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