Two days late... but its finished :)

Tour de Fleece ended Sunday, July 27th... and I did not get the lace weight yarn finished... but I did manage to get it done this morning :)

Total, the yarn took me around 12 hours to complete... I know it sounds like forever... I think so too... but the result is well worth it.

The full bobbins

I didn't actually measure out the braid... I just sort of guessed at the half way point and hoped for the best, lol.

Full Plied Bobbin

All skeined

The finished yarn... sort of

And the full skein

I haven't washed the skein yet... so the colors may change slightly... but overall, it should stay the same.

I managed to get 420 yards of lace to fingering 2-ply yarn... and its 100% Falkland... one of the first hand dyed rovings I ever did.

So, I missed the finish line... but I feel like a winner :)

Testing a Great Idea by Leoa :)

A few months ago I received an email from a friend who had a wonderful idea... She saw a picture of some stitch markers that had letters on them... the letters were to identify the crochet hook that is used in a project... just in case you lose the hook, or need it for a different project...

I don't know about you, but it never fails... I will start a crochet project, have to stop... kids run off with the hook... and I have no idea what size I was using... these markers are perfect for people like me, lol.

Leoa (the friend mentioned above) thought that it would be great if I made some using polymer clay... so I gave it a try... there are still a bunch of little "tweaks" that need to be made... but for the first set, I think they are pretty freaking awesome :)

D - L Crochet Stitch Markers

The letters need to be "colored", but they turned out nicely

The clasp makes them perfect to hook to your working project

And the packaging :)

This set will be going to Leoa when I see her again... she kept reminding me (and pushing me) to create them... and I should have listened to her sooner :)

Thank you so much Leoa :)

TDF - Finished Yarn - 7/22/14

I have been attempting to spin... at least a little bit each day... some days are only around 5 minutes, but such is life :)

This past Saturday (the 19th), was the Fiber Guild meeting... and since it was going to be a super laid back day, I decided to go ahead and bring my little Merlin Tree "Hitchhiker" wheel with me.

I spun a couple rolags at the meeting... and finished spinning them on Sunday...rather than plying it together, I decided to ply with a piece of Cotton/Polyester Thread... it was actually a 30/1 weaving thread (extremely thin).

Here are the rolags... sorry about the picture, its from the phone...

The rolags were a mix of tons of different fibers... Merino, Alpaca, Mohair, Silk, Soysilk, Premium Pulled Silk, Corriedale, Shetland... and many more!!!

I decided to just let the rolags "do what they wanted"... so the yarn is not even spun... some places are thick and others are thin :)

Managed to get exactly 160 yards... so I would call it 158 yards (because no one wants to get gypped out of yardage)

I absolutely love the final result... All the colors... and the red ply thread really brings out all the color :)

Now, I'm working on spinning lace weight Falkland... it was one of the first braids I ever hand dyed... and its slightly felted (so there was no way I felt comfortable selling it to someone)... Fingers crossed that I will have pics soon :)

TDF - Finished Yarn - 7/17/14

I managed to finish the "three batt" yarn last night... and it was dry enough to photograph this morning :)

So, I know the picture sucks, but its from my phone... Here is a picture of the two bobbins:

And some of the blue fiber apparently was not properly exhausted... because it bled out and turned some of the white, a blue... but I really love the finished result :)

Since the bobbins were not even, there is a big skein and a baby skein, lol

This one is my favorite :)

The large skein is 88 yards of worsted to super bulky... and the small skein is 12 yards... 

Fiber content: Merino, Alpaca, Corriedale, Mohair, Shetland, Premium Pulled Silk, Lincoln Locks, Silk, Soysilk, Tencel, Bamboo, and Peacock Feathers... there is a possibility that there are other fibers, but I was not actually writing anything down, lol.

Tour de Fleece 2014... its a start anyways, lol

I have been behind with spinning for the tour this year... and it sucks... but thats life. 

Tour de Fleece is a spinning event that runs the same time as the Tour de France... the purpose is to challenge yourself to spin (at least a little) each day of the tour - July 5th to July 27th... with the same rest days (15th and 21st).

I started the tour with some alpaca... it was processed at my house and spun right from the cloud... There is also a sample of alpaca (pink/orange/green) that was from some roving... and a small sample of an alpaca/wool blend (black/grey).

From left to right... 8 yards (Alpaca), 15 yards (Alpaca Roving), and 82 yards (Alpaca)

From Left to Right... 20 yards (Alpaca/Wool) and 130 yards (Alpaca)

Now, I am spinning some batts that got "destroyed"... I made all the batts... then took them apart to show a friend... since I cant actually put them back together, I figured why not spin them...

All Three Batts

Now, keep in mind that these are not just standard batts... they are filled with Lincoln Locks, Pulled Silk, and even Peacock Feathers... so the yarn should be quite interesting :)

The bag of all the mixed up fiber...

Lets hope that the yarn will be complete soon so that you can see what it looks like :)

"Knitting Reimagined" by Nicky Epstein

I recently received the book "Knitting Reimagined" by Nicky Epstein (I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review)... Wow... I am super afraid of knitting anything other than hats or scarves... basically I'm a sissy, lol... But this book has really got me wanting to go for a sweater...

I wasn't really sure what to think when I received the book... but once I actually started reading it, I was blown away. The patterns are so different from anything I have ever seen before... Nothing about the book is "normal"... each project is full of so much character and abstract construction... that I just want to give them a try...

For those of you who have met me, or have known me forever... You know that I tend to be a little "weird" and that I really don't conform to what others want... I am me... I do what I want... and these sweaters/shawls/shirts do the exact same... They are original :)

These are two of my favorites:

Quintessential Cable Pullover - page 155

Etiquette Unchained Pullover - page 103

But, I think the best part of the book, is right at the beginning... Nicky Epstein, on page 8, has a "How to Use This Book" section...

It breaks down the three things that ever knitter thinks about when starting a new project:

1. Is it hard to make?

2. How long does it take to make it?

3. How much does the yarn cost?

Right under that, there is a little chart with symbols that show you exactly what to look for with each pattern so that you know what skill level you have to have, as well as how much time the project will likely take you... And I know, a ton of books have the same thing... but its the way that they explained that really made me feel like I could make one of these pieces.

I think that if you feel up to it... and you want to give a unique design a shot... pick up the book... see if the library has it... or you can buy it... it runs $29.99... its hardcover and if you use it, is definitely going to be worth it :)

http://www.randomhouse.com/book/227951/knitting-reimagined-by-nicky-epstein

If you decide to get the book... and make one of the lovely pieces, I would absolutely love to see pics of it :)