Tour de Fleece CHALLENGE Day

Today is the 22nd. It is the hardest part of the Tour de France which means that it should also be the hardest part of the Tour de Fleece. That though is open to interpretation. For me I have decided that the hardest part of my tour will be spinning with an unfamiliar short stapled fiber. Enter the llama fiber. I picked this up at the farmers market in my home town a month ago and now I get to spin it up.


I chose to try it out which my new cascade spindle. Which was the replacement for the one I broke a couple weeks ago. (Yes spindles don't count in my fabric, fiber yarn diet. But I did decided that I would rather buy a spindle than groceries this week. I have been living off of rice, and noddles) I am happy to report that even though the look of it is slightly different, it does spin very similarly to my old Cascade spindle. A huge relief.

Llama fiber spins up a little like my merino/angora blend that I've been working on. But it is very fine and doesn't have a lot of stretch to it. I won't really know until I knit with it though.

My plans for this llama fiber I am spinning up is going to be to ply it with this beautiful woolgatherings fiber I have that is a merino/tussah silk/bamboo blend. I didn't plan on spinning them up together. Actually at all. But it is sort of a new thing for me to blend a rainbow fiber with a solid neutral color.

These two were also sitting next to each other in my fiber closet and they just went so well together I couldn't resist. I think I'm going to split the rainbow as much as possible to get the short color repeats in there and it (should) be really pretty. That's all I've got for challenging myself. A fiber of a different nature. It is very very soft though

Also, I wanted to show off. (pardon the terrible bathroom picture) I got new extensions put in my hair last week they are fun I love the colors

FO: Friday Rainy Days

First I want to apologize for the horrendous pictures in this post. I waited all day to see if it would stop raining and the sun would come out. But I think this is just how bad it is going to stay. (sorry rain is hard to get a good pic of but trust me is terrible!)

But I do have FO's that I want to share with the world! (I also wanted to share my new hair cut but that will have to wait for a day that i didn't walk home in the rain).

First, The latest in my Tour de Fleece progress. Spindle spun wheel plied. I've been having terrible luck with spindles lately. I broke another one! from the two that I showed you last time. And it was my favorite so I don't want to talk about it =(.

But this turned out fantastic and I've already started on the next one of the set. It is 80/2o Merino/Angora blend that is so scrumptious I wish you all could reach into your monitors and touch it. Soo soft and omnomnom delicious. It is n plied about 167 yds. and is squishably soft

Second, I finally finished this pair of socks! I was originally going to give them up for an MPIRG silent auction but we ended up not doing it. So I put them on the back burner.

Then recently decided that I needed to finish them before I started my Year of Projects (didn't happen). But now they are done and I have another set of needles free to start a Year of Projects sock. WHoo! And I have a new pair of socks. Double whoo.

Maybe not so Lucky, Or Just Clumsy

A few weeks ago, I made the statement that I was the luckiest crafter in the world. I backed up this statement with my new sewing machine and spinning outside in the back yard with my gifted spinning wheel.

Well. Two spindles later and I have come to the conclusion that I am not. Or, I am just extremely clumsy. Also highly likely.

Remember that give away I had? Well, the winner Kate has been the most wonderful patient giveaway winner in the world. Because I was at the zoo, I stumbled and then landed on my butt, ontop of my spindle. (sad) I opened up my spinning back, which I attached to the outside of my bag to keep things from in my bag to break it, to asses the damage. and it turns out that I snapped one of the arms. (double sad)

When I got home I messaged the people I got it from Threads Thru Time. And spoke to a wonderful woman named Barbara who got another piece of olivewood to make another arm, (yay!) and ended up replacing both of them to match, the new one is a lot lighter in color. It is also lighter in weight. The last spindle weighed in at 1.4oz, this one weighs in at 1.1 I got it today and it was perfect timing.
a friends

Because this is what I did yesterday. Remember the merino/angora blend I've been spinning? Well after a two mile bike ride to a friends house, while I was parking my bike my spinning bag fell off my handle bar. I didn't notice and then promptly stepped on it (triple sad) I broke it in the middle of spinning so I had to wind off in the middle of spinning with a broken shaft


The good news is though my new spindle is only .1oz from the old spindle and now I can look for a new spindle for 1.5oz my birthday is coming up =D I think a new spindle is an excellent present
to myself.

One last thing to end on a yay note. Yesterday right before I GIANT storm hit I dragged in this new (to me) bookshelf that was sitting on the curb. It matches my current bookshelf and I really need new places to put my stuff.

Awesome.

The Weekend Update

Okay. I was too busy on Wednesday to do a WIP: Wednesday, had a needle malfunction on Thursday (I lost my spare DPN on the bus!) to have a FO Friday, I was really really close. But so far. So for the silence of this week am I just going to give you a rundown of the projects (except my YOP sock that will be for tomorrow).

1. On the wheel is a BFL silk blend from wool gatherings that i have an idea for that I am excited for.

2. Yesterday felt like a spindle day so I pulled out an old project it is a Merino/Angora blend and I sort of forgot how deliciously yummy it is. Going to work on it more today I think I'm going to make it my goal to finish it for the TdF.

3. I have been teaching one of my roommates how to knit whilst we watch Merlin. Isn't she doing fantastic? I also lent her my copy of stitch and bitch she seems to like it. I'm so excited to live with another knitter again.

4. In honor of the Tour de Fleece I was going to teach my friend Paul how to spin. Because we are both broke and wanted to do something that was free. He liked treadling but lasted about 10 min before he gave up on drafting. Oh well.

5. The only WIP currently besides a few pair of socks I"m trying to finish up is this big and awesome shawl.

The needles are comically big. Size 36's my normal standard size I use most often is a size 3. Think about that for a second. Here it is in comparison to a size 10 needle and my thumb.

A little while after I took that picture I realized that I screwed up the pattern a bit, ripped it out and started it all over.
That is all I have for now. I'll try showing off some more of my work. And maybe blog about my new job later! Tomorrow I'll put up a post about my Year of Projects update. But that is all I have for now.

The Craft Book Project

I made a new internet friend!

Her name is Alicia and she is getting her MFA in nonfiction writing. She is interested in writing a book about the Crafting/DIY movement currently happening and is gathering research on it for her thesis. Starting with craft bloggers.

It sounds really fascinating to me. And I know how hard it is to run around, scream as loud as possible (figuratively) and still have your voice not be heard. So if you are a craft blogger. And have a minute please help her by filling out the survey!

And for those of you wondering how my hand dyed fiber is spinning up

I would say quite nicely!

Sunday Stash: Enhancing the Stash of Others

I've decided something big. Starting from about mid-june, actually when I was organizing for the blog-a-long I decided that I had too much stuff. It wasn't a new thought but it was one that actually solidified for once. And I decided to do a complete stash down. For the summer until Sept (when I get my first paycheck) I am not going to buy any yarn, fiber or fabric. Period. No exceptions.

Let me take a moment to let panic set in WAH! So this is probably my last Sunday Stash for a little while. Instead I will be replacing them the Blog-a-long posts.

The theme this week though is the stash of others. I somehow accidentally (not really) suddenly owe five people yarn and another person some hand painted cards. Two of the five yarns I don't have to do for a while but. Here are the other three. I hope to mail sometime this week.

The first is for Contessa. It is roughly 4oz of Jacob wool spun up to be about a DK/Light worsted weight. It is the first yarn that I actually processed through my hand cards and I think it looks good. It really is Home-spun-y because it was spun woollen as opposed to the usual worsted way I spin. I can't wait for her to knit it up!

The second is currently on the wheel and was part of a trade. Hilary sent me a batt of delightful green fiber. my plan is to do a tighter single and then a looser ply so it'll be nice and fluffy.

The third I have just dyed up, in a fit of I-don't-want-to-part-with-any-of-my-stash selfishness, I tried to pick colors based off of her likes. And I really like the way it turned out. Now I want to keep this one too! I am a bad person...

And for those of you wondering I am still doing stuff for myself as well. The first random pull of my Blog-a-long socks was the Color Collison sock in Paca-Peds tye-dye.

Doesn't look quite sock-ish right now. But it does look rainbow! and it will look sock-ish soon (hopefully)

Tour de Fleece ready to go!

I think it is so funny that on my Craft-a-long post the number one word used in the comments is "organized" because if you all saw my room and the fact that I've been meaning to do my laundry since Tuesday. Organized would be the last word on your mind.

Here is my "plan" for the tour de Fleece last year (for those of you who don't know the tour de fleece runs the same time as the tour de france. Everyday they spin, you spin. Simple right?)

Step 1: Look at spindles

Is there anything you want to spin?
If Yes: Then SPIN
If No: Go to Step 2

Step 2: Is there anything on the wheel?

If Yes: Then SPIN
If no Go to Step 3

Step 3: Go to Fiber closet


Does anything catch your eye?

If Yes: Then SPIN

If No: Go back to step one.

And that's it! hopefully I'll get a lot of spinning done this year. It is my first year with a wheel and I am sooo excited!