KnitMe

Yet More Fleece

Remember this?

And how it next looked like this?

Some of it then looked like this:

and now like this:

Isn't that just too neat? It's about 35 grams, 65 yards, and not all that uniform because I'm not that great a spindler and it was neppy and variable as to fiber length (I swear some of the fibers were 6 or 7 inches long). It's lofty and shiny and pretty soft. I may get one more hank like this out of the rest of the fleece, or maybe 2 more if I'm lucky. I don't know what I'd knit out of it but right now I don't care! It's so much fun. And it's not just "100% wool," it's "Cotswold cross wool," which appeals to me MUCH more. Do you ever wonder why we don't have very much breed-specific yarn? Merino is everywhere but we have so little Bluefaced Leicester, or Corriedale, or Rambouillet yarn, it's all "wool." Part of what I like about having taken up this fleece processing thing is I can make yarn and know what kind of sheep it's from. Now all I need is more time...

The Ply's the Thing

In response to Susan's question in the comments, I thought I'd try to explain the plying disc a little better. I've been starting to branch out into multi-ply yarns. The more plies there are, the more challenging it is to keep an even tension. Uneven tension can really mess with the consistency of the final yarn. Awhile back, I read somewhere (I believe in Diane Varney's, "Spinning Designer Yarns") that using a plying disc can be helpful, and that the plastic liner from a spice jar works really well. Here's mine (cannibalized from my allspice jar):

I've been experimenting with and without the disc, and particuarly at lace weight, I find the disc useful in keeping the plies seperated and the tension even. Using it is a teeny bit awkward at first, but it gets comfortable quickly. First, I thread the plies through the holes:

Next, I slide the disc down a bit and attach the plies to leader. I have a doubled leader thread with a knot tied in the end, which forms a loop. I thread my plies through the loop (like through the eye of a needle), double the yarn back on itself for a few inches, and I'm ready to go:

To ply, I position the fingers of my left hand in bewteen the plies, and my hand bewteen the spinning wheel and the disc. I use the fingers of my right hand to keep the plies seperated behind the plying disc, and to feed the yarn in from the lazy kate. Here's how it looks. I apologize for the blurry photo, but I think you can still make it out alright:

and:

As the yarn takes up on the bobbin, I use my left hand to slide the disc back. You can get a nice rythym going on, and it's very relaxing. I also like the plying disc because I can actually get up from my wheel if I need to without the plies turning into a tangled mess. That's all there is to it. I hope that's a little clearer explanation!

Fleece on Earth

I'm done, I'm done! It's taken me since September to do it, but my therapy lately has been finishing the processing and spinning of a Dorset fleece that I bought at a spinning guild auction last year. She was one filthy girl at the outset, and I wasn't even sure if she'd be worth much of anything. I think the fact that she was so filthy kept a lot of people from bidding on her, and I walked away with her for for a mere $10. Here she is after *three* scourings:

We've been having a discussion about combing over at FiberTraditions, and while I've been in big combing mode lately, I thought that I'd like to hand card this fleece. Here we are, loaded up and ready to go:

From filthy to fluffy in just a few passes:

I dragged my bag of fleece around with me for a while, carding whenever I had the chance and stacking the rolags into a paper sack. I had to use a towel to catch all the dirt that fell out, so it was easier when then the weather was still nice and I could do it outside.

On to the spinning! I decided on a three ply yarn, and here are three bobbins, ready to go:

All spun up and time to ply. I didn't think to get a picture of it, but I've been using a spice cap (allspice - yum!) as a plying disc. It takes some getting used to, but it really does help to keep the plies even. Here are two hanks after plying:

The skein on the left is just off the niddy noddy and unwashed. You can see how grimy and grey it still is. Even after the scouring and carding, the wool can hang onto an amazing amount of dirt. The skein on the right has had a nice bath in very hot water and Dawn detergent. It's hard to believe they even came off the same sheep! The skeins washed up to such a beautiful, creamy white, that I'm going to leave them undyed and knit as is. I'm thinking a gansey at this point - thoughts, anyone?

There's nothing quite as satisfying as putting the last skein from a fleece into the bath. I was so pleased at how this turned out. It's a lofty yarn with nice body and so much softer than I thought it would be. Fleece on earth, everyone.

More Combing

I've been immersing myself in combing for the past week, and I finally got time to take some pictures.

I bought the combs from Karen who ended up with 2 sets - they are Indigo Hound 2-row Viking combs. They are numbered in pencil, and dated 1991 so they're almost vintage! They are not elegant but they are very comfortable to hold, and have enough weight in the head to go through the wool well (makes me think of how a tennis racquet is weighted!). They're also reasonably large - the tines are about 5 inches long and very sharp.

I had been washing up little lots of fleece that I'd bought, so I started sampling. My first effort was the fleece that came in the box with the combs, some kind of Cotswold cross.

The tips of the curls were a little hard, so this was too difficult for me at first and I went on to my Targhee. The first effort was only average but I got a little to spindle. Then I tried some double-coated Shetland which was clean but a little bit in the grease - generated a lot of waste but it came out a lovely color. I attached this onto the spindle with my Targhee and kept spinning.

Ultimately I plyed and got a funny little 15 or 16 yard skein of marl.

Next I tried some Rambouillet that I thought would be too difficult, but it came out great!

Then I went back to the Targhee again and did much better.

Finally I tried the Cotswold again.

This is interesting stuff - not as silky as Bluefaced Leicester but with some sheen, and VERY long fibers. The resulting top is a little neppy in some places. I've been spindling it this afternoon and I'm having to hold my hands 5 or 6 inches apart to make it draft. I think I'm going to settle down to one thing now, and comb this stuff up and spindle it. Then I'll move on to something else. It's spindling very nicely. Stuff that's pulled right off the comb needs no predrafting, it's just open and ready to go.

Part of why it's getting better is I'm getting a better feel for this diz business. I've been using a large button, and the better pieces of top have resulted from the times I ignored all advice and tried to pull big fat slivers off. If I tried to make it flow easy I ended up with stuff too thin to hang together. Someone on the Fiber Combing Yahoo group suggested a spice jar cap for a diz and I'm going to try that when I get back to it.

The combing motion that I've evolved for myself may or may not be particularly orthodox, but it allows me to comb sitting down and takes advantage of the weight of the comb head. I fill up the comb between one third and one half full (I've been doing better with a little more fleece), then I hold one comb in my left hand with the tines pointing straight at me, and I hold the other comb in my right hand with the tines pointing straight down. I comb downward with the right comb, which takes the tines sort of across the fleece. After a couple of passes I turn the tines on the left comb to point away from me and repeat. I think I probably won't buy a comb pad after all, this seems to work fine for me. Wish I could have photographed that instead of just described it... Maybe some other day!

Zora!

I finished knitting the Zora cardigan from the Best of Lopi book back around Thanksgiving, but as always it took me a while to sew up seams (minimal on this sweater), knit the button bands, weave in ends, and sew on the buttons. I have been wearing it for about a week now. Never had a Lopi sweater before and wasn't sure how much I would like it - but it is pretty comfy to wear now that we are in the dead of winter! This is the original colorway from an older (unspecified year) Lopi pattern book.

Here is a picture with one of my cats, Pushkin. He kind of goes with it, doesn't he? Can you tell how much he was enjoying the photo op?

It came out a bit snug, but did block out on the wooly board after washing, and I have decided it is an OK fit. This was the size Medium, if I was to do it over (unlikely, ha ha) I think I would make the Large. The body of the sweater is a slip stitch pattern (linen stitch) which I think makes it more interesting than plain stockinette. And the yoke is also done with slip stitches, so no 2- or 3-color stranding was required. It was fun!

Katie

100 Things

But first, Saga Rose with a neckband.

I really wanted to do crocheted steeks this time, but my eyes failed me. I could not see the navy stitches well enough to know where I was crocheting. So I resorted to backstitching. I think next time I try a crocheted steek I will do a speckled steek instead of striped - in theory stripes should be easier, but maybe with my aging eyes speckles would help.

I'll build a pattern errata page for this pattern as it has 3 that I've found so far.

I have always felt like I shouldn't make people read 100 things about me, but I got such a kick out of Stephanie's, and the ones Ryan is feeding us a few at a time, that I got inspired. It's available in the sidebar, over there. Maybe other Pink Tea people will do some too. I thought about trying to organize everyone to do "100 Things About Us," but my organizing muscles are worn out for the week.

My combs are coming, my combs are coming... news next week.

What Wood Is For