Tour de Fleece 2008: Finished!

I did it!

I achieved my goal for the Tour de Fleece goal. I turned all my soy/wool roving into a skein of Navajo plied yarn.

I also set and plied the other yarns I was working on in the process. I have three handspun yarns to add to my Ravelry page.

It's a good thing, too. I was running out of mugs.

Can you tell that the yarn bled? The picture on the left is before setting the twist, and the one on the right is after setting the twist. I think the difference is more pronounced in real life, but it still looks good.

After setting the soy/wool yarn, I set the Corriedale single. I didn't have to worry about it bleeding. Even with the mug, it's still a little kinky.

I think it's pretty even for the most part. The beginning is slubbier.

This is about six ounces of naturally gray Corriedale in a single. I'm still debating what to do with it.

(There are more pictures of the Corriedale here and here.)

The merino did leave a tinge of blue in the water. However, after the debacle with the bleeding soy/wool, it didn't bother me at all.

I'm really proud of the merino. I plan to make a simple ribbed hat out of it soon.

This is about four ounces of merino total, two in indigo, and two in periwinkle. The two colors were plied together.

There's more pictures of the merino here and here.

I'm so excited. And next year, I'll set an even bigger goal.

Plying Saturday: Part Two - Tour de Fleece

The guidelines for the Tour de Fleece recommend wearing yellow on the last day of the tour or any day you feel like you're doing especially well. I had this at the back of my mined when I got dressed on Saturday. I couldn't remember if I had a yellow shirt or not, but there it was, hanging in my closet.


And Saturday was a good day. After I plied my merino I tackled Navajo plying. I think I caught on pretty well. I'm doing it exactly like Rexene, but I found what works for me. (There's another 15-second masterpiece of my plying at a different angle here.)

Here's my bobbin part of the way through the plying. (I was taking a popsicle break.)

Here's a still shot of me Navajo plying.

I'm still using a single wrapped into ball instead of a Lazy Kate. It worked pretty well as long as I kept it in a bowl.

Here is the completed yarn. Once again, the larger bobbins on Mom's Louet saved the day. Mom said all this probably wouldn't have fit on one bobbin on her Ashford.

Next I wound it onto the skein winder.

Then I tied it off.

And here's the completed skein, all wound up.

Of course, none of this would have been possible if we hadn't replaced the part I broke. My Mom got a new drive band while she was at it. The wheel was old when my Mom bought it used about 15 years ago, so it was coming. The old parts were turning yellow. You can see the old parts, including the broken footman to treadle connector, here.

Here are all three skeins that I wound on Saturday. I made yarn!

Plying Saturday: Part One - Merino and Corriedale

Saturday afternoon, I finally got a chance to finish plying the merino that I started on the Fourth of July. The wheel was fixed and ready to go. (And I was happier than I look in this picture.)

I got a one-handed rhythm going pretty early on. I actually switched hands when one got tired. I know most people only use one.

(I just realized how bad that first sentence sounds out of context.)


This time I managed to get a 15-second masterpiece of me on the spinning wheel (with Mom behind the camera.) Now that I look at it, it looks like I'm pulling back with a lot of force after feeding in the yarn, but I'm not. Or at least it didn't seem like I was at the time.

You'll notice I've still got the two singles in separate bowls as a substitute for a Lazy Kate. Mom actually has a Lazy Kate, but it was full. Besides, I spun the singles on my drop spindle, so it wasn't like it was on a bobbin to start with.

Here's the completed bobbin. Mom and I were both pleasantly surprised that both singles were almost the exact same length. (The very end of the lighter single broke off later on, but the difference was still only a few inches.)

Here's the side view. I think I did an ok job of distributing the yarn evenly across the bobbin.

Mom said the bobbins on this wheel are a little bigger than her Ashford wheel. I would have probably had to use two bobbins if I had used the other wheel.

The nice thing about Mom's Louet is the skein winder at the top. (I'm not sure if it's technically called a swift swift, since it's a fixed size.)

I don't have the numbers with me, but I counted the revolutions (or at least tried to) and multiplied it by the circumference of the skein winder. I can't remember the number now, but it I had more yardage than I expected.

(Ok, so technically it's not circumference because the skein winder is square, but you know what I mean.)

Here's the skein all tied up and ready to go.

All that skeining inspired me to use Mom's Niddy Noddy for it's intended purpose. I managed to tie off the Corriedale single I spun without taking it off the Niddy Noddy. (I still had a layer of "yarn barf" from my first try underneath.) Mom said it had been on there so long that the twist may already be set. Really a Niddy Noddy is not meant for storage, but that's just how it ended up.

And here are the yarns, all skeined up.

This is the plied Merino...

...and this is the Corriedale single.

I haven't set the twist on the merino yet. I'm still a little gun shy after the other yarn bled. However, my Corriedale is soaking right now. It's naturally gray, so I don't have to worry about bleeding.

I'll have pictures of Navajo plying my Tour de Fleece yarn in a day or two.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

There was no yarn in the sink when I took the picture above.

My yarn bled. Like a stuck pig. *sigh*

I saw what happened as I was finishing up my last entry, where I mentioned that I was worried about felting. Bleeding didn't even occur to me.

According to this Ravelry thread I'm not the only one who's had problems with this roving in the "Mermaid" colorway. I wonder if the company knows. (I'm not sure who's responsible for the dying process, Louet or SWTC.) I know this is not the first time a yarn or fiber that's been commercially dyed has had problems with bleeding. But I think it's important that the manufacturer knows so they can fix it. I know Schaefer Yarn and Brown Sheep have taken steps to fix bleeding yarns in the past. I hope the company knows so they can make changes. I may send an e-mail later.

I know hot water is the way to go with bleeding yarn, so it's probably good I didn't go with lukewarm. I did add a couple of splashes of vinegar to set the dye after I saw what happened, but I was impatient and antsy, so I didn't leave it there too long.

After splattering indigo water all over the bathroom sink. I did take it outside to "swing the dead cat." I got into spinning out some of the excess water. In fact, I got a little overzealous and started whacking it against the fence around "porch." (Anyone who's been to my apartment knows why I put porch in quotation marks. The only thing that makes it a porch is the fence around it.) Of course, some walked by at the exact moment I was whacking. I went back to swinging the yarn around. I thought swinging somehow made the whacking seem less insane by comparison, or at least put the whacking in context. (As is the woman walking by could even see that it was yarn. It was after dark.)

After spinning and whacking, I put the yarn on a hanger in my bathroom and tied on a coffee mug with some spare embroidery floss. I'm letting it sit there overnight, creating a purple splotch on the edge of my bathtub. I'm not worried since the sink cleaned up pretty well with some Clorox Wipes. (Actually, it was the store brand equivalent, but you get the picture.)

As you can see, my yarn certainly isn't ruined. When I first saw the indigo water I was worried the color changes would be lost, and I'd be left with a murky mess. The yarn is much lighter and more muted than before, but it still looks nice. However, I'm still a little disappointed because I really loved the deep, rich colors.

And the good news is that it seems like the whole twist setting went ok. Maybe it's my imagination, but the twist does look more even than before.

And the yarn didn't felt.

Setting the Twist

I have a ton of photos and stuff to blog about, but for now I'm sharing this one photo. It's hard to tell here, but I'm setting the twist on my Tour de Fleece yarn.

On Saturday I finished plying my merino, Navajo plied my Tour de Fleece yarn and skeined both, along with my Corriedale single. You can see the original roving for all three here.

I've heard mixed advice on how to set the twist. For now, I'm listening to my Mom and soaking it in hot water with some Eucalan. Afterwards I'll probably swing it, and maybe whack it on a hard surface once or twice. I know whacking is supposed to be fun, but it's late and the only good place to do it is against my shower wall. I don't think my neighbors would appreciate that. After that, I think I'll hang it and weight it with a coffee mug. I know some people use larger weights, but I don't think mine is kinking that much.

In Spin to Knit they say to wash it in lukewarm like you would a handknit item. I've also heard mixed reviews on swinging versus whacking and weighting versus not weighting. I might try other techniques later. I think the soy/wool blend I'm doing now probably won't felt as easily as the 100% merino. I'm not sure if I'm willing to go with hot water on the merino. Any advice or opinions are welcome.

I'm also looking for opinions on the permanent name for the Broken Scarf. I finished it last night, but I'm not posting an official FO post until I have a name and a pattern to upload to Ravelry. Carly riffed on "Broken Scarf" and came up with "Broken DNA." Amy took it a step farther and came up with Helicase and Topoisomerase. However, all the DNA talk got me thinking about Gel Electrophoresis. I think the scarf most closely resembles Gel Electrophoresis, but I need a shorter name than that. I may do a poll later, but for now, I'm still taking suggestions.

Navajo Plying

I'm "remote blogging" from Mom and Dad's again. I finished plying the merino already, and I'm about to start Navajo plying my Tour de Fleece single. Mom found a good video tutorial that I had to share.



She talks about "finger knitting," but really I think it's more like crocheting a giant chain without a hook. 

There are even more spinning tutorials from Rexenne on her YouTube page.

Preparing for Plying Weekend

Tonight I rolled my single into a ball so I'll be ready for plying tomorrow. Mom got the replacement part for the spinning wheel I broke in the mail, and it's in place and ready to go. (BTW - I figured out that the official name of the part is the "footman to treadle connector.")

I'm planning on a marathon plying session this weekend at my parents' house. I need to ply this yarn and finish the merino I was plying on the Fourth of July. I'm actually planning to spend the night there Saturday, not so much because I plan to spin all night long, but because I want to save an extra couple of trips from North Austin to South Austin. And I'll already be south for the Ravelry party at The Knitting Nest on Sunday.

Since I'll probably finish the yarn before the Tour de Fleece is over, I started an "extra credit" project of sorts. I bought this Merino pencil roving a while back at the Knitting Nest. I'm trying for a thicker, Malabrigo-ish single. I love the way the colors twist with no effort. Part of me wants to try playing the twister colors together for effect.

The good news is that at this rate, I'll need to buy some new fiber soon.

Wonderful Spinning, Wonderful Project

Last night was the first day on the Tour de Fleece that I did not spin. (Not including July 15, which was an official rest day.) I was tired and passed out early, before I got to it.

But I made up for it. Tonight, I finished spinning the single for my Tour de Fleece yarn.

I still have to ply it and set it, but I've gotten through all the roving. (You can see what I started with here.) This weekend will be a marathon plying session on Mom's wheel.

Also worth noting is the ad that, as of now, is in the upper right hand corner of the blog page. I got set up on Project Wonderful, an ad site I heard about on Ravelry. I'm slowly working towards making some money off this blog, and this is a good step.

On Project Wonderful, advertisers are determined by a bidding process. It's kind of complicated, but basically the highest bidder at any given time gets the ad. I'm only getting one penny a day as I write this, but frankly I'm just shocked anyone is buying space on my site at all.

I'll probably add more ads and change things up, but for now I'm just psyched to have advertising. And I still feel it's ethical. No pandering to advertisers. And while I have the power to deny an advertisement, I don't get to chose which ads show up. They advertisers choose me.

(I doubt I'd block anyone unless they were ridiculously offensive.)

I also have real blog stats. I'm finding most of my referrals come from Ravelry.

I'm still looking at domain names, layout, etc. I'm looking at Pretty Posies right now. But the whole thing is a little overwhelming.

Any input or ideas are welcome.

Actually, I didn't have to ask my doctor about EC

When I was in college, I was a little more politically involved. I did some work with my school's FMLA chapter, and we worked to raise awareness of Emergency Contraception (EC), among other things. We talked about the importance of getting a prescription from your doctor ahead of time, as well as the push to get it available over the counter.

I guess I was a hypocrite, because I didn't get a prescription. I wasn't involved at a relationship at the time, so it wasn't a priority. But at least I was aware of it.

So when I was making my list of 101 goals in 1,001 days, it seemed liked a good thing to add. Number 40 on the list is to ask my doctor about getting an EC prescription.

Today I saw my family doctor and asked for a prescription. Imagine how embarrassed I was when my doctor told me that EC has become available over the counter. I don't need a prescription anymore, and somehow I missed the news.

To be fair, from what I have looked up, the switch happened in 2006. In 2006, I had my own problems. Politics and reproductive rights were the furthest things from my mind.

So my doctor said there is no medical reason for me to avoid taking EC if the need ever arises. I found several pharmacies in my area that carry EC, including the CVS where I currently fill all my prescriptions.

The good news is that I can cross number 40 off my list.

Number 41 on the list was to ask my doctor about the HPV Vaccine. At 28, I may have passed the cut off age. Also, my insurance probably doesn't cover it. He said that the vaccine is really aimed at the next generation of adolescent girls, around age 12-15, who are not sexually active yet. Still, I'm going to do a little more research before crossing number 41 off my list.

While I was in South Austin, I stopped by my parents house for a free meal to visit. While I was there, I talked about spinning and spinning wheels with my Mom, and she lent me some of her books. She actually pulled Color in Spinning off her shelf thinking it was something else, but I wanted to borrow it anyway. I'm always interested in color theory. The Ashford Book of Spinning has some good diagrams and explanations of the parts of a spinning wheel, and Spinning Designer Yarns has some interesting spinning techniques.

These books made me realize my bias towards color pictures. I'm less likely to notice a book if it doesn't have pretty pictures.

Now that I've had a taste of the wheel, I'm itching for my own. I'm not real sure where to start shopping. If you know any good resources for learning about the different wheels out there, drop me a line. There are so many brands, I'm not sure where to begin.

In the meantime, I've also been reading Getting Things Done, in hopes of organizing my brain and my life. The book is aimed at corporate executives, although supposedly anyone can use these principles. Ironically, my job is probably the most organized, least cluttered part of my life. It's everything else that needs to get under control.

Tonight, while in the bathtub, I read the part where David Allen recommends file folders for individual lists. He's aiming this at corporate professionals with laptops, PDAs, etc, and he isn't suggesting that they put this lists in folders on a computer? It seems like making more paper files is not a good way to start organizing your life.

Still, there is some good advice. I just don't think I need a label maker to implement his ideas.

Today was officially a day of rest for the Tour de Fleece. This is a shot of what I spun last night. It looks like I'll finish my tour goal with time to spare.

Happy Birthday Tom!

Wednesday was Tom Hanks' birthday celebration at The Knitting Nest. It didn't occur to me until I got there that they weren't open late like they normally are on Monday nights. But I did have enough time to say hi to Tom...


...and little Tom...


...and buy some yarn.

All the yarn was 10 percent off. Customers who could answer a trivia question about Tom Hanks got a bigger discount. Of course, I got "Whose funeral did Tom Hanks attend with Steven Spielberg?" (The answer was Princess Diana.) Needless to say, I got it wrong. Stacy said that was a hard one.

But I still got my 10 percent off.

On the left, there's Cascade Sierra in Spring Green. From what I understand, Stephanie is test knitting it for the shop, so only a few colors are available right now. I will be doing my own test swatching.

In the middle are two skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the much sought after Franklin's Pantopticon colorway. I love the fact that it is a fairly masculine and/or neutral colorway that isn't drab. The Knitting Nest had it in both worsted and sock weights. I had a hard time choosing, but eventually I decided I needed more sock yarn.

On the far right is Cascade 220 Superwash Yarn in Chocolate. I'm going to combine it with some Army Green that I already have for Center Square.

Tour de Fleece Update
Tonight I hung out at Ross and Jen's and finished spinning another section of my roving. I'm about two-thirds of the way done with the fiber. (Keep in mind, I still have to ply once I finish spinning the single.)

Maybe I should have picked a more difficult project, but I'm a Rookie, and I wanted to set an attainable goal.

Hopefully I'll be Navajo plying soon.