Plied!! I need to take it off on my niddy noddy and skein it up so I can wash it and set the twist. I love the tweed! Will post a picture when it is skeined and drys.
I barely got it on the bobbin, had a little left over on one bobbin, more practice with chain plying :P. This is either a heavy worsted or light bulky, will see when it’s dry. 🙂
I signed up last spring to have two fleeces that I have had for about 4 years turned into roving to spin, and I needed to ship them to the mill around Aug 1st. I tried to skirt them in April but rain and wind made it not fun to try to do outside, so I put it off. Now it’s too hot so I decided to do these on a sheet in my living room. They made a nice sheepy smell in my living room lol. I did the white fleece today, and the grey yesterday. These were very dirty fleeces and I lost about about 1/3 of them to parts that were so dirty they were past cleaning up. These were not coated sheep because are meat sheep, however they were polypay ewes and their fleece is next to skin soft. They were given to me so I’m not out any money and I will have some nice fiber to spin when they come back from the mill.
The first picture is what was left of the white fleece after skirting. The 2nd picture is the unskirted grey fleece, and the 3rd picture is a little bit I pulled off the grey and washed so I could see what color it really was and the last picture is that sample after it was dry and I put it through my drum carder. It’s fluffy and soft and a medium grey as I suspected. I will be excited to get it back! One more thing off my list of things I need to get done!
I have been spinning but not as much as I wanted to. I should have the 2nd bobbin finished tomorrow and hopefully plied, but it will be Saturday before I get a picture of the yarn because I will need to wash it and let it dry. 🙂
Next week starting on Tuesday our temps are suppose to be in the 90’s. Sigh. I just keep telling myself, better than -50.
I took an antihistamine and fell asleep early the 10th, so I will call that “my bicycle broke day” lol, was suppose to be a rest day anyway, guess my body said yep. On the 11th I decided I was going to try to use up the little bit of singles on one of the bobbins from the last skien of yarn because I was going to need that bobbin for plying and decided to try a chain ply, something I had never done. I watched someone on YouTube and thought ok I can do that. When I put the empty bobbin on somehow I didn’t get my brake band on the part it needed to be on and the yarn wasn’t taking up on the bobbin, ugh. I was frustrated so I put it down and didn’t get back to it. Decided to look over the wheel on the 12th and after adjusting some other things, I noticed the break band, oh my gosh, problem solved!! I tried the chain play, not quite as easy as it looks but I managed to get most of that single plied on the other bobbin with the chain ply until it broke with about 1 yard left. I thought ok, no problem, I’m happy with what I got, even tho it’s a bit over spun with the chain ply, I’ll keep practicing with the left overs on future bobbins until I get better. Notice in the first picture there is no marling of the yarn :). When you chain ply you get same color on same color except sometimes at the end and beginning of each color for a short distance. So new technique learned! Today I went ahead and started spinning the 2nd bobbin, see picture.
Day 9, finished the first bobbin! It looks a lot more full in real life than in the picture but maybe a bobbin with the same amount of singles will fit when plied, tho I have my doubts.
I didn’t start the new bobbin but it is on there ready to start spinning tomorrow since I will be making up time for my lack of spinning time the 6th day. I don’t care tho tomorrow shouldn’t be too busy, laundry day and maybe an errand. I may not post tomorrow tho unless I have a substantial amount of spinning to show :P.
Our city has been doing their “work” on the roads, and oh my gosh you almost need a map to see where you can go and where you need to avoid, and how the heck you are suppose to get to your destination, sigh. I guess it’s all cities but so annoying, altho not quite as annoying as the pot holes they are fixing by repaving, some are almost big enough to swallow your car lol.
Ok, I did spin on day 7, just didn’t post because I didn’t spin much, guess I will be spinning on their rest day on the 10th :P. I have a little bit more to spin on this first bobbin, then I will start the 2nd bobbin. If I have weighed the fiber out correctly and my spinning is consistent, my 2nd bobbin should be equally as full and that, I think, will be a problem when I ply it on the 3rd bobbin, because plying two near full bobbins will be too much yarn to fit on it. I guess that will mean 2 skeins, one larger than the other. I might just have to invest in a large bobbin and the large flyer that goes with it. Won’t be cheap, it won’t be here for this year’s Tour de Fleece and I don’t spin a lot of bulky type of yarns but if I am going to do it occasionally it’s best to have one.
This is the singles I finished so I could start this year’s Tour de Fleece. Fractal spins are fun and look cool when they are done, just no idea what I would knit it into. Maybe it’s just meant to look at and enjoy :).
Here is my progress with the Very Berry Color Pop (South American wool with viscose). I am really enjoying this spin, it’s a bit thicker than my normal spin because of the viscose bits in it but I am loving the tweedy slubby look. I can hardly wait to see what the plied yarn will look like.
I chose the South American wool with viscose bits, Very Berry color pop for my first start to finish project. It’s a different spin as it has all those viscose bits in it so it will be a thicker yarn and a little slubby but it’s pretty. I’m not use to spinning a slubby yarn so it should be a fun and because it’s thicker, a faster spin. It’s looking pretty so far :).
The picture on the right was my 2nd project for last year’s Tour de Fleece, lol, yes I just finished it today, the picture on the left. It was a fractal spin and fractal spins are fun and pretty. I still have to wind it off on my niddy noddy, skein it and wash it, then when it’s dry I’ll take a picture of the skein :). Plying is always my nemesis it takes several hrs to ply the 2 singles together and sitting for that long is not my thing, but I have a really comfortable chair this year that a friend gave me, very cushy :). Tomorrow after winding this one off I will start spinning my new fiber. 🙂
It’s Tour de Fleece time again! It is from July 1st through July 23, we spin each day the bikers are riding on the Tour de France. We just choose how much time we’ve decided we are going to spin each day they ride, 15 min or an hr, it’s up to us, with days off when they take their rest days off.
Above are the fibers I’ve chosen. I doubt I will get through them all as I have a tiny bit to finish already on my wheel and then to ply that, so that should be my first day. The first one is a Cormo and Rambouillet cross (brown) from SheepSymphony on Etsy, I bought a 2.34 lb processed fleece – very good and soft stuff, and the price was amazing!!!! The one next to it is fiber I bought from Camaj Fiber Arts, it is a beautiful tweed called Very Berry Color Pop, it is South American Wool & Viscose bits Blend combed top. The one behind it is also from Camaj Fiber Arts another tweed called Pop Rock (with blue, red, orange, green and purple (so pretty!) also South American Wool and Viscose bits blend top. Those colorful bits will sure pop on there, those tweed fibers are going to make beautiful yarn!!
The pictures are so much better on my new phone!! I forgot to take pictures at the fiber festival again, 
sorry. I also forgot to get pictures of several skeins of yarn I bought for my son to make socks on his sock knitting machine for his spouse Ev, who picked out the skeins of yarn for his socks :), and I bought some roving for my son to spin on his new E6 electric spinning wheel, was too exciting to remember some things, like taking pictures :p. I bought 2 needle felted zipper decorated pieces of art, but yeah, I forgot to get a picture of one of them before I gifted it, it was a beautiful nativity for a friend who collects nativity deco for her Christmas tree. The first picture is one of the needle felted zipper decorated pins I bought for myself, because I love sheep, I didn’t see an alpaca, but I love all things I can spin :).
The 2nd picture is a beautiful tweed braid of roving that I bought to spin, I love the muted colors!!! This will be fun to spin and knit up!
The 3rd picture is from a class my son signed me up at for the fiber festival, a needle felting class for felted pictures. It was so awesome, but I am going to need to practice a whole lot more, but it was fun!
I love Spring but I always forget at the front part it’s back and forth between cooler weather and warmer weather and all the storms and rain. But that is ok, it’s not below 0 and it’s not snow anymore!! I hope everyone is enjoying their weather where ever you are. 🙂
LDSVenus-knits 