Tour de Fleece 2016

This TdF was so much fun for me!!  I went into it happy if I got one finished skein .. I have THREE!!!  I have a Sport, Worsted and Bulky.  I spun two new to me fibers.  I have a 2-ply and the others are chain plied.  And I split up one colorway into a gradient of sorts (I didn't bother with blending the transitions, so its not a true gradient).  And I continued with my supported spinning.

First up Corriedale - a new to me fiber.  It was pure joy to spin, especially thick.  I typically spin fingering weight and my goal for TdF was to spin thicker to get more done.

Into the Whirled

Corriedale - Flounce

110 yds

Bulky

Then I went to a known to me fiber and did a two ply in BLF.

Into the Whirled

BFL - Eureka

198 yds

Worsted/Dk

And lastly another new to be fiber Targhee which I split into a psuedo gradient.

Into the Whirled

Targhee - Winds of Change

236 yds

Sport

I am glad TdF is ended, but I enjoyed this one so much!!  I am looking forward to a new outlook on spinning and getting more spinning done.  I was also happy since I went through physical therapy not too long ago for shoulder/neck pain I was cognizant of posture and repetitive motions and I didn't hurt myself spinning!!  Towards the end I was feeling it, but nothing too outrageous.  In the past I have not spun very much because of pain ... no more issues with that!!!

I also finally got over my not spinning because I didn't want to "ruin" the fiber ... I now have at least (I stopped counting) 48 club shipments of ITW ... so I have no problems using this for "practice" spinning.  I have pounds and POUNDS of fiber in my stash ... no more waiting until I get "better" or this or that to use up this fiber ... its taking over the house, LOL!

Besides, last time I checked, you don't actually get BETTER at something unless you DO IT!

Yarn Chicken

I'm tired of playing chicken ... I backed out of the last row ... binding off ...

Hand Spun: Into the Whirled Corriedale

My first Tour de Fleece success! I wanted to spin thicker, so this was a challenge. It took about 4 hours to spin and 2 hours to ply. I was pleased with the results and the final yarn.

And I definitely hit my goal - its BULKY!!! At 7 WPI I exceeded my expectations of Worsted weight if I was lucky. Its consistent and the final yarn is balanced!!

Into the Whirled

Corriedale 4 oz

Ashford Traveller Sliding Hook Flyer

Singles S 7.5; Plied Z 5.5

Bulky 3-ply (chain plied)

110 yds

Tour de Fleece Day 1

I'm off to a good start 4 oz of Into the Whirled Corriedale spun up!  Hopefully plied tomorrow.

FO: C-3PO Socks

Pattern: My plain vanilla recipe - toe up Judy's Magic Cast On and Fish Lips Kiss Heel and EZ's Sewn Bind Off

Yarn: Must Stash Yarns Driods - C-3PO

Needles: Addi Sock Rockets US 1 (2.25mm)

Cast On: May 4, 2016

Finished: May 29, 2016

Love, love, love this yarn.  I tried these socks with 60 sts and they fit better.  I have very narrow feet and when I do 64 sts, the foot and leg fit fine, but the toe always had extra space.  I think next time though I will go up to 1.5 US, the instep and the heel are a tiny bit snug.

Eeek its already June !?!?!

I thought I would be a better blogger this year, but alas, nope.  Only 10 posts so far this year ...

Just for fun, here's Riley about to take over the bed ... he looks pretty serious no?  He's quite a fragile little being, however, a sweet, gentle, giant, but a little high strung at times ...

For June I have been focusing on supported spinning.  My plan for the rest of the year is to pick a craft each month and focus most (not all) of my energies on it.  Since I have oodles of supported spindles (like I can count 19 I can see that are displayed in a rack ... that DOES NOT include the ones I can't see at the moment, its probably safe to almost multiply that number by 2 ...) I am thinking I should probably actually USE them ...

This is a lovely from Silly Salmon Designs in Black Palm (I also have a bowl in that) and bloodwood ... and since they are the spindle maker of the month on a Ravelry group I frequent ... well I might have purchased another that I received recently ...

Let's not forget the oodles of drop spindles I have also - these two never used until last month ...

Unfortunately (or not) my default spinning is THREAD, so some of these projects take FOREVER and a day to finish.

I am happy to say that I have finished three - YES THREE - pairs of socks so far this year - I think my goal was six.  Hey its June - look at that - ON TARGET!  And I am working on the fourth at the moment, which is half done, I have A sock.  I still have to post photos of 2 of the pairs I have finished, photos are hard, yo!  

Photos are a difficult part of blogging for me and often it prevents me from posting ... nobody wants to see dark, crappy photos ...  Usually when I am in the mood for blogging its late and hard to get good photos, like now at 10:40pm ...

I know, I know, take the photos during the day and post whenever ... I HAVE a brain, I just choose to ignore it most of the time ...

Count Your Stitches Dumb-Dumb

Stitch Surfers

an excellent pattern, well written and perfectly tutorialed by Diane from Knitabulls.  However, if you think you know what you are doing and you knit merrily along without checking  your work ... RIPPING happens, because you did some decreases without the corresponding increases ... so close to the heel ... then back another inch or so ...