D30 - Day #7!

Gee, I get a lot more done on weekends!

This morning I got started preparing an ounce of fibre right after breakfast. I was planning on running it through the drum carder, but I just flicked it instead.

I was pretty happy with the resulting open clumps of wool. I decided to start this ounce on my medium sized Ashford drop spindle and take it with me on my morning errands.

One of my adventures involved travelling across town to a big sale of knitting, spinning and weaving equipment. I spindled on the skytrain there and back. I am starting to get used to the strange looks I get, though I am definitely not as comfortable spindling in public spaces as I am knitting. I find if I don't make eye contact, people generally don't start a conversation. But if I look up from my spinning even once, I usually have to explain myself to the poor person sitting next to me hahahah.

I purchased some helpful spinning tools, a dvd, some goodies to support my sister's cross stitch habit, and a big box of fleece. I brought home two more spindles - one loooooong spindle with a medium sized whorl (it feels very light, and I love the colour of the wood), and another large spindle that is meant to be used seated and rolled along the thigh. I think. I am not actually sure. I am going to have to do some internet research before I start any projects on this one!

After I got home, I spent some quality time in the living room flicking and carding up some batts. I prepared another three ounces of fibre so I could finish up the 4 ounce skein I have started on my Ladybug.

Magnum helped.

After some grocery shopping and other afternoon chores, I spent the rest of my time before dinner spinning. I enjoyed the warm September evening on my balcony with Cameron and Snacky before moving inside to do some serious damage to those new batts on my Ladybug.

But wait! There's more!

After dinner, Cameron and I watched 28 Weeks Later out in the living room. Poor Mr. Jacob, we just keep exposing him to zombies. I flicked a few ounces of fibre while we watched the movie.

Tomorrow, I plan on preppin' some more batts as well as catching up on my wheel spinning. My goal for the entire weekend is to get ahead of the game; I want to card as much fibre as possible so I can focus on spinning it up during the week.

The Dirty Thirty - Keepin' Track of All That Fibre...

# of Ounces:     Date Started:       Date Finished:   Spun On:                             Part of Skein:
1                              Sept 1                       Sept 6                       Zebra Wood spindle        #1
2                              Sept 2                       Sept 4                       Kick spindle                        #2
3                              Sept 4                       Sept 4                       Ladybug wheel                 #3
4                              Sept 7                       Sept 12                     Ashford Med. spindle     #1
5                              Sept 7                       Sept 7                       Ladybug wheel                 #3
6                              Sept 7                       Sept 7                       Ladybug wheel                 #3
7                              Sept 7                       Sept 8                       Ladybug wheel                 #3
8                              Sept 9                       Sept 9                       Ladybug wheel                 #4
9                              Sept 9                      Sept 10                     Ladybug wheel                 #4
10                           Sept 12                    Sept 21                     New Zealand spindle     #5
11                           Sept 14                    Sept 14                     Ladybug wheel                 #4
12                           Sept 14                    Sept 14                     Ladybug wheel                 #4
13                           Sept 20                    Sept 21                     Big-Bottom whorl           #6
14                           Sept 20                    Sept 21                     Louet Victoria wheel     #7
15                           Sept 21                    Sept 21                     Louet Victoria wheel     #7
16                           Sept 21                    Sept 22                     Louet Victoria wheel     #7
17                           Sept 21                    Sept 23                     Big-Bottom whorl           #6
18                           Sept 22                    Sept 22                     Louet Victoria wheel     #7
19                           Sept 24                    Sept 26                     Med-Bottom whorl        #8
20                           Sept 24                    Sept 24                     Ladybug wheel                #9
21                           Sept 25                    Sept 25                     Ladybug wheel                #9   
22                           Sept 26                    Sept 26                     Ladybug wheel                #10
23                           Sept 27                    Sept 27                     Ladybug wheel                #10           
24                           Sept 28                    Sept 28                     Ladybug wheel                #9        
25                           Sept 28                    Sept 28                     Ladybug wheel                #9
26                           Sept 28                    Sept 29                     Ladybug wheel                #11
27                           Sept 29                   Sept 30                      Med-Bottom whorl        #8
28                           Sept 29                   Sept 29                      Ladybug wheel               #11
29                           Sept 30                   Sept 30                      Ladybug wheel                #11
30                           Sept 30                   Sept 30                      Ladybug wheel                #11

D30 - Days #4, 5, and 6!

**Update (September 8th) - added photos

Day 4:

I was a busy bee! I kick-spindled a bit in the morning, and plied that ounce in the evening.

I also used my wheel to spin one ounce of fibre. I think I am going to let that sit on the bobbin and add one more ounce to it. I will spin another bobbin of two ounces eventually, and ply them together so I have a 4 ounce 2-ply skein. This is going to be an interesting combination of yarn I am going to have at the end of this month!

Day 5:

I SLACKED OFF. I didn't do anything except knit on my Goat Coat. Not good for the goal, but I own my decision. My hands were sore from wearing gloves all day.

Day 6:

I drop-spindled on the bus home from work. I FINALLY finished the batt I started spinning on Day #1 with this drop spindle. Now I have three ounces complete, and it is Day #6.

When I got home, I stared at my big bag of fleece till I went to bed realllllly early with big plans of making A LOT of batts tomorrow.

D30 - Days #2 and 3!

**Update (September 8th) - photos added and notes adjusted!**

Day 2:

So I started with 18 grams left over from yesterday and the knowledge that I am going to need to spin thicker. I decided to take my Zebra-wood drop spindle (the one I started working with yesterday) out to dinner that night and hopefully finish off my Day #1 fibre there, and work on my second batt at home.

So far, pretty good! I started spinning my second batt on my kick spindle at home.

I even got to take it out on the balcony with Snacky and Cameron.

I did spin that evening on the skytrain and while waiting for my food at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Yup, I got a lot of weird looks, but strangely not as many questions as when I knit in public. Huh.

To total up my work so far - I didn't completely finish the batts on my drop spindle OR kick spindle. But I have already prepped my batt for Day 3. I am hoping to get more done tomorrow!

Day 3:

Got less done today than I hoped for - I think it came with that whole "working a full shift" deal. I played with my kick spindle for a while in the morning and evening, and I should be ready to ply it tomorrow. I took my drop spindle on the #3 bus on the way home, and I have almost finished that up too! I didn't get a chance to touch today's batt though.

I think I am going to have to bend my rules a little bit... if I am starting to fall behind, I am going to let myself catch up on my Ladybug spinning wheel. I still want to use every drop spindle I have in my collection before the end of the month. Considering how tiny some of them are, I will need to use the wheel if I have ANY hopes of completing this challenge!

Tomorrow should bring more spinning - I have a full evening dedicated just to that task!

Cheers!
- Grace

D30 Day #1 - Mr Jacob Vs The Zombies

Well, I didn't spin an entire ounce. But that's alright, I still have 29 days to make up for it, right?!

I think I started off in a good place - I wrote my introduction blog about it in the early afternoon, then took over the dining room table with all my equipment to get making my first batt!

I weighted out about 36 grams of fibre, because I knew I would loose some in the drum carding process.

Carding, carding...

Ta-da! Finished batt! Now, there is still a lot of veg matter in it... I will have to pick this out with some tweezers before I get spinning. The drum carder did clean out most of the blurs and grass in the process though, and the fleece feels very nice and clean!

Next up - I went for an outrageously long walk with my husband. Probably more than 10k. It tuckered us out (it was so warm and humid outside!), but I really needed the exercise (that walk took the place of my usual Sunday run). We walked up to my favourite LYS Baaad Anna's in hope of finding a new funky drop spindle. Unfortunalty they were all sold out of the style I had in mind, but I found some nice looking local Shetland fleece instead...

Sure, I need more fleece like a need a hole in my head. But it sure feels purrrrdy!

Since I could not find a new drop spindle, I decided to use my favourite locally-made medium size spindle. It's the spindle I first learned to spin on... It's still a beautiful tool, and the one I am most comfortable with.

But I didn't get a chance to do any spinning before I left the house for the evening! Cameron and I had made board-game-night plans, so we took off to our friend's house to play a game of Zombieside.

(Not this game pictured below. Too bad - I loved the pieces! This is for the game "Rocks Vs Seashells" that Bryan made up with this daughters on a camping trip).

Zombieside was really fun. It is a co-operative game, so everyone works together to try to defeat the zombies (I am the orange dude).

I did spin the whole time we played though. My husband helped me roll the dice.

It was a pretty tough game. On the second-to-last turn, all my team-mates got eaten by zombies! But I managed to claim the last objective and still win the game for us!

That's a lot of zombies.

By the time I got home, I still had a lot of my one-ounce batt left, even though I was spinning for hours and my fingers hurt. I think I am going to have to spin thinner in the future. I might switch to a larger spindle as well for some of my other batts. I have a couple of drop spindles in my collection and it would be fun to play with them all before the month is done. Sure, not all my mini-skeins will match, but it doesn't make much yardage to make a hat. 

Cheers!

- Grace

Announcing.... The Dirty Thirty!

September has always been one of my favourite months. I love the crisp fall weather the BC west coast receives, the brand new books and clothes that accompany the start of a fresh school year, and my sister and I make merry on our birthdays. I tend to claim the entire month of September as my own (yes, like a spoiled little princess, but I can't help it, I just get so excited!). I try to find something fun and inspiring to do on every weekend, and each day feels like there is a reason to celebrate.

This year I wanted to do something a little different and special. I am turning thirty years old this month, so I have decided to try spin 30 ounces of fibre in 30 days. I am calling this challenge "the Dirty Thirty", because originally I wished to spin 30 ounces of wool 'in the grease.' I contacted the Spinning Loft, and ordered two pounds of raw fleece from four varieties of sheep. However, when I announced my intentions to Beth Smith, she shared some advice with me... that spinning 'in the grease' may not be that enjoyable (something I was ready for; spinning 'in the grease' is one of those fibre experiences I feel compelled to try once, but I am prepared for some solid nasty icky-ness along the way), but if I was to attempt this ordeal, it's best to it try this technique on the freshest fleece possible. Most of her fleeces had been sheared in February... sooo they had been sitting around for about six months. Still great for me to wash and process myself, but maybe the 'in the grease' experiment should wait for the spring. I decided to change my game plan.

Plan B: To wash, prep, and spin 30 ounces of the new fleece samples I purchased from the Spinning Loft over the entire month of September. They arrived on August 28th, so I had plenty of time to bring them home and have them ready for September 1st. Tons of work, but I was ready for it!

Except the long weekend came around, and I forgot the fleece at work.

I can't pick them up until September 3rd. Doh!

Plus I have a camping trip coming up, and a visit to my mother's house this month.

I am totally itching to start the Dirty Thirty today. So I came up with Plan C.

My September Challenge Will Be...
- I will spin 30 ounces of fibre over the month of September.
- The fibre will come from my Mr Jacob fleece that I brought home and washed back in May. I have not had a chance to process this fibre any further.
- I will drum carder the fibre before I spin it.
- I will spin it on a drop spindle because a) I need the practise, and b) I can bring this project around with me on my September travels and c) it's hard for me and this is a challenge!
- I will finish off my singles as a 2 ply yarn. I will Andean ply my singles to create one-ounce mini skeins. That way I can finish off my yarn wherever I go!
- I think I can still refer to this challenge as "Dirty" because I might have done a sub-par job at washing this fleece the first time around - but we will find out soon, won't we!? "It's alllll part of the shooooow!"

I will try my best to update the blog as often as I can. I have tons of other news and projects on the go as well - I will blog about them too as soon as I have the time!

Well, wish me luck! I better go hit the drum carder now, time's a wastin'!

Cheers!
- Grace

Unpackin' Alpaca

It's no secret that I have a LOT of fibre in my stash. I have bookshelves, baskets, shelves, and a good chunk of a closet fill with goodies I have collected. I love to try new fibres, and if something catches my eye I have never tried before, well, it goes in my spinning pantry!

I had three alpaca fleeces in the very bottom of my closet. These were given to my as a gift from my sister, and I have had them for ages. She gifted them to me before I felt confident that I could do much with them, but I always had high hopes. Well, this weekend I decided to tackle that collection again!

All three fleeces have been well checked out - very little veg matter, no lanilin (obviously), no poop or muddy bits... they look like they have been very well skirted, and I only have the choice parts of the fleece. Just dust and guard hairs. Yessssssss.

I had already scoured the caramel coloured fleece earlier... so this weekend I whipped it out for a little practise with my minicombs and handcards.

I made some really nice roving (its a little too rough for me to call it top I'm afraid) with the combs.

I collected all the leftovers from the combs and carded them up so I can practise some woolen!

After this experiment, I was so inspired that I pulled out the other two fleeces from my closet...

I decided to tackle the black one next. This one doesn't even look like it has any guard hairs at all, just a some dust and minimal straw. I weighted it out - 860 grams.

I took it outside for a nice scouring...

And I have it drying in my extra bathroom right now!

I will start the combing process of this fleece when I am done with the caramel one! Both of these fleeces feel SO soft and smooth - I can't wait to get them on m wheel!

In other news, yesterday I finished plying my Merino/bamboo/silk! Woo-whoo!

And here's a photo of my little test swatch...

I think I want to make one of these cardigans with it - whatcha think!?