I spun a sweater

No seriously, I spun enough of a single fiber to knit a sweater. Or a cardigan. Or a ridiculous amount of hats. And obviously I have no idea what I am going to use the yarn for.

The sweater spin hasn't been washed yet, but as I type it is hanging in my shower drying. A grand total of 7 skeins with 1,461 yards before washing. I know that some of that will be lost after it dries, but I'll have to wait for final numbers.

The colorfully dyed yarn on the right has already been washed and is 383 yards of 2 ply and 76 yards of chain plied. 

Spinning progress

So I have managed to spin up half of the fleece and half of the Hello Yarn fiber shown in the previous post. I wish the little Ashford bobbin showed more of the colors. 

It is interesting how the bobbins compare. I know that the Hansen bobbins are a lot bigger, but after having not used my Ashford for a while I had forgotten how much larger they really are. There are 2 ounces of colorful singles on the front bobbin and it is rather full while the middle bobbin has about 8 ounces on it and still has quite a bit of empty space. The bobbin still on the mini spinner has about 4 ounces on it.

Since this photo I've started the second bobbin of the Hello Yarn fiber and gotten maybe another half ounce done of the fleece.

Neutrals

It seems that I have been on a kick spinning more neutral colors recently, starting with the fleece I'm working on. After carding all the fleece and spinning up some of it I decided to take a small break and spin up something colorful...

Look how well that worked. I kept picking up other fibers wanting something bright and fun, but somehow this is what jumped on the wheel. It is part of some Falkland that I dyed up at yarn school this past year. Spun with a low twist and lightly fulled, I think that when I get around to spinning the rest of it I'm going to try to match it.

I'm back to working on spinning up the fleece, but the other spin that I'm working on fills my need for color. The ply is for a two ply yarn which you can seem the sample on the right on the card in the picture.

Spin In Progress

A while back I showed you the fiber I had started spinning at Yarn School and where it was at

Now, three months later, I have finished spinning the singles! I've been looking for some metallic thread so that I could ply the two together, but I couldn't fins a thread that was the right color or the right weight so I'm going to chain ply it all. But not for a while because it will be one massive ply session. 

Spinning Violet

This is only about 20 ounces of fiber-there is more!

Over two Yarn School visits I have acquired 1.5 pounds of a beautiful fleece from a BFL/ merino cross sheep named Violet. It has already been washed, but had not been processed in any other way and it is time to spin it up. It is also the largest single amount of any one fiber that I have. After trying a few different ways to prep it for spinning, I've decided that rolags are the way to go. And I've started spinning.

First of three plies

I love that the fiber is spinning up slightly textured and know that it will mostly even out with the plying. When all is said and done, the finished yarn will be a true three ply and not my regular chain ply.

Spin the Bin 2015 Challenge

One of the groups I'm a part of on Ravelry is the Completely Twisted and Arbitrary Spinners (CTA Spinners) and last year there was a spin the bin challenge that was a big hit. I didn't find that challenge until about half way through the year and at a time when my spinning mojo had gone on vacation so I didn't join. I could have joined at any point, but then I honestly forgot. Luckily they are starting up the challenge for this year and I'm in!

A quick summary of the rules before I show you my bin- you start your bin with a minimum of 12 fibers weighing 2 ounces or more each; you can add to the bin, but not take away unless you replace it with two items; you have to declare your bin with specifics and then when finished declare with photos (so before and after). One great thing is that if you have a large amount of one fiber (1.5 pounds of Violet's fleece), you can split it into a few entries. The 2015 challenge starts December 24, 2014 and goes until December 31, 2015. You can also decided if you want to be part of the use it or lose it group which means if it isn't spun at the ear of the year you are donating it to the prize pool. I probably should join the use it or lose it, but I'm undecided at the moment.

So my list!

1. CHF- mixed BFL- Firelight- 5.25oz
2. SE- Romney- Lightening Strike- 4oz
3. SE- Corriedale- Acorns- 4oz
4. Julie Spins,- Targhee- Apple Impression- 5.4oz (18.65)
5. TIBH- MCN- Prim- 4oz
6. TIBH- Batt 252- 2.3oz
7. Loop- merino/nylon/angelina- Galaxy- 5oz+
8. HY- BFL/silk- Outburst- 4oz
9. HY- Corriedale- Pressing Reasons- 4oz
10. Violet BFL/merino fleece, 8 ounces
11. Violet BFL/merino cross fleece- 8 ounces
12. Violet BFL/merino cross fleece- 8 ounces

So far the total is 61.95 ounces (over 3.5 pounds!), but I can always add to my bin if I want to. Though to try keeping my spinning options open over the year, I most likely will not add to the list. And also over 3 pounds is more than I normally spin in a year. Let's see how far I get!

At some point I need to take photos of all the fiber laid out and make a collage so you can see the nine braids and batts I've chosen.

WIP Wednesday

I have a few, ok, more than a few projects in the works and of course I have many more planned as well. These are a few that I am slowly working on an dope to finish before the new year.

The african flower blue and white blanket will need 106 more hexagons if I want to get it to be a nice lap blanket size. It might be smaller if I get bored or run out of yarn before I get that far, but since I got the giant balls of yarn I'm not too worried about running short.

My third attempt and an OWL for the HPKCHC (you do have to have a Ravelry account to see the fun) and the only one that I haven't finished. The fiber for this is a merino/silk blend that was somewhat compact and had to be redrafted quite a bit to make it spinable, but I still have four ounces to spin and ply before I can cable ply it with this bobbin. Hopefully I can get this done before Yarn School in October because it is taking up my bobbins.

And my last spin that is hogging a bobbin at the moment is red silk hankies that I'm going to chain ply with beads. I finally got the beads so all that is left is plying. There is a bit more to the singles than what is shown in the photo, this was just to show that I did spin with my miniSpinner in the car while on a road trip. 

Fiber Explosion!

A few fiber goodies are missing from the photo

So last post I showed you a picture of the new fiber bookcase and I thought I'd show you some close ups and also what I dyed. Above is the goodie bag we got on the first night, some dyed fiber, some natural fiber, a dye packet and a few other little goodies. Since I got to stay for the dye lab I ended up with three pounds of fiber.

The first four were from dye lab during yarn school. The green was super wash and was an experiment with crock pot dyeing and using three different colors of green. The other three were hand painted which got a little messy. The pink/purple/turquoise one at the top is actually more muted than it appears in the photos. For the dye lab extension I repeated the greens in the crock pot and did another pink/purple/turquoise because I really wanted it to be neon. And I got my neons!

It is a little bit brighter than the photo shows

Jennifer was one of the wonderful helpers at Yarn School and she brought some of the wool from her own sheep. The little ball of fluff on top is a bit that someone carded up and gave me before I caved and bought some. Now I just need some hand cards! As a door prize I also got some of Jennifer's roving from the black sheep (Daisy). The rest are just a few more photos of what I brought home, but even that isn't all of it.

Yarn School Part 2 + Dye Lab

Saturday morning at yarn school allowed us to split into beginning spinners and intermediate/advanced spinners. I decided to go with the beginners since I'm completely self taught and wanted to get back to the basics. Now, I knew most of it, but it also allowed me to try out different wheels. One of the other ladies was amazingly generous and brought a wheel for me to use for the weekend with also allowed me to get the bring your own wheel bonus fiber, but I still like trying the others. After that we could merge back into the large circle or continue playing with drum carders or drop spindles. Or ever just sit, knit and talk if we wanted.

Winding a ton of silk thread off of my drop spindle with the help of my new friend Cindy. Yes it did take two of us.

Beth's yarn on her the wheel she just bought!

Being silly with batts

We also had two guests come out Sheri with her adorable angora bunnies and Laura from Laura's Pygoras. Sadly, due to the rainy weather Laura couldn't bring her pygoras to visit, but she brought a lot of her fiber and goodies for us to fondle and purchase if we wanted. And if you ever have a chance to feel or spin with pygora, please do. It is soooo super soft.

Sheri and the angoras

Sunday was the last day for those just doing yarn school and I took some shots of the circle since I had neglected to earlier in the weekend. We also had demonstrations of spinning art yarn which was loads of laughs. Jennifer and I also figured out the easy way of adding large inclusions to a spun single, but only after we tried to most roundabout way. And she generously gave me a little red plastic frog to spin into a single because I want to make a frog hat soon.

Art yarn!

It was around noon-ish when most people left leaving the eleven (or was it twelve) of us who were remaining for the extra dye lab with we started at 2. 

More dye lab!

Yarn cooling on the rack 

The end of a wonderful weekend!

And the results of dye lab, yarn school, purchases and trades was a super stuffed suite case on the way home which turned the empty bookcase in to...

Well, I was hoping to keep this to two posts, but I'll have to share the fiber goodies in another post because there will be lots of photos and descriptions. See you on Monday!

Yarn School Part 1

My side of the seven dwarves 7th grade room while Lulu and I packed up on Sunday night

I'm back from Harveyville, Kansas where I spent a wonderfully long weekend with a group of amazing women enjoying Yarn School. It was the most fun I've had in a long time and here is the proof. We arrived on Thursday evening and a spinning circle had already been started in the gym. Meeting everyone was really neat as we were from all over the US. Friday we were split into two groups for dye lab and fiber prep. Lunch was at an alpaca ranch! 

We got lockers that held out fiber to be dyed

My group started out in the dye lab and we got wonderful instructions from Adrian of Hello Yarn. There was some crock pot dyeing, some hand painting and some people even played around with dyeing the fiber in mason jars. We had 8 ounces each of super wash, merino, shetland and a 100% wool blend to dye for a grand total of two pounds to dye. Some ladies even brought some of their own fiber and yarn to dye.

My little crock pot steaming away

Just look at the cute face!

Guard dog puppies

I didn't get any photos of the fiber prep that we did, but we got to work with drum carders, viking combs, and hand cards. Though we also got distracted by the helpers hanging out the rinsed fiber we had dyed that morning.

Can't remember if this is from Friday night or Saturday morning with all of our fiber hung up

And that is the conclusion of Yarn School part 1! The rest will be up tomorrow with the additional dye lab extension photos as well!

Tour de Fleece Day 4!

I've been spinning away with a beautiful gradient of green from Fiber Optic Yarns. With spinning it as lace weight singles it is taking some time.

The color is less yellow/more green than the picture shows.

On day one I actually spun up a sample of some silk hankies I got and tried it as a two ply though I still want to see it as a three ply before I commit. I'll have to get photos of that little sample up soon. And get better photos up of the gradient.

Late night projects

I’m part of the Spindler’s group on Ravelry and May’s spinning challenge prompt is: my precious. The great thing is that we can interpret the prompt in any way we choose, though most of us are leaning towards the Lord of the Rings interpretation. Last month I dyed up some wool in a yellow/green/blue color way and also dyed up some silk hankies with the left over Easter egg orange dye tablet. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted so I over dyed it to tone the neon orange down.

I also finished the pink singles from the last post and am working on plying them. I'll post pictures of it once it has been washed, whacked and dried.

The Never Ending Project

This pink merino is haunting me. Really it is. I think It has been on my wheel for about a month and I'm still not done spinning up the singles. Makes me wonder if it is taking so long because I can only stand pink in small doses. I am determined to get the singles done by the end of the month so I see some major spinning in the next few hours.

I also realized that I haven't shown off my Spunky Eclectic club fibers since I showed the spun up Peace on Earth fiber. So here is January, February, March and April! I ordered an extra of the January because I loved it so much. Each month comes with a slip telling us the month, color way name, fiber content, what inspired the colors and some tips on spinning it up.

Clockwise from top right: January "Birds 'n' Berries" Targhee; February "Abstract" Corriedale with sheep sticker; March "Little Fishes" Merino; April "Robin Red Breast" Gotland

One thing I'm loving about club is that the colors aren't always ones that I would choose on my own, but Amy does such an amazing job with her dye jobs that I love them all. I'm also getting to see, feel and (eventually) spin up new fibers I haven't tried before! Also with the forum on Ravelry, I love seeing how everyone spins their fiber up.

Spinning

A quick post on what I've been up to aside from moving to my own little apartment (tour to come in the next post). Sadly there hasn't been much going on but I joined the Spunky Eclectic fiber club in December and spun up the club fiber last week. And let me just say that the club is amazing! I am already spinning up January's club and can't wait for February's.

And I might have had a little too much fun with the photo edit feature...

I've also spun up a bit of some silk hankies on the wheel and was amazed at how quick it was to spin up. Since I needed the bobbin that it was on I made a tiny little hank of the silk. It is spinning up slightly thinner than the columns on the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the penny.

Superfine spinning

Recently I treated myself to a new tiny spindle from Threads thru Time on Etsy and the best way to describe it is amazing! It is a tiny Turkish Spindle that weighs in at .7 ounces and has beautiful coloring. They also sent along a little sample of BFL/silk blend fiber so that I could try out my new spindle and it spins beautifully. The yarn is so skinny right now that even if I do a 3 ply I still don't know if it will be lace weight! And for a size reference

It is 4.5 inches tall and 2.5 inches across. Seems that it will be a nice little travel spindle. I just have to make a little project bag for it. So far I have spun for about 2 hours on it and with the yarn being so thin it looks like nothing. Most of the spinning was done last night, but I did do a tiny bit on Friday.

Also on Friday I tried to 'ply-on-the-fly' with one of my other drop spindles and it was a rather successful experiment though not a technique I think I enjoy. Though it might just be because it is new. I'll have to play around with it some other time. But I did make a mini skein of the test yarn.

I spun thick and thin and love the way it looks plied up