2009 Tour de Fleece - Day 7 update

Peggy
CVM Angora blend
Day 1

Day 2

Day 7

Rebecca
Yak Merino blend

Day 1

Day 2

Day 7

The Dye Days of Summer

We had a couple of dye days the last two weekends.
Here are some of the colors we got.

Embe wanted to over-dye a very bright sock yarn.

It toned down quite nicely with a navy blue tint.

Kay's first two attempts at this dye thing went very well!

Pat threw some yarn in the color left from
another project with good results.

Peggy did some test colors on samples of CVM.

Natasha wanted to recreate this:

From this:

and got very close!

The Peggy's were over-dying brown yarns;
the one on the left could have been a bit orangier
but they both look lovely in the sun.

MaryEllin went for raspberry
and Peggy got a blue/pink combo ~ lovely.

ElK was doing some dry dyeing per Sandi:

The gorgeous eggplant result.

and FINALLY, the most amazing of the day,
Elaine and her space dyed project ~

Squirt on the dye:
Wrap both halves:

Microwave it for 3 minutes, let it dry in the sun
and compare with the inspiration:

That's an amazing dye job, Elaine.
Nicely done!

2009 Tour de Fleece - Day 1

Rebecca will spin 9.4oz of 50/50 yak-merino blend from Sarah Anderson of Great Balls of Fiber and hopes to spin it the same as the 4oz 2008 Tour de Fleece batch. This should make enough for a very large circular or square shawl.

Peggy has decided on one pound of CVM/Angora from Yellow Creek Cottage in Ohio. Ultimately this will be plied with one pound of 100% CVM from the same source.

That's the plan. We shall see.

Limbo Gloves

Project notes:

Yarn: Schoeller+Stahl Limbo Superwash, sport weight, 2 skeins, 275 yards total
Needle size: us #3
Pattern: from a class I took at Weaving Works where the instructions are basic and gauge is everything.
Beads: from stash

It was a very fun project and a great use of the Limbo yarn, which had perked in my stash since the mid 90's. And why not put the beaded picot cuff on gloves as well as socks?

I did some wrist shaping:
decreasing two stitches per round 4 times,
3 knit rounds between decreases.

All that's left is the weaving in of ends.

Ok, ends all woven in. Tried on and photos taken.
Shared with friends who also tried them on.
Multiple friends.
Multiple try-on times.

What’s wrong with this picture?

A dropped stitch on the right glove just below the index finger.
ack.

I am NOT frogging to catch up that stitch. I will stop the run with a little strand of yarn and weave in the two ends. feh. Almost perfect gloves. But it’s all good. In 50 years or so no one will remember, right?

New Lazy Kate

We found our current favorite Kate at Carolina Homespun
while attending Black Sheep Gathering in June 2008.
We didn't travel that far this year but we will visit
OFFF on September 25th, 26th and 27th.

Swallowtail Shawl with Kauni

*Some of our new posts will be projects finished over the past year.
We'll play catch-up while we put up the new stuff as well.

Peggy's project notes:

Aug 31/08 - I love the Swallowtail using variegated or space-dyed yarn, so I thought I’d try Kauni yarn. This Kauni is mostly bluey tourquoisey teal – very subtle color changes. I washed, dried and rearranged the colors with all the lightest together, medium together and dark teal together.

Sept 18/08 - Knitting done, ends sewn in, blocking in progress.

Sept 19/08 - blocking all done.
The size with extra repeats of the two ‘nupps’ charts is
29” deep by 57” wide.

Get ready, Get set

Tour de Fleece
July 4th through July 26th, 2009

Now is the perfect time to finish the spinning project
currently on your wheel,
free up those bobbins
and contemplate your

'09 Tour de Fleece challenge.

Last year we both worked with luxury fibers, thinking that it would take quite some time to spin them and spin them well. Nope. Blasted right through and did a darn fine job of it, too, if I do say so myself. And I do.

Peggy's '08 Tour results:
left to right

Cashmere, Pygora, Yak Merino

Rebecca's '08 Tour results:
50/50 Yak Merino from Sarah Anderson on top
Silk Mohair from Velda Mack below

The whole pile:

So. Nice. Wish you could feel them.
These are some very soft, lofty yarns and we love them all.

We haven't knit with any of them yet,
although some swatching was done to test the results.
As I said: nice.

So get on that, ok? July 4th is just two weeks away!

It's a matter of opinion but...

...we're going with 'ugly.'

We're thinking of a wool-related topic for our next blogger entry.
Stay patient.

OFFF

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival
Sept 27th, 2008
Canby, Oregon

The Gang: (seated) Elaine, Pat, Peggy (giving Jessica a hug), the other Peggy, Jerri w/ the Hot Lips Strawberry soda and Rebecca took the photo ~ 6 of us in one van, 4 hours down, 4 hours to enjoy the event, 4 hours back, that was the plan. It would have worked too, except for the wreck on the north side of the bridge between Portland and Vancouver, the car fire at the Tacoma dome (northbound lanes) and the need to stop now and then for caffeine and potty breaks.

Peggy found some white Jacob Alpaca DK weight
from Toots LeBlanc & Co

1 Pound of roving (white Targhee-Rambouillet-Merino mix)
from a lovely woman who's name we cannot remember.

and some Lisa Souza Hardtwist Petite sock yarn in 'Emerald City'.

Rebecca went looking for some Dorset fiber but found the
Horned Dorset Ram instead. Handsome fellow.

The young owner wasn't selling the fiber she had on display
but she did offer a little bit of it as a sample,
and took our names for the future.

Because the Dorset was scarce,
Icelandic from DeMoss Mtn Meadow Ranch
seemed a sensible alternative,
some Lisa Souza Hardtwist sock yarn in 'Olive Tones',

and from Great Balls of Fiber (Sarah Anderson)
9oz of Yak Merino (50/50).

Closing with the obligatory lamb photo.
Cute.

Tour de Fleece, Day 23 and The End

The final day of Le Tour de Fleece found us with a lovely pile of newly spun fiber, a total of 2,037 yards.

Left to right: 198 yard of 100% Cashmere by Peggy, 130 yards of 100% Pygora by Peggy, 624 yards of 50/50 Yak Merino by Peggy, 495 yards of 66.6/33.3 Mohair Silk by Rebecca, 590 yards of 50/50 Yak Merino by Rebecca

Rebecca's pile:

Yak Merino on top

Mohair Silk below

Finished project #2: 50/50 Merino Yak. 3.9oz, 590 yards of 2-ply, 24 wpi. Started spinning on July 7th and finished on July 26th, one day shy of the final day of Le Tour de Fleece ~ yea me, I achieved my Tour goal of spinning every day and I'm extremely happy with the resulting two hanks of lace-weight yarn. Perhaps my goal for next year will be to spin something other than lace-weight.

2-ply on walnut skeiner

2-ply close-up

2-ply on spool w/ penny for scale

Peggy's pile:
Cashmere, Pygora, Yak Merino

Finished Project #3 (2008 Tour de Fleece) on Saturday, July 26th. I ended up with 624 yards of lace weight.

I purposely over-spun and over-plied to get a decent twist remaining in the yarn after washing. You can see how the yarn relaxed in the bathwater (fourth photo) and how kinky it started out (third photo.)

I’m planning to dye the yarn and hopefully, 600+ yards will be enough for a pretty baby blanket.

624 yards of Yak Merino, washed and relaxed

Pre-washed 2-ply on the skeiner, with a penny for scale

Pre-washed hank, over-spun and over-plied

Washing:

Tour de Fleece, Day 15

Peggy's Project #2: 2 oz. of cashmere fiber in stash since January 7, 2006, purchased at the St. Distaff Day spin-in from Roberta Maier of Breezy Meadow Farm. Started spinning on July 6th, and on July 12th, I'd finished plying, washing and drying. Only 198 yards, but out of 2 oz., that's not too bad. I was aiming at Baby weight, but it's almost lace weight.

2 oz Cashmere

Plying

198 yards lace weight

Peggy's Third Project: 8 oz 50/50 Yak Merino blend purchased in 2007 at Black Sheep from Carolina Homespun.

Projected Plan: Spin it 'Baby' weight for sweet little baby project, dyed appropriate color.

Rebecca's continuing Second Project: 4oz 50/50 Yak Merino spun at lace weight. My original plan was to three-ply it for socks but when I two ply it to test the weight as I'm spinning it's just so darn nice that all I can think of is how great it would be as a shawl so I've divided the last third in twos and am going to just fill up the two bobbins and 2-ply it. It'll be fine. And, as Barbara said yesterday while we were all out at Alice Lake's house for Dye Day, "You're going to make socks to put in stinky old shoes out of this????" (made face to go with sentiment). It did seem a crazy idea when put that way...

Tour de Fleece, Day 2

Well, that wasn't quite the challenge we thought it would be.
Apparently we have learned a lot about spinning in the last year ~
what we thought would take quite a lot of time...didn't.

Peggy:

We took a 'spinning with Pygora' class at Blacksheep in 2007; I bought some of the soft stuff and felt that spinning this fiber to specific 'baby' weight would be a difficult challenge. But no. I was pretty much finished with it by 5 p.m on Day One. It will make a lovely pair of booties and maybe a baby hat. I may dye it first.

Getting started on foam insulation.

Single

130 yards of 2-ply

Rebecca:
Velda Mack (she of the Pinkity Pink Pink fiber Peggy used in her big Faroese Shawl) grabbed me on the way out the 2008 Blacksheep door, to say 'hi' and to show off this wonderful blend of 2/3 mohair and 1/3 silk ~ not exactly my style but after all, it WAS Velda, it was only $3.50/oz and it was a pretty color. $12.00 and 3.6 ounces later, I thought it was a fairly inexpensive way to say goodbye to Blacksheep.

Getting started on foam insulation

2 spools of singles

Done by 4:15p on Day Two
495 yards of 2-ply ~ enough for a little shawl.

'Plan B':

Peggy's cashmere, 2 oz.
Perhaps this will take awhile...

Getting started on a foam core.

Rebecca's 50/50 Yak Merino, 4 0z @ $4.45/oz
Plan: spin it finely enough to 3-ply it for socks.

We will try to update more frequently for the next few weeks than we usually do, because of Le Tour de Fleece. Apparently 'Plan B' just means spinning every day of Le Tour and grabbing the next fiber that catches our eye as soon as we finish one.

Tour de Fleece

We signed up.

It starts today and goes till the 27th. For details, go here.

Peggy's pygora in grams

Rebecca's mohair silk in ounces

We shall see what happens.

Cables and Checks Vests

Three of them.

Ruby
Classic Elite Provence
knit by Rebecca

Topaz
Classic Elite Provence
Knit by Peggy

Emerald
ONline Clip
Knit by Peggy

Pattern designed by Janet Charbonnier and may still be available at Acorn Street Yarn Shop in Seattle. We knit the Ruby and Topaz vests in the last decade of the last century; Peggy finished the Emerald version in May 2008. This is a timeless vest and a very fun knit.

Pin is designed by Wilma Hoffman. Wilma is a genius at putting together odd and ends of Bakelite and creating beautiful pins and other jewelry.

Angora Silk Mohair

8oz of Evanne's Angora Silk Mohair blend
(available in many colors)

Singles on the spool

2 ply hanks

Close-up pre-washing

Spinner: Rebecca
Tool: My Betty Roberts double drive Russian Olive Wheel
Project Notes: This fiber was a gift from Evanne on St. Distaff Day 2008, spinning commenced on Feb. 2nd, spinner got distracted by shiny things and spinning was finally completed on June 15th, 2008.
Results: 7.10 oz, 597 yards, 12 wpi, 2-ply. Happy! Thanks Evanne!

Peacock Handspun

Spun by Peggy: Reflection Farm color #74, Corriedale Cross 13.8 oz

Began: February 3rd, 2008

Finished: May 31st, 2008

2 ply, 1435 yards, 12.5 ounces, lace weight.

Intended project: Peacock Feathers Shawl by Dorothy Siemens

That's a whopper.

What Burger King shows as their Whopper:

What it really looks like:

The Real Outside.

The Real Inside.

The Real Fries.

It doesn't matter. It's all good. It's the best burger.

Snow Day AGAIN

It started about 3pm yesterday ~ snow, in April. It usually doesn't snow much in Seattle, maybe once or twice a year, and then not much coverage. This snow season seems to never end. It started early and stayed way past it's welcome. Last Saturday it was 80 degrees in some areas around Puget Sound. Today, one week later, snow. A 50 degree drop? What the...?

By 6:30 pm

Poor spring flowers...

The Hood

The Garden the Next Morning

The tree outside the kitchen window.

That's a lot of snow. Too much. Go away now. Shoo.

Dye Day

We had another one this last Saturday with the Friday Knitters, plus a couple of Guest Knitters. Eight of us dyed quite a bit of fiber and yarn, some of it is shown below. The weather was cold but it didn't rain, what a bonus for Seattle Dyers in March especially since we were outside on EmBe's patio. We even got a little sun and some of us sat and knit in the patch of sunlight. Our potluck made for a much needed mid-day break, with an outrageous apple crisp for desert from Evanne and wonderful salads from everyone else. Yum.

After lunch Evanne started a big Indigo pot.

Her yarn was periwinkle.
Results of the first dip:

Spin it out.

Squeeze out more.

Evanne and Peggy swoosh it around
to get oxygen into it,
which makes it the true color.

Evanne adds a little of this or that
to make the Indigo more active.

Dipped a second time and squeezed,
jiggled to make it the real color,
slightly darker than the first dip.

Below, Peggy's Merino Top dyed
in the same pot of Indigo.
It's lighter on the inside and should
be a lovely variegated when spun.

Duranee's Lincoln roving from
the Indigo bath.

Reclaimed Lana D'Oro, from a
sweater I frogged.

Resting in the last bit of color
in the cochineal pot.

Rinsed once.

My 33% Merino, 66% Mohair,

handspun 2-ply.

Simmering in Mother MacKenzie's Miracle Dye ~

2 colors we mixed: aubergine and raspberry.

Slightly dry, showing better color.

Dry, it still seems to have that lovely shine.
El K's sprinkle method

with powdered dye.

Peeking under to see what's happening.

Finished and laid out to dry.

Rosy Fingered Dawn

Knitter: Rebecca
Pattern/Fiber: Rosie Fingered Dawn, a shawl kit from Blackberry Ridge; their lace weight wool in six colors.
Details: Knitting began 03-17-2001 and ended 05-06-2001 ~ it was my first massive lace project, inspired by Evelyn Clark who had just knit one for herself and of course I had to do it, too. This shawl was a challenge for me and if I knew then what I now know about lace knitting then I would have gone up a needle size or two for the lace edging. In fact, if I ever run out of things to knit, I may just rip out the current edging and knit on a new one, sideways, so it will stretch better in the blocking.

Blackberry Ridge lace weight wool is a treat to knit with and Hazel Carter writes a classic pattern. The resulting shawl is cozy and warm.

The shawl pin is the design of Beth Richman, who sells her lovely enamel work at street fairs here in the Northwest (Upper Left Coast) and at LaTienda.