Tour de Fleece

I finished plying my June fiber and started the Corriedale last night.  So far, I am not a fan of how the fiber feels but I do like how easily it drafts.  Details forthcoming about the above fiber along with May's spin too!

Remnants

A couple of more puffs - 60 total so far!

What it looked like in the beginning - just needs to be plyed

Hello, Corriedale!  How are you?  Up for a little Tour de Fleece action?

Fiber shot from Ammerican Photography

little helper

my spinning buddy

Hexipuff 54 & 55 or Go Orange!

Peek at May Finished Fiber

As usual, glam shots to follow with my commentary and details!

More Zombies

Ah, it's been a while since I crocheted up a zombie and since one of my students wanted one, I couldn't resist the request.  This is the Cyber Zombie from the Creepy Cute Crochet book.  I used Lion Brand Cotton-ease in taupe and almond.

Currently, I'm spinning up my sunflowers fiber from Clover Leaf Farms.  I'm trying very hard to spin the merino fine as suggested by the Fleece and Fiber Source Book.  So far, so good.  I'm even letting the spindle go for a while without parking it in between my legs.  Hopefully, by the end of this four ounces I can draft and spin at the same time with confidence!

I've been on an amigurumi kick and started making a kitty from the Amineko Amigurumi book that my sister got me for Christmas this past year.  I'm kinda getting annoyed with the pattern and the thought of sewing all the body parts together kicked in just the other night that I decided to just put the project on hold.  Even though I still need to make legs and a tail...

Two other projects that I've gotten together in bags with the yarn, pattern and needles are  some hand warmers and a shawl.  They are ready to be started.  This Thursday for knit night at the Yarn Cupboard, I plan on starting my first ever knitted shawl that I'm convinced won't make me look like an old fogey.  I'll be using the greenish blue sock yarn that I dyed at the retreat back in March and I'm using a skein of Noro that I got for Christmas to make the hand warmers.  I'll be learning a couple things with these projects: provisional cast-on and knitting something besides hexipuffs with double pointed needles!

April Hand Spun Part Deux

 This is the official glam shot of what I spun up last month.  I am very proud of this fibery offering.  This was Blue Faced Leicester roving that I bought at the Yarn Cupboard's Winter Fiber Arts Retreat from Twisted Wool,  a mother-daughter team from Marietta, New York.  I used my Ashford spindle and really packed on the singles and then two plyed it from a center pull ball.  

I was really stubborn with getting all the singles on to my spindle.  I probably shouldn't have been but I'm still a noob at this and will learn eventually to be more consistent and trust my spinning instincts.  There's still a couple of things I'm afraid to do with my spindle that if I had the ovaries, would make my spinning more efficient and speedy.  I still have yet to have my spindle spinning and me drafting at the same time.  I'm stuck in this park-draft mode that is really working for me but I know I can do better.  I, also, am in a two ply kind of rut, so to speak.  When I get my fiber pre-drafted I have intentions of separating the fluff into even amounts so I can at least try to three ply but then I get nervous and just decide to stick with what I'm comfortable with.  I'm getting positive reinforcement from my spinning buddies but I'm still being a whiny, wuss about it.

As for the facts about this lovely yarn that I named, "I'm Only Sleeping," (The Beatles inspire me to name any fiber that comes with no colorway name)  I came up with about 84 yards from 4 ounces of BFL fiber in a worsted weight.  This feels light and bouncy and squishy.  I love it!

April Handspun

Here's a sneak peak of the niddy noddy sans details:

Next month the requirement for our local spin-a-long is that the fiber has to be pink or merino.  I have quite a bit of merino so I decided on spinning up four ounces of this:

I also feel like I'm coming down with a case of startitis.  I just want to start a ton of projects but I know if I do, once the babe comes, I'll feel guilty of all the projects that will be languishing around the house.  Then, when I do get around to working on them, I'll already feel the pressure of Christmas crafting.  Ack!  What to do?

You may also notice the absence of puff posting.  I'm at a standstill with the puffs but they are definitely still on the back burner.  I have about four puffs that still need to be photographed.  Once I finish this mini skein of sock yarn that I'm working on, I will be halfway to my goal of 100 puffs!  Woot, woot!

Oh, snap!

This was my March spinning project, all plied and finished.  I spun the merino on my spindle and then made a center pull ball and 2 plyed the singles.  The merino was nice and squishy but I think it may have felted slightly because as I was drafting, the fibers weren't coming apart as smoothly.  Or this could be the natural way of merino; I'm too lazy to look it up.  

When I was plying I was getting a little frustrated because my singles kept getting tangled.  I know I should just separate the fiber in half and go from there but I hate having any left over singles.  I have no clue what to do with them and I want to get as much yardage as possible.  Another thing I realized as I was plying was that having a wheel would make my life so much easier and efficient.  Ah well, c'est la vie!  As for measurements, I was able to get from these 4 ounces, about 92 yards of worsted weight yarn. 

On the knitting and crochet front, I am still making hexipuffs, but I also was able to make some mittens for a charity project.  This pattern was super easy.  I was able to crochet these mittens in about two hours or less.  I used Vanna's Choice in pink.  This was such a quick crochet that I'm debating whether or not to knock out another pair. 

Photos by Ammerican Photography

A Finished Fiber for Friday

Details forthcoming when the hubby takes a real nice photo of the finished skein...

4 more ounces!

This is my second incomplete four ounces that I spun up this past month.  Say hello to "Jolie en Pink."  It's fiber from Spinner's Hill Top in merino that I purchased from The Yarn Cupboard.  I say incomplete in that when I started to first spin it it was I think November?  Anyway, it's done and I love it!  I did not end up Navajo plying it because I was too chicken.  My spinning friend Angela, showed me how to do it on a spindle and I even tried to do it with some practice yarn while she helped me at our last spin night.  I'm going to continue practicing that way until I feel confident.  What was cool is that the method of Navajo plying is almost like starting a crochet chain.  So, I shouldn't be too scared, right?

I'm really proud of this skein because I noticed my singles are more consistent and I don't have as much thick and thin areas like I did with my Blue Jay Way yarn.  I didn't check out the yarn on my WPI gauge but by eye balling it, I'd say that my two ply merino is clocking in at about a bulky weight and I got about 106 yards in total.  What do you think I should make with it? :-)

Next fiber up for this month:

 This is Snapdragon from Clover Leaf Farms that I purchased at the Hemlock Fiber Festival this past fall.  It's four ounces of merino top.  I have already pre-drafted so it's ready to go ...once I can break away from my hexipuff addiction.

Photos by Ammerican Photography

Latest Handspun

Details and better photo to come!

Finished projects

 These are two pics of the last cowl I made for my cousin's birthday.  I used Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool in the oatmeal colorway.  It used up  most of the skein and I was pretty pleased with the end result.  This time I was able to do the flower according to the pattern rather than two little flowers from a crochet flower book that I had the last time.  My cousin loved it!  

And, finally, the first finished hand spun skein of the year!  I'm not quite sure about the yardage because I seem to be inept in figuring out how to measure from my niddy noddy.  So, I have no details except that I have more than enough singles spun to make a hat for Michael.  I learned that I will probably not spin singles again for a long time.  They were pretty kinky and calmed down slightly after their bath but not enough for my liking. The next fiber I have is pink and the fiber is from Spinner's Hill Top.  The singles on my spindle look so pretty and I am so excited to ply them!

Photos by Ammerican Photography

September for ME!

Yeah, yeah.  I'm behind.  Whatev...

I made the Zen and the Art of Stash Diving scarf from Robyn Chachula in Berroco Vintage.  This was the first time I crocheted with a DK weight yarn.  It was light and fluffy the whole way through.  I just did the row repeats until I could wear it the way I like to wear scarves. 

Oh and I'm still spinning up some fiber from Spinner's Hill Top:

I still have a bunch of fiber left to spin.  Now I can see how much yardage some people can get out of 4 ounces.  Wow!  I'm prolly going to two-ply this to have as much yardage as possible.  I'm not yet confident in my singles to leave them alone.  Again, this is a wool-merino blend.  I find that as I'm spinning, I've been dropping the spindle more than I have in the beginning.   I'm not sure if my spindle is getting too heavy because I'm getting good and don't need such a heavy spindle (it's the Ashford students spindle) or if it's because wool and merino tend to break more?  I dunno but either way I'm in a groove now and there's less dropping going on.

Spin like you mean it

There's my first spin project all plyed and ready to be skeined and washed oh and also measured.  It was a 3 ply/2ply blend (invention of my own).  Don't ask, just go with it.  As stated in a previous post, I channeled Abby Franquemont and wound three balls of spun fiber into one so that plying on my spindle wouldn't make me go  coo-coo.  Spin night is tonight and I'm bringing 4 ounces of a domestic wool blend that has some white and gray going through it.  I'm hoping to try a different Ashford wheel, maybe the Joy?

Spinster in the making

On Wednesday night, I went to a spinner's meet-up at The Yarncupboard in Jamesville, New York.  I brought my little Ashford spindle and bag of Falkland fiber with me.  I was also eager to try a wheel because they carry Kromski and Ashford wheels.  I've been doing a lot of research on wheels because I'm really wanting one and I have no clue what I should get.  I've been looking at pricing and all sorts of websites from etsy to ebay just to get an idea on what a used price should be compared to new, etc. etc.  When I got there I was put in front of an Ashford Kiwi.  How fun!  I didn't realize that two hours had passed and I was left with the above skein.  Yeah, I made that (with some help).  So, as of right now, the Kiwi seems to be the practical choice.  The lovely ladies there said that as long as you know what you're doing; it doesn't matter which wheel you get!  Whew!  I didn't want to grow out of anything too quickly because I'm convinced I'll be doing this frequently and for a while!  There was an amazing spinner there, Beth, who told me that she has a Kiwi and loves it.  The next meet-up is in August when I may purchase some fiber from The Yarncupboard's selection and try a different Ashford wheel - for the heck of it.

Parking it.

So it's vacation and I have a little extra time.  Thanks Hazel for taking 2 1/2 hour naps!  Whoohoo!  In some of that "free" time I have been spinning on my Ashford spindle a little each day since my last post.  I'm so obsessive that I go to sleep thinking about how I can spin better in the morning.  Ah!  I'm such a nerd!  Anywho, here's a pic of my latest progress:

What I have learned in the past few days is the importance of drafting and I've been watching a boat load of drafting videos on YouTube just to make sure I'm doing it correctly.  I also realized that I'm not faster than the spindle yet so I've been doing a lot of parking and drafting.  I'm relieved that it doesn't feel as awkward as the first time and I'm trying to figure out what to do with my nubby mess of Falkland Wool Fiber craziness from the first of the month.  It looks like trying to untwist will make me go insane and I can't use it for padding anything because it's all sorts of bulgy.    Ideas?

All sorts of proud of myself right now!