forgot to take photos of the plied yarn, so will just wait until it's finished.

Other jobs for the day included plying the rainbow gradient, which as it turns out is very hard to take a photo of which shows off all the colours.  It still needs to be soaked and have the twist set.:

It's just shy of 200m, and is lovely and soft in true BFL style, and I think it may bloom more when washed.  As to what I'd ever do with rainbow yarn... I really don't have a clue, but it's fun to look at and lovely to pet... which is about the same that can be said for the rest of my rather large stash.  I may have to start early again and do a handspun, handknit Christmas to clear some of it.

And finally, a shot to prove how lovely and balanced my merino/possum spinning was:

Very proud of this, and now I have three things to soak... really should get on with that!

Tastes of the exotic - TdF 12 Days 2 and 3

Aw, I love the Tour de Fleece over on Ravelry.  I'm always so inspired by it and end up spinning so much.  I'm also more inspired to experiement, try new techniques and fibres.  And I love the friendship and chatter on the forums, all the cheerleading and support, and of course everyone else's very scrummy spinning.  Lots of spinning envy and lust - spindles, fibres, wheels, expertise - it's all there in bundles for me to sample.

So my efforts for the last couple of days.

This beautiful fibre and colourway is from Fluff-n-Stuff, is called Esme, on the fibre Darling - a luxury blend of merino, cashmere and silk.  It's one of my favourite ever spinning projects, I love the colours, love love the elegant beauty of the fibre and just want to stroke it every time I walk past.  I spun it as a single, 495m, and have been inspired to make a shawl.

And another shot, because who can resist!

This tweedy appearing yarn is a 3-ply spun from batts, with a mix of merino, shetland, silk, yak and sparkly bits.  I'm still not a brilliant spinner of batts, but the results are interesting.  Everytime I walk past this one, I furrow my brow and think "mmm?".  I usually strive for smooth eveness in my spinning, and this goes against all that.  I love the colours, but struggle to love the "character" of it - all squishy and uneven and fluffy in places.  I think this 195m of texture is destined to be a cowl of some sort.

And finally, this is the single of what is now the most delightfully squishy and loft 2ply yarn, spun from a merino/possum blend.  It's hard to describe this spinning experience.  The fibre was an impulse buy at Wonderwool.  The top was a lot of small broken bits, and totalled 109g.  The top felt almost like it was felted or some sort of pre-felt (first picture below).  It felt quite dense.  So I decided to try teasing it apart.  It practically fell apart on me.  It's a short staple.  And with just the slightest of teasing became this fluffy beautiful prep, almost like it had been carded or a broken up batt (second picture below).

I love the finished yarn - it's not perfect spinning, there's a couple of fluffy/unspun bits, but it is the most balanced yarn I've made (no twisting at all!) and is so utterly squishy.  I haven't finished it yet, so finished yarn pictures at a later date.  There is no walking past of this yarn - the others, in case you are wondering are hanging up in my bathroom drying, hence me walking past them and contemplating them.  Instead, it's all skeined up and sitting on the cushion next to me.  I have to stop typing with alarming frequency and **squish** it!  It's so lofty and squishy.  I think it will end up being either a hat or a cowl of some sort.  It will be the warmest and snuggliest of all winter accessories.

So there you have it, a very eclectic bunch of fibres over the last few days - including cashmere, yak and possum.  Randomness from all over the world.  How awesome is that?  And here is how the Tour inspires me.   Being motivated to explore these new fibres and their properties.  Spinning is such an adventure!

It's that time of the year again.

It's the Tour de Fleece, which means, for the first time in ages, I have something worthwhile (well, in my opinion at least!) to blog about.  Actually, there's been lots of things, here and there to blog about, but I've never quite got round to it.  Can you tell the difference between GP land (where I had no on calls or weekend work) which ended at the start of December and being back as a hospital doctor where I've suddenly got no time, and work week long periods of nights, and all sorts of crazy weekend stuff too.  Yup, my last post was at the end of November.  It makes a lot of difference to my time.

So day one of the Tour, and my contributions look a little like this (making the most of the weekend, I splurged!).  Singles of some rainbow gradient dyed BFL, which I will n-ply once I get round to it.  I've never been entirely satisfied with my n-plying on the wheel, so I'm determined to get in some practice with the Tour.

And two out of three batts in Mystique colourway - think sparkly blackcurrent juice and you've nearly got it!  They're from HilltopCloud and contain merino, shetland, tussah silk, yak down and some sparkle).  I picked them up, along with a dusky pink set at Wonderwool this year.  Katie does some amazing stuff, and oh so pretty!  And oh so difficult to resist - see:

The day's collection (rubbish colours as taken last thing at night, and the camera didn't know what to do with itself!):

I also found a bit of time for some knitting today too, finishing off the first of two cushions to be done in natural dyed aran from a recent dye session.  Just had a rinse and is now drying, ready to be sewn up tomorrow, if dried.

I just need to decide how to do the other cushion.  I have plenty of all the colours left, but not as proportionally as much purple.  So I was thinking of strips of some kind, either just plain old stripes of different heights, with perhaps some garter ridges thrown in to break up the stocking stitch - it would look pretty retro, and hopefully cool!  Or something a little more adventurous (and requiring more maths!) like the lizard ridge blanket stitch pattern.

My other knitting project on the go is an aran-style set of baby dungarees, because the pattern is too cute to resist.  They've grown since this photo - they're now just over three completed diamonds high.  The pattern is from the Fyberspates baby collection and is just adorable!

A flying visit

Sitting, back in Yeovil, after a nice few days away.  It has to be said, I was feeling pretty knackered and somewhat lacking in my usual drive and energy to see everyone - so sorry for that my dear Derby friends.

But I did still manage to catch up with my parents, have a lovely steak dinner for my dad's birthday, see Emma's new house (yay!), spend some quality chilling and knitting time at Sarah's, wonder round town with Sarah, have a nice lunch out with Lorri (how I've missed her!) and go Christmas shopping with her, go to a baby bump blessing, go out for a drink with friends and catch up on some episodes of House which my mum has been recording on Sky+.  I suppose that's not too bad going for 4days.

And finally, a few photos, because I'm still tired and couldn't be bothered so much with the words.

 Because handspun toddlers are just so darned cute!

 The girls getting henna

 Henna on my shoulder (above) courtesy of Lorri, and on my right leg (below) courtesy of Sarah.  My other leg got doodled on by SamSam, Jenna and Morgan.  I love walking around knowing discretely tucked under my clothes are lovely works of art and creativity from my friends.

 The focus, of course was Sarah's bump, and most people got stuck in, including Sarah herself, from her upside down view.  She was highly decorated by the end!

 And a fun first for me, batik silk painting (using child friendly PVA glue).  I can't wait to see the finished, dried, washed silks.

 

And finally, some shots of my drinks out with Sam, Kev and Lorri.

 

Knitting into the inky sky

Yay! Two days of annual leave and I'm speeding my way back to derby for my dad's birthday and Sarah's baby blessing. After a few hiccups in the journey, I'm about 20mins away (God bless iPhones and their apps for allowing me to blog on the go). I'm finally making headway on my mum's shawl after a spinning binge break. And it's been delightful company for this journey - albeit only 6 rows done, they are epic rows now!