Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Firsts

I'm totally behind on updates on my alpaca processing. I'm now over halfway into skein 6 of "Sanya" and have all the rest washed and have washed about a pound of "Miz Scarlet." I also have some Corriedale cross on my Maine Woods top whorl spindle which is zooming along fabulously. But I don't have much time for updating tonight so I want to touch on some big firsts today.

I'm most proud of this one:

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I spun LACE!!! I can't believe it!
This is some Ashland Bay Merino Top in Laurel. I have 4oz of it intended for some sort of project for my mom because the colorway is something she would love. I hadn't decided what it wanted to be yet but today it started becoming a beautiful laceweight. I'm thrilled. This is on my new MicroTrindle. I love it. I haven't been able to spin anything like this before without seriously overspinning or having it fall apart. Can't wait to see how much yardage I can get out of it.

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I also got my Valkyrie Extra Fine Combs today. I must say, they shipped amazingly fast. I have never done any combing before but I want to turn Miz Scarlet's fleece into some lovely smooth combed top. Didn't have much time but I had to try them out so I combed a few locks and pulled them off (need to whip up a diz).

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Meet my very first bird's nest. :) I think I'll need to use a little oil spray when combing the bulk of the fleece but this was just a quick one-off sample.

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Then of course I had to spin it up. Spun like a dream on my MicroXL. I think I have to declare this my very favorite spindle ever.

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Did a quick 2-ply job with an Andean bracelet. Not the best picture but you get the idea.

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I definitely have a renewed interest in spindle spinning now. The Trindles are amazing. I was immediately able to start spinning totally suspended, no need to resort to park-and-draft. I feel like I can do anything now. Lol. I was even able to go back to my MW spindle and spin without parking as well once I got my groove down with the Trindle. And by the end of the day I was able to produce the aforementioned lace!

These pictures really don't do any of the new tools or fibers justice but I had to share.
I'm beyond excited. ;)

The Tour de Fleece was perfectly timed for me and it has definitely driven me to become a much better spinner. And it's soooo satisfying!

Ok, ok, I have to share the Sanya progress...

Skein #4

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Skein #5 (atop some clean Miz Scarlet... but the color is totally inaccurate)

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Ok, that was longer than I planned. Lol.
Now it's definitely bedtime. Haven't been feeling well or getting enough sleep. Spinning has helped keep me occupied though so I focus less on feeling like ass and feel productive anyway. ;P

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Tally

Ok, I finally sat down and made tags for my handspun so here are the details:
(length measured before set; weight final)

Knit Picks Bare: "Kool Aid"
Kool-Aid: 2x Berry Blue & 1 Grape + 1 Black Cherry
2ply on 1.6oz spindles
46 yrds
2.8 oz

Maine Woods: "Maine Autumn"
2ply on 1.6oz spindles
108 yrds
3.85 oz

Knit Picks Bare: "Cotton Candy"
Food coloring (Southern Home): Blue, Yellow, & Red
2ply on Ashford Traditional w/ Scotch tension
112 yrds
3.2 oz

NZ Sliver
3ply on Ashford Traditional w/ Scotch tension
132 yrds
5.85 oz

Ashland Bay Fine Alpaca Top: natural Fawn
2ply on Ashford Traditional w/ Scotch tension
304 yrd
3.8 oz

"Sanya" Huayaca Alpaca
2ply, flicked (locks) & hand carded (semi-worsted rolags) prep
on Ashford Traditional w/ Scotch tension
242 yrd
6.9 oz

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First Fleece Progress

The first fleece (Sanya) is almost totally clean! There's only a tiny bit left that I didn't want to cram into one of the begs yesterday because it had some nice lock formation. I hope to finish washing that today and maybe start on Miss Scarlet's fleece. I want to get it all clean as soon as I can even though I might not get the other two fleeces prepped and spun immediately.

Today I'm having lunch with a friend and have some schoolwork to do but I should be able to get some flicking and carding done as well. I have separated all the dry fleece into locks and fluff so I'm ready to roll on that. Might even get some spinning in!

I was hoping to do one skein of this on a spindle but my current spindles are either too heavy or too small (and the small one is occupied anyway) and my Trindle orders are taking quite a while to ship. I thought from the details on the site that my order from the 6th would have shipped Monday but I was wrong, I guess. Hopefully I'll get it before the end of the Tour but it's not looking very promising. I guess I'll have to try some other alpaca on the spindle because I hope to have Sanya's done by the end of the Tour. :)

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

TDF progress

I've been doing some serious spinning since the tour began.

First I plied (on my bottom whorl spindle) the two top whorl spun singles of the Maine Autumn wool (~81 yrds... need to check the weight... I think around 3.8oz)

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Then I plied the Cotton Candy roving on the wheel (first plying on the wheel... yardage and weight is written down but not accessible at the moment):

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Here are a couple skeins of the practice wool waiting to be washed/set.
I did this as a 3-ply (my first). About 99yrds (pre wash). Not sure about the weight offhand. Again, need to check my notes.

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Next I spun up the fawn Ashland Bay fine alpaca top I ordered a while back from WEBS.
Got about 152 yrds and 3.8oz total. Spun up very nicely, fairly even, and pretty thin. Need to check for WPI. I think I will end up swatching this up soon. I like the sheen and drape it has a lot.

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Last Tuesday, I opened the door to find ~9lbs of alpaca on the doorstep! Hooray!

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On the right is 2lbs of Sanya, which I am spinning into a lumpy bumpy chunky 2ply for Julie Wier. For this, I get to keep the 2lb 12oz bag on the left of Miss Scarlet's lovely reddish brown (dark fawn) fleece! And in the back, still in the box, is Amos' 4lb 5oz full fleece which I got from a lovely lady on Ravelry.

I've acquired quite a bit of alpaca lately. I have some very special roving (oncluding some suri/huacaya blend) and a pound of Tom's very lovely fleece from North Star Alpacas on Etsy. I can't wait to dive in to that stash but I want to make some special projects from that so more on that later.

For now, I'm focused on processing and spinning Sanya's fleece for Julie.
I have some pics of the washing and prepping but running low on laptop battery so better wrap up this entry.
Here are the three completed skeins I have so far (a total of about ~7oz and 181.5 yrds, I believe):

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Also, here is a skein I completed prior to the TDF:

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I'm very excited about all my progress. I'm also working on some superwash merino on a laceweight spindle but that's not terribly interesting to look at yet so I'll get back to that.

Ok, so there's the quick and dirty recap of my TDF progress from the last week and a half. Not bad, if I do say so myself. ;)