Stoneview » Spinning

Ready to roll

Julie — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:45:22 +0000

Over the weekend I finished up my homework for my upcoming classes in Wisconsin. I have a swatch for the knit to fit class and plenty of singles for the plying class. Now it’s time to pack. I’ll be heading out in the morning but don’t worry, I’ve left some posts for while I’m away.

Homework

Julie — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:27:00 +0000

Week after next I’ll be heading out to visit Madame Purl with the highlight of our visit being the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool festival. We are signed up for (extremely reasonably priced) classes all day every day and I’m starting to work on my homework assignments for them. This is some unidentified roving that’s been in my stash since the year I bought my wheel. I’ve split it in half and will fill two bobbins with it though I only need partials for class. I don’t expect to ply all this during class but having extra spun will give me a chance to practice soon after class. This is the first of two bobbins, not quite full. I also realized I still have only 4 bobbins for this week, eek! Bobbins have shot to the top of my shopping list for the festival. I’m sure we’ll squeeze in a little shopping at some point.

A little bit of this

Julie — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:13:59 +0000

I was delighted to get a lovely sample of pin-drafted cormo in the mail this weekend from This and That Farm. It gave me an opportunity to break out the long idle drop spindle. I’m a little rusty but it’s coming back fairly quickly. The roving drafts beautifully and I”m looking forward to seeing it plied though that might take me awhile on a drop spindle.

With a little help from my friends

Julie — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:43:35 +0000

Earlier in the summer I traded a friend some soaps for some lovely dyed alpaca and wool which I in turn sent off to another friend who blended the fiber together for me. The result is this lovely box of fluff. I think it would go nicely with some of my white cormo as a yolked sweater or maybe this.

Beach Glass

Julie — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:04:21 +0000

I’m looking to squeeze in a few more non-sock projects before the test knitting begins again. This is the beginning of the Beach Glass Shawl in my handspun, Spunky Eclectic’s targhee in Tahitian Sunrise. It’s knit from the bottom up and is quite simple, especially with stitch markers between each repeat.

Honey, we’re hoooome!

Julie — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:28:39 +0000

The spring fleeces have returned. In this photo they are still a bit squished from their ride home in the boxes but they fluff up again quickly. In these bags I have Pecia’s fleece, Pumpkin’s fleece, Curl Sue’s fleece (black), and Tarragon’s fleece (which needed to be washed twice- Kat did say she got her coat off and managed to get herself quite dirty), then along the front there’s one quarter of Beau’s fleece blended with %20 alpaca, Shale’s fleece (a BFL) blenced with %50 alpaca, and one quarter of Beau’s fleece blended with %20 angora. I’m trying to stick to my Tour de Fleece goals for the third and final week but these beauties sure are tempting!

Black Cherry

Julie — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:13:28 +0000

Tour de Fleece update

Julie — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:38:40 +0000

Over the weekend I finished up the New Zealand merino but I lost count when I was winding it off onto the niddy noddy so I have no idea how many yards I ended up with. It’s been washed, thwacked and dried to set the twist. I’ll have to look for an open ended pattern to use it with so I can make the most of it.

I did mention being rather fickle about my spinning goals for the Tour? I decided to mix it up with some colors. Next I’m working on this superwash merino in Black Cherry from Spunky Eclectic.

No crashes here

Julie — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:49:28 +0000

Tour de Fleece began Saturday and I’m gradually working on my goals. First up out of the stash is this gorgeous merino top that my Mother-in-law brought home for me all the way from New Zealand. It’s amazingly soft and spins like a dream with not a single nepp and only 1 single teeny piece of VM in the entire 4 ounces I predrafted! It’s spinning up a bit lacy, not frog-hair thin but definitely on the lace side of things. As you can see, Gwen is being most helpful.

Possum, Angora, and Yak. Oh my!

Julie — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:11:18 +0000

This summer I have plans to do the Tour de Fleece, in which we spin along on our spinning wheels as the cyclists pedal along on theirs. I’ve been changing my mind daily about what my goals might be but I think I have finally settled on spinning up some samples. Before I unearthed them from the fiber stash I had hopes of maybe spinning them all. Now that I see how many different things I have to play with I think that might be a little too ambitious. My new goal is to see how many I can do while still being careful not to overwork the shoulder that gave me so much trouble last year.