June 29, 2010

You Knew It Was Coming

The Tour de Fleece is right around the corner (July 3rd, I think), and to that end I did some practice spinning.  Here's 4 ounces of fiber from Cloverleaf Farms, merino/tussah in a gray colorway:


This was the first fiber I'd spun in a long time and all I did was spin it and wash it.  No yardage facts yet because I like to do all of my spinning at once - before I lose momentum - or forget that I was spinning at all.

Then I spun another 4 ounces of fiber from Copper Moose in Chameleon colorway (BFL):


I love it!  Not only do I love the color, but I didn't draft it at all and it still came out even and the color (which looks gray) obviously has more character than I gave it credit for.  It's soft and wonderful and I'm going to have to readjust my thinking about spinning batts.  This was a joy.

Then I spun up a little more BFL from Desert Peach Farm & Fiber.  I didn't draft this fiber either, and once again, I love it!  It came out evenly, looks delicious, I love the colors and I'm going to keep it around on the spool just to look at: 


Hmm ... maybe if I leave it as a single instead of plying it, maybe I'll have 437 yards of it.  Or maybe I'll find just the right scarf pattern to make with it.  Not likely, but there might be a shawlette on this spool.

Lastly, I spun up a little Wensleydale from Lisa Souza.  I pre-drafted this fiber and I'm going to blame it on the heat because this fiber was hard to draft, hard to spin and all I kept thinking while spinning it was that it (like me) was having a very bad hair day!  I found myself saying out loud, "Gurl, what is UP with your hair?" 


Lovely colors, but I'm not touching this yarn until the temperature comes down!  Oy!  More of this fiber was stuck to me than what made it to the spindle!  That's when I knew I'd better take a rest because I was about to do some serious damage to another braid of fiber.

Now, because this is an alleged knitting blog, here's some knitting I did that finally did me in.  I spent 3 days making this sweater and it came out beautifully.  That is ... until I washed it in some Euclan:


The top of the sweater is green, the bottom is blue/green.  I know for sure that the Euclan didn't do this to the sweater. I'm thinking that it was 'fiber failure'.  Nobody's fault.  So, I have three choices.  I could wash it yet again and pray for the best (it didn't work the second or third time I washed it), dye it myself and hope to obtain the same lovely color (impossible!), or I could start over.

You know me - so you know what choice I made.  Right?

3 comments:

  1. Look at all this lovely fiber on your bobbins! And this is BEFORE TdF!
    Oh, no! That's too bad about the little sweater! :o(
    I like both color choices though.

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  2. Omg. Was that remy's sweater?

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  3. Your spinning is glorious and I am impressed by your productivity. That is indeed great training for the Tour de Fleece. The sweater looks lovely, even in its present color.

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