Hand over the Wool!

Tour de Fleece Finish Line

Hand me my yellow jersey, I'm done! My goals were:

-Dye a whole Romney fleece
-Spin 4 oz of Merino/Seacell Roving bought from an Etsy shop.
-Spin 4 oz of my handdyed Corriedale roving.
-Spin 4 oz of my handdyed Bamboo top.

You've seen the Merino/Seacell yarn:

And then there's the Corriedale yarn, which ended up being Merino.

And the Bamboo yarn.

And then the Merino and Bamboo plied together!

Love, Love, Love this yarn. So much fun. Don't you just love the shiny Bamboo standing out from the matte of the Merino? This yarn would be great as a scarf on larger needles, say US 11 or US 13, just garter stitch or drop-stitch. I want to just carry it around and show it off to total strangers. Never mind the looks they'll give the poor crazy lady and her funny looking yarn.

Then there's the Romney fleece, dyed in lots of color:

Not much knitting got done in the last 2 weeks, but boy do I need to pour on the speed and get my June 09 Sockdown socks done by the end of July. I'm in the middle of the gusset decreases for the first sock. This one's going to be close, Ladies and Gentlemen.

TdF Status Update

Two of my four TdF goals were to spin 4 oz of my hand painted Bamboo top and to spin 4 oz of my hand dyed Corriedale top. Done!

 

What about plying, you ask? I'll show you tomorrow ;-)

Did you know my brother currently lives in Sweden? He's there with his wife and 3 children and working there for another two years before coming home for a while. At least, that's what we thought until Wednesday night. The little stinker (he's Critter #2 and I'm Critter #1) cashed in all his frequent flyer miles and came home to surprise us all for our dad's 60th birthday on Sunday. Pretty cool, huh?

Did you also know it's my birthday this coming Wednesday? Uh-huh. I don't think I'm going to freak out or anything. Especially when you see my birthday gift from my brother.

(Grinning like a true fool) That there be 4  100g bumps of carded wool and 4 100g skeins of yarn in matching natural colors. How cool! It's from Ullcentrum.

Stage 1 TdF

Stage 1 of my Tour de Fleece challenges is complete! I love this yarn so much I really can't stop petting it and gazing at it lovingly.

 

 

 

I still can't find the original fiber label.

Weight : 3.85 oz

Yardage: 234 yd.

Fiber: I think it was 80% Merino and 20% Seacell

Toddler vs. Bamboo DPNs

This poor pair of Monkey socks has had a rough go of it. Back in April there was an issue with the needles, now there's a toddler out to get'em.

This is what happens when Critter#1 (aged 2 yrs) encounters any knitting and mama is not around to provide enough incentive to leave it alone.

So yesterday I was able to go fishing with my dad and grandpa while DH stayed home with both Critters. (Thank you DH!) It's 2 hours one way to the lake, and well worth it. Dad, an avid "Deadliest Catch" fan, kept saying "This is Fishin', not Catchin'!" the whole 3 hours we were on the lake. I got a laugh out of the bubbles rising to the water's surface. Anyone who saw Captian Phil on DC 2 weeks ago remembers that Fart Bubbles are a good sign. We caught our limit (60) on some big sunnies, in this family we'd say they had "shoulders on 'em".

I've been fishing my whole life and have always enjoyed it. Yesterday was a beautiful day on the lake and a peaceful trip there and back. As you can see I was very productive with my time, 6 whole repeats finished by bedtime!

Getting My Mojo Back

After Critter#2 was born there just wasn't the time or energy to play with my dyes. There's almost, not quite, but almost a metric butt load of wool and yarn to be dyed in this house. Last Thursday I decided to order in food for supper and to get back in the saddle. Oh, how I missed it! I really love the beauty of turning plain yarn into unique bits of art. 

There's some superwash DK weight and some sock yarn up there enjoying the sun. Don't they remind you of jewels in a crown?

Tour de Fleece 2009

It's been a couple years since I have participated in this annual spinning challenge. This summer I really needed to get excited about spinning, so at the last moment (July 4) I managed to sign up for a couple of teams and get started on my spinning and dyeing challenges.

My challenges are:
-Dye a whole Romney fleece
-Spin 4 oz of Merino/Seacell Roving bought from an Etsy shop.
-Spin 4 oz of my handdyed Corriedale roving.
-Spin 4 oz of my handdyed Bamboo top.

The 2 teams I have joined are Stash Busters 2009 and Team Spinmore. I did set myself 12 oz worth of spinning in just over 2 weeks, but I did not commit to how thick or fine the spinning needed to be. Don't 'cha just love loop holes?

My progress so far includes about 10 oz (I think) of the Romney fleece being dyed and some spinning. The fleece is a beautiful medium to light gray which I hand washed a couple years ago and just haven't been too inspired to work with just yet. So, since I have about 8 other fleeces waiting in the wings, I figured it was time to have some fun and throw some dye on it. Don't you just love the vibrant colors?

And my spinning, well all I can say is wow! Having kids and limited spinning time has increased my spinning speed. A couple years ago it would have taken me weeks to get this much wool on the bobbin, by lastnight I had spun up 2 oz of the total 4oz, destined to become a 2-ply sort of worsted weight yarn. During the afternoon nap time and in the evening I was really cranking out the yarn. The wool is a Merino/Seacell blend, picked up on Etsy, I have to find the fiber label so I can tell you who dyed it.

 

Critter#1 says "I'm helping Mama! I spinning!"

 

Maybe I'll get enough yardage to do a scarf? Hat? Cowl?

Colorwork is not my friend

All week I've been working away at the colorwork or stranded knitting for the ankle of these Nancy Bush Eesti Hiking Trail Socks. A row here, a couple rows there. It's really slow progress for me as the only way I seem to be able to get a decent tension with both strands is to knit with only one strand held in my right hand and pick up and drop the strands as needed for the pattern. Slow going to be sure. I'm almost done with the snowflake motif and decided to try it on. Here's where I am reminded that my normal tight knitting tension is not a good thing for colorwork, which needs lots of slack in the back strands to prevent unsightly puckering.

 

 

Its a little snug at the solid green band above the snowflakes. I'm thinking of frogging back to before the green band and starting the colorwork over. Reason has talked me into completing the heel and trying it on at that point before making any drastic decisions.