Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Category: Spin Page 62 of 69

Busy As a Bee (aka Too Many WIPs)

I’ve been lax about posting lately. Work’s been busy, but I’ve been busy with my fibers as well. Want proof? Warning, a lot of photos to follow.

Lorna's Laces Purple Iris

This is about 1152 yards of Lorna’s Laces, Purple Iris, approximately fingering weight, 2 plied. I bought it from Lamb’s Ear so long ago that I’ve lost track of when. I pulled it out when I wanted some mindless spinning. It’s a little darker than I expected. I have no idea what I will use it for.

Cormo Fingering Weight

This is about 12 oz of the Cormo that I bought from Sue Reuser at the Retzlaff Winery in June. I bought about 26 oz total of the pin drafted roving. It was prepared by Morro Fleece Works. I love Shari’s fiber prep, so I might have gone a little overboard with the purchase. I forgot the yardage. I have it scribbled down somewhere around here. I’ll count again when I have the rest of it spun up, then I can decide what to do with it.

Cormo Lace Weight

This is the remainder of the first bag of Cormo. It’s approximately 1.25 oz of lace (cobweb?) weight 2 plied yarn. The singles were about 60 wpi, the finished yarn is about 40-45 wpi. The dime is in there for scale. There’s about 550 yards. Enough for a small scarf. I think I will make a small Estonian shawl or scarf with this.

Shetland Seas

This is about 798 yards of Shetland/Tussah (90/10), colorway Shetland Seas. I bought the wool from Nancy Jane Campbell at Dixon Lamb Town. It’s spun to sport weight.

Blue Bunny Fibers, Blue Faced Leicester, Forest Deep

Lastly, here is some 2 plied blue faced leicester from Black Bunny Fibers, colorway Forest Deep, spun about fingering/sport weight. I don’t have the yardage, but it should be enough for a pair of socks.

Do you see a pattern here? I’ve been doing a lot of “just because” spinning. Completely mindless without any thought of what I’m going to do with it, with the exception of the lace weight cormo. And would you believe that this is only about half of the yarn that I’ve spun up in the last couple of months? This is all that I have the energy to post about (read, too lazy to look up the provenance of the rest of it just now).

I was at a neighborhood soiree last night, talking with the hostess. She is a drumming instructor. Her specialty is ethnic drumming. We were talking about how soothing it is to drum to an inner rhythm. That’s what I’ve been doing with my spinning. I’ve been spinning to my inner rhythm. Cheaper than therapy, and it’s immediate. No appointments necessary. Okay, “cheap” is relative. This obsession with fiber is anything but cheap, but, hey. All of this was already in the house!
That was just the spinning. My current passion is Anne Bolelyn from Alice Starmore’s Tudor Roses. Here’s my progress.

Anne Bolelyn

I’ve completed the first repeat of all 4 charts. I started it about Labor Day Weekend, at the beginning of September. Each night, I think, I’ll just knit a few rows. Next thing I know, it’s time for bed.

With this sweater, I’ve abandoned all other knit projects currently in my work basket, including the Anarchist sweater. Although, I better get cranking on the 2 baby sweaters before Martin’s nieces’s twins pop out. What do I call them? Grand nephews? I’m too young to be “grand” anything, except just “grand.”

Sixth Sense

It must have been my sixth sense that had me write about the wonderful pin-drafted rovings that Shari of Morro Fleece Works provides, because I received a huge box of processed rovings from her yesterday. 12+ pounds worth. 3 fleeces.

Eh-hem. I have to admit that I completely lost track of one of the fleeces that I had sent her. That makes 6 fleeces that I had sent to her for processing. There are still 3 more to come back to me. I think. Are you sure that they don’t multiply in the garage when you aren’t looking?

The rovings are gorgeous, including a Lincoln x Corridale that I tried to process myself. I couldn’t get all the grease out. The small sample that I tried to re-scour ended up badly felted, but still greasy. Shari performed a miracle with these. The rovings feel like clouds of fairy fluff. I can’t wait to play with it. I almost want to jump in and roll around in it, except I don’t want to ruin all that beautiful, fluffy stuff.

Sonja and I are going to Dixon Lamb Town this weekend. I pledge to not buy any more fleeces. Cross my heart. I swear. (I might have my toes crossed on this one.)

You know it’s been hot when…

You walk outside, and think that it’s a bit chilly and you should grab a jacket or something. That is, until you look at the thermometer and see that it’s 82F (27.8C). This morning was the first time that I’ve woken up to sub-70F in the morning (outside, that is, it takes the bedroom a bit longer to cool down). Sheer luxury.

I’ve been “shut in” during the hottest weekend of the year. I had lasik surgery on Friday. I spent the weekend in front of the fan, plugged into my iPod and a little TV. It’s amazing, being able to see last thing at night and first thing in the morning, and all the times in between.

To pass the time away, I 2-plied some lace weight cormo that I bought from the Cormo Lady at Spinning in the Winery last month. It’s beautiful. It’s bouncy. I can’t wait to knit with it. I spun 2 bobbins of singles a while back. On Saturday, I filled 1 bobbin of 2-ply, and barely made a dent in the original 2 bobbins. The first bobbin was about 580 yards of 22 wpi yarn. I expect that I will end up with around 1,500-1,800 yards off of the original 2 bobbins of singles. Unfortunately (fortunately?), I still have another 8+ oz of cormo rovings.

In fact, I was so in love with the cormo while spinning the singles, I called the Cormo Lady back and asked for the beautiful silver blue fleece that I saw at the Winery, and had it shipped directly to Morro Fleece Works. Another 6+ pounds or so is on its way to me at some point this summer/fall. I’m in no hurry, I have a lot of other fibers to work through.

In fact, a friend of a friend just sent me a llama and a couple of alpaca fleeces that I haven’t gotten to yet. I’ve only spun llama once, and I hated it…coarse and scritchy. Until I played with some llama and merino blend that Morro Bay Fleece Works had. It’s loverly. I think I’ll have her process it the same way.

By the way, if you haven’t tried pencil rovings processed by Shari from Morro Bay, you have a treat coming. Shari is a wonderful lady, and the stuff that I’ve gotten back from her has been absolutely heavenly to spin. I’ve been very happy with the cormo as well as the Merino X fleeces that I’ve sent her. So much so that she now has about 5 fleeces of mine in the queue… I just have to remember that they are there and not look at the empty space in my garage as an excuse to buy more at these next two events: Dixon Lamb Town and Monterey Wool Auction. Well, maybe just a little fleece.

Page 62 of 69

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén