Quatorze-Seize

Weekend stuff:

1) I finished and passed along all the shop samples.

Wild Hare Fibers, non-breed specific wool top, Bonfire colorway:

The top yarn is the chunky singles, the middle yarn is the barberpoled 2-ply, and the bottom is a chain-plied yarn. Three ounces total.

Abstract Fibers, Targhee top, Gypsy colorway:

Targhee top dyed by Abstract Fibers in the "Gypsy" colorway. Spun up as samples for my LYS.

The top yarn is the not-very-chunky singles. The middle yarn is the barberpoling two-ply. The bottom yarn is mostly a novelty coil yarn. Very goofy, but fun.

(At the very bottom of the picture is a stealth appearance by the Baby Swell’d Area, which is apparently big enough that I can take a picture of it without realizing until loading the picture onto Flickr.)

2) I did another yarn sample and swatch with this fiber, since I was using a different wheel and wanted to get comfortable using a faster whorl to spin a consistent yarn. I got a yarn that J and I really liked on pretty much the first try; a heavy sportweight 3-ply that’s light and smooth. I’ve just started spinning the singles but I haven’t gotten very far.

3) I finished plying and cabling the remainder of the cotton I’d spun up:

And processed it in the way I’d seen recommended:

Boiling for about a half hour in water with a little dish soap and baking soda thrown in to clean the fiber and maintain a slightly higher pH to develop the color. The green did indeed darken considerably; it’s now very obvious. (Pictures tomorrow when I get batteries for my camera.)

4) I finished plying the silk/sea silk after my plying ball adventures, and started working on the yak/merino blend I’d mentioned. That was indeed the most compelling thing in the stash for a spindle project. While looking for it, I did a good little organization of the fiber stash, and found the box considerably emptier than I’d remembered. It will be even more so once I work through that Blue Faced Leicester. Huzzah! Another tour goal achieved!

I had intended to get a little bit more done this weekend (working on the sweater yarn in particular), but for various reasons it just didn’t work out. No matter–I’m pleased with how much spinning I’ve gotten done over the last two weeks.

It seems like a good time to check in on my Tour goals to see if there’s any little things that need sorting out in the last couple of days.

-Get comfortable with the charkha again? Check.
-Spin up all the naturally colored cotton and cashmere? I’ll finish up the cotton in an evening this week, but I probably won’t get to the cashmere. On the other hand, I did a bit more with the cotton than I’d initially planned by plying most of the singles.
-A quick and good job with the shop samples? Big check. It took me a while to get the hang of spinning a chunkier yarn but the end results came out really well, plus I felt like I knocked them out quickly.
-A day where I go for spinning a mile of yarn? Argh. It just hasn’t panned out and it’s not going to by Wednesday–mostly the weather, mild pregnancy woes, and some Life Busyness have conspired against me. I’d still like to try it sometime soon, and I’ll probably do it with the sweater yarn. Perhaps next weekend.
-Less slacking more spinning? Pretty much, yeah. It’s good to see all these skeins of yarn building up.

All that, plus a fair amount of spindle spinning. Not too shabby.

Treize

The main excitement of Day 13 occurred as I was winding my plying ball on the bus. The two balls of singles, which had been well-behavedly sitting in my lap, jumped off for no apparent reason and bounced gleefully down half the length of the bus, and around some of the clips and mechanical doodads they have under the seat to secure wheelchairs.

On a normal day I *may* have been over to bend over in time to catch them when they were still in arms’ reach, but well, there’s this squishy kicking bowling ball attached to my front which prevents the type of normal that involves bending in half. So instead I waddled after the escapees and wound them back around a nice young lady’s legs before giving the thing up as a bad job and breaking the plying ball so I could just get the damned things back to my seat.

Oh, and I did some spinning. But this seemed to fall more strictly under the heading of “spinning related challenges”.

Dix/Onze

I took day 10 off. It was a Monday, I had two fillings at the dentist, I had a bunch of stuff to get together at work for a class I’ve been running this week, and I went to bed at about 9:15. That seemed like enough.

Day 11:

1) Very nearly done with the spindle project; I’ll probably start plying today.

2) Finished off all of the Bonfire-colorway for the shop samples. I should have all of the fibers completely spun up before I need to go up to the shop on Saturday for the spindle-spinning class I’m teaching.

Since I’m nearly done with my spindling project, it’s time to dig through the stash for another one. I often have a few going at once. I just happen to be in a project-finishing mood lately, and am surprised to find myself without something that’s jumping up and down demanding to be spun!

How do I decide what I spin on a spindle and what goes on the wheel? Generally, the factors below will send something over to the spindle side:

1) I want to spin the yarn finely or with a lot of twist.
2) I only have a small amount (4 ounces or less).
3) It’s a luxury that I will enjoy handling as much as possible.
4) It’s an easily-portable fiber package (ie, not a batt).
5) It’s something for which precise fiber arrangement is less critical (ie, not a handpainted fiber where I’m trying to get all the plies to line up perfectly)
6) I will not need to constantly refer to a sample for comparison to spin it the way I want to. This can either be because the yarn is so automatic to me that I don’t need to check it regularly, or because I don’t mind a bit of variation in twist or thickness.
7) I don’t mind it being a work-on-it-as-I-go project, there’s no deadline and I can just enjoy the process (see #3).

The silk I’m working on now qualified on every point except #5–I’m trying to get both plies to line up perfectly, so I have this little organized baggie of fiber I’ve been working from. The enormous orange spindleful was iffy on points 1 and 3 but passed on every other point. You get the idea.

So it’s time to take a stash dive and see what pops out. I do have a one ounce bit of yak-merino blend that might fit the bill if it’s not too difficult to spin. I also have some delightfully life-affirming, rainbow colored merino superwash that may work. I’ve been holding off on the superwash until it tells me precisely what it wants to be so that I can spin it just right. Something for the baby, surely, but what will get the most use? A hat and mittens? Some leggings? A sweater? All I know is that I want to see it as frequently, and for as long, as I possibly can. Doodle needs some rainbows in zir life.

Neuf

1) I was going to work on other things before going right back to the chunky singles spinning, but I figured a good night’s sleep might just have taught my hands what to do. And whaddya know?

A lot thicker; hovering around worsted weight instead of sport-to-fingering. One thing I figured out from the first skein was that the yarn does compress a bit as it goes onto the bobbin, so what looks like an enormous ball of fluff will end up thinner and denser. In other words, the trick to bulkier spinning appears to be: spin WAY bulkier.

The fiber is from Wild Hare Fiber Studios in the Flames colorway, and seems to be a nameless domestic wool blend. Reasonably soft for a wool of that description, and a very easy spin.

2) I also knocked off some chain-plied yarn in the same colorway. It was a bit of a relief to spin thinner! The thicker stuff was harder on my hands because I really needed to have a firmer grip on the yarn to control it, since I don’t have my usual level of feeling for it. It’s still sopping wet, I’ll get pictures tomorrow.

I’m now more than halfway through the shop-sample spinning. It’s been fun to challenge myself with some different structures, but I’m also looking forward to getting back to my usual stuff (and also *my* stuff–I’m still enjoying myself but I’d certainly tire of spinning for pay on a regular basis.)

Huit

1) A little more silk on the spindle. I realized today that I’ve made a lot more progress than I thought, and will almost certainly finish it up before the Tour ends.

2) Two spindles-full of naturally-colored cotton while at the spinning guild meeting, one of which was put into a plying ball with some white, to finish off the bit of 2-ply that’s ready to be cabled. I think there’s about a spindle and a half of that cotton left, so good progress.

3) Skeined and finished the 2-ply (last night, actually), which dried to exactly the type of squishy sproingy barberpoley fun that I was hoping, though a bit thinner than I was aiming for (more of a DK than a worsted-to-bulky).

4) Spun, skeined, and finished the “bulky singles” that were my goal for today. These were a total success, on the planet where 16 wpi is bulky. That may be my planet, actually.

Same colorway as the 2-ply–”Gypsy”, from Abstract Fibers. I love the yarn itself–it’s a perfect low-twist singles. I intentionally fulled them a bit in the finishing bath, which should prevent them from looking ratty after handling at the yarn shop. I have another colorway that I’ll try for bulky singles with, but I’m not too worried. Every property of this yarn is exactly what I was hoping for *except* the thickness, so I think I have my eye in it pretty well, for a yarn type that is way outside of my norm.

Good day.

Sept

Heat! Breaking! Rain! Falling! Exclamation points! Happening!

1) Did a bit more spindle spinning with the silk/seasilk blend. I’ve been working on improving my efficiency with bus and travel spinning and I think I’m starting to notice some improvement.

2) Finished the singles for the 2-ply shop sample and plied it.

It was not as consistently DK-to-worsted as I was hoping, but once I wash it I can tell it will fluff and be a sproingy squishy fun thing.

Tomorrow is spinning guild where I know there will be a number of TdF’ers. I’m planning to bring my charkha and some more cotton, and try this social cotton spinning again to see if I can make a better go of it.

Cinq/Six

Getting less done during the week, as I’d expect, especially with the heat. In the last two days, I’ve:

1) Done a bit of spindle spinning on the bus to and from work, and with my Wednesday knitting group. I’m finishing off more Fleece Artist silk/sea silk blend in a very different colorway than the apple yarn. I’d like to finish it by the end of the Tour but as it’s my walking-around project I’m in no particular rush.

2) Spun up about an ounce of fiber for the shop samples–destined to be a worsted weight 2-ply. It’s going quickly but I am SO not used to spinning fat. I have a sample at my knee that I am referring to constantly. Since the yarn won’t be knit up, I’m trying to make some samples that are interesting to look at, feel nice, but are still sturdy enough that they won’t look ratty after some handling (as shop samples are wont to do). It’s a very different way of thinking about my spinning, and it’s more challenging than I was expecting. More fun, too!

3) Oh, and while this is only fiber-related, I did get some pictures of some yarn that I FINALLY finished shortly before the Tour. I’d bought this fiber at Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival 3, or maybe 4 years ago. I spun up enough for a sweater a long time ago, and recently I finally just decided to spin up the remaining fiber as a yarn of the same weight in case I need more. If I don’t, it’ll be nice yarn for a hat or mittens.

Here’s all two pounds (minus a tiny bit that I lifted for swatching or other projects.)

And a closeup: This fiber was in roving form, spun semiwoolen to about a sport weight.

I’d knit a little swatch at one time, although now I need to go back through my notes and see if I mention the needle size anywhere. I *think* I knit it on 3′s and 4′s. For such a fluffy yarn, it has nice stitch definition.

And I only had one chance to get a picture of the swatch–I was using the cat’s perch because it’s nicely lit, and she immediately hopped up to see what was going on. Being a wool fiend, she was happy with the gift I was clearly giving her.

Quatre

Well not only was it a work day, but we unexpectedly went out to dinner with friends and then went for a splash at the Falls to cool off, so considerably less spinning happened than on a typical night. However, enjoying lovely company, amazing Thai food, and crayfish crawling over my toes falls well under my Tour goal of “spend less time online”, so even if I hadn’t done any spinning I’d call it a success.

But! I did finish plying and cabling the cotton–about 100 yards, all told, plus maybe 50 yards more of 2 2-ply strands that I’ll add a third strand to later. I’m a bit disappointed in how much the green strand blends in; I’m hoping once I boil the cotton for a little while it will be brighter.

And I gotta say, that was a heck of a lot of work for a teeny little skein. In the future I’m going to be much more likely to make a 6-ply yarn than I will be to make a 3/2 cable.

Trois

Day 3 of the Tour:

Didn’t do quite as much today because of the heat and because I had some friends over–my morning was spent chopping up veggies for dipping and strawberries for shortcake, and my afternoon was spent spinning, mixed in with socializing and eating way too much delicious stuff. A rough life.

1) Two spindle-fulls of cotton singles on the charkha. There was definite improvement seen when winding off, so that was good. I finished all of the natural white cotton fiber I had, and now will just be going through the brown and green.

2) Made 3 2-ply plying balls for the cotton. The plan has been to make a 2-ply and cable 3 strands together. That went fine. Originally I was going to try some plying with a plying ball and some with 2 1-strand balls, but I loved the first plying ball so much that I wound everything else that way too. One handed plying! Hard to complain about that. In the future I will probably spin multiple spindles-full and wind them off together to save some time.

3) Started plying the cotton. I used the small end of my Super Hi-Speed whorl (22:1!) for the first time, and it was still a little slow, but that was just because it was a high-twist cotton, being plied for cabling (so WAY overplied.) I actually had to run my first attempt through the wheel again to add more twist, because you really need a TON to get things to look right. Using the zippy whorl was great, though; ultimately the plying probably went about twice as fast as it would have without it.

I’m most of the way through the plying, and I’m hoping to finish that and at least set up the plying ball for the cabling in Day 4, if it’s not too unbearably hot to do anything but take cool showers. 5 of the 6 strands of the yarn are white and 1 is green, and I’d like to boil the skein and take before-and-after pictures to show the color development. But that will almost certainly wait until after the heat has broken.

7/10–Not as much accomplished as I was expecting, but I’ve now made significant progress on all my cotton-related goals.

Deux

Day 2 progress:

1) Finished spinning the singles for the batt I was working on.

2) Plied it.

3) Skeined and washed it.

4) Another accomplishment today–I got my wheel into a bobbin-led setup for the plying for the first time. Took a bit of getting used to, but it did allow me to pack a ton of yarn onto the bobbin without having to jack up the tension to the point of tiring out my legs.

(This is a pre-washing pic.) The color gradations don’t really show up in the skein, but from plying it, I know that they’re in there, and I’m really looking forward to knitting this one up and seeing them in the knitted fabric.

I hesitate to do a wpi measure until the skein is dry, since the woolen prep should lead to a fair amount of blooming, but fresh off the bobbin it looked somewhere in the 30 wpi range. Turned out I got wayyy more yardage on this one than I’d been planning on. I was thinking somewhere in the 500-600 yard range, but it looks to be about 840 in the end. No *wonder* the spinning seemed to take forever; I spun nearly 1000 yards today!

After measuring the yardage, I am feeling much more positive about accomplishing the mile-in-a-day goal, especially if I have some plying in the mix. I put in a lot of time today and my legs are a little wibbly, but I think I could manage twice that. I’ll just need to A) Pace myself with snacks and stretching, B) Not take on anything that might be fiddly (getting the colors to line up while learning a new wheel setup was not so efficient), and C) Not pick a 90F degree day.

And now the bobbins are all gloriously empty! I think that tomorrow will primarily be a charkha day, but if I do use the wheel I will probably do some of the sample spinning–a worsted-weight 2-ply and chain-ply, and possibly some fluffy chunky singles.

Any pattern ideas for 800+ yards of fingering-to-lace weight 2-ply with color shifts? I’m thinking about a rectangular shawl but I have nothing specific in mind yet.

9/10. Big day.