Wensleydale End

The spinning is done and the yarn is almost dry enough to put in my stash.  I ended up with 3 skeins of varying lengths.  Partially, because there wasn't enough to fill 3 bobbins when plying.  I wonder if anyone gets the same amount when filling bobbins.  I don't.  The grand total for the three ply is 360 yards.  Best guess is a light worsted for weight.  Before washing to set the twist, it was a bit scratchy to the touch. Now it might be soft enough to be next the skin.

 The lower photo is a two ply that is about 12 yards.  It is what was left.  For some reason, I always to a two ply after the three ply is done.  The bobbin with the most gets put in a temporary double pull ball when the other bobbin runs out.  I double the single back with a spit join and ply all of the singles.

Start of Wensleydale

If memory services me correctly, this is Wensleydale fiber.  Of course, it was purchased several years ago at my one and so far only expedition to the Taos Wool Festival.  I didn't make any notes on fiber type at the time.  I knew at the time it might be a good idea.  I don't even have the sales slip.  I do remember the booth.  It was away from the main road with a blue canopy and two teenagers manning it.  My impression was that all the fiber was from their own sheep.

I am pre- drafting because there is still a fair amount of lanolin in the fiber.  The preparation is what I would classify as worsted roving.

 My assistant behaved right up until I had my third bobbin set up.  Then she attempted to attack the roving.  It was going to be a kick toy.  After being rescued from the floor, it was spun.  And now most of the singles have been plied into a three ply yarn. I think it is approximately a heavy dk weight.

My plan is to add my other three batches of roving to the remaining singles and then ply.

Silk and ...

I think it is silk and camel but I don't have good notes.  It was purchased before Ravelry was doing fiber stash.  It could be wool and silk.

It was purchased at the Estes Park Wool Market about 2 years after I got my Kromski Minstel.

The singles were spun with the 8.5 ratio whorl. And then plied with the 12 ratio whorl.  The end result is a 2 ply that is somewhat thick and thin running from sport to light worsted.  

 Started in August finished in September.  Two skeins, one of which is 180 yards and the smaller one is 105 yards.

With the silk in it, I am think cowl or scarf.

TdF - Last Project

I managed to squeak one more project out over the weekend. I decide to go with three ounces of Ashland Bay Merino Top.  The color way is cranberry.

 On July 25th, I spun one single.  And on July 26th, I spun the second single and plied the yarn.

 The end result is approximately 218 yards of yarn with an average weight of worsted.

Below is the results at the end of Tour de Fleece.

Just as a reminder the first set of singles were ready for the light blue grey before TdF started.  

Still I am happy with what I got done. 

TdF - Alpaca spinning

From July 18th through July 24, my Tour de Fleece spinning was ~ 12 ounces of Alpaca.  Here is the starting fiber.  It had fallen a couple of times which roughed it up a bit.  Part of why it got chosen for my third batch of fiber for the tour.

 I thought I would try something different and split the fiber up in to just under two ounce balls.  That didn't come out so well.  I ended up trading some fiber from one batch to another a couple of times. Just for the record, I don't have digital scale.

So, I would spin up singles on two bobbins and then ply them together.  The singles all pretty much looked the same.  One picture says it all.  For some reason, I was spinning a bit too fast with the first batch of singles, so that skein has more twist on the two ply then the others.

 My plied bobbins varied from about 75% full to slightly overfilled.  The last bobbin is what was left after filling with the last singles. The first bobbin is actually the second from the left.

Total yardage is approximately 485 yards  (128, 88, 128 , 105, and 44).  The yarn is currently drying after being soaked in warm water.

Bonus update on the heather grey,  it bleed when the twist was being set.  Hopefully, the color is stable now that it is dry.

TdF - Samson Two Ply

Saturday, July 11th, I picked out the next fiber for Tour de Fleece with a little help from DH.  He gave picked a couple of numbers I used to locate the next batch of fiber.  So, yes, I didn't do much planning for TdF.  The label said Three ounces 100% wool fiber natural.

 Sunday, July 12th, I started the fiber after roughly splitting it in half by pulling it in the middle of the roving.  As you can see in the picture above, 'half' doesn't fill a bobbin.

Monday, I didn't do any spinning.  On Tuesday, I started the second bobbin and finished on Wednesday.

Thursday, I used the tensioned lazy kate to do a two ply. This time, I didn't go to the biggest whorl.  I just went to the next size up.  It was much easier to get what seems to be a balanced yarn.  I will find out when I put it in a skein.

 So, the bobbins are supposed to hold 5 ounces.  I never succeed when plying because I don't get a tight wind.  After stuffing a bobbin to get every last bit off of one bobbin, there was still some left.

On Friday, I did a center pull ball with the remaining single and plied it.  Not a lot of yarn but some as you can see.  One note on doing the center pull ball, the over twist must be watched and handled carefully.  I have produced a cat toy in the past doing this.

Update: Skein one is ~238 yards and Skein two is 28 yards.

TdF - July 12th

I am now ready to set the twist on all of the heather grey.  It is done.  Yesterday, I filled three bobbins and goofed slightly on keeping them even.  The pictures for before and after plying would be very similar to the last batch for the fiber.  Here are the finished three ply skeins. They are a bulky weight.  The new skeins contain 52, 48, and 30 yards.

 And here is the results of goofing slightly.  it is a 56 yard two ply worsted skein.

 

The grand total for the bulky is about 404 yards. 

TdF- July 10th

Here is the update on my progress for spinning.  July 8th and 9th, I continued to fill Bobbin number three off of the second cake of pencil roving.  Today, I plied until one of the three bobbins ran out of spun yarn.   I was using my tensioned lazy kate again.  The plies seem to be more integrated in to the yarn when I use.

 That gave me 2.65 bobbins of plied yarn.

The yardages are 40, 62, and 58.  Once, I put in in skeins, it looks like the first two skeins do.  My estimate is that there is enough roving to do three more skeins.

TfD July 7th

So, yesterday was without spinning.  I chose to be social and meet up with a couple of knitting friends rather than spin at home.

Today, I got about 15 minutes of spinning in.  Started with an empty bobbin and here is the progress on filling bobbin number three.

TdF - July 5th

The easiest way to note my progress on spinning my heather grey WIP is that cake number one is no longer visible as a cake.  It is singles or plied yarn.
Progress photos for today.
Bobbin number one started as:

 Bobbin number one filled for plying.

 Bobbin number two at its starting point:

 Bobbin number two filled for plying:

Bobbins one and two had singles left after plying yesterday.

Filling bobbin number three will be another day.

Tour de Fleece - Team Rockie - starting point

The spinning stash has been accumulating and not much spinning has happened for years.  So, I am trying the Tour de Fleece on Ravelry for motivation.  The first project up, is to finish my WIP.
Here is my starting picture.

It is stash from a silent action. Two dollars per bag or cake.  I believe it is wool.  The cakes are pencil roving that is wound in groups of six roving. So, I tear about a yard off and separate the pencil rovings. I am using the third biggest whorl for the singles.

So, yesterday, I plied.  It was a three ply using my tensioned lazy kate.  I ended up with two skeins of bulky.  (60 and 54 yards).