TdF is coming

Yet again, it’s a long time between updates.  I just haven’t had much to say.  My husband is still not working, for our safety.  I’ve not been knitting much.  I have been prepping fiber and spinning fiber but it’s all the same as I’ve shown before.

TdF is just a few days away and I’m impatient for it to start.  I’m really in a spinning mood right now.

This is all of my prepped fiber.

Meadow, Icelandic, tog and thel combined, 820 grams which was all I could salvage from 2 rather matted fleeces. There are 5 bins total. Most of it is carded, except for the combed nests shown.

Duchess, Icelandic, tog and thel combined, 266 grams, carded. I’ve already spun the rest of this fleece.

Merino, 100 grams, some combed, the rest just flicked and I’ll spin from the lock. Hoping it’s less work for the same look as combed.

Mercedes, Cormo, 118 grams, combed.

Dodge, Icelandic, tog, 808 grams, combed

Salty, Icelandic, tog – 474 grams, thel – 180 grams, combed

Sugar, Icelandic, tog, 580 grams, thel – 176 grams, combed.

3522 grams total or 7.76 pounds. Expecting around 30 skeins. I don’t expect to spin it all during TdF. I just like having options.

 

So it’s been awhile

So much has happened.

My husband did find a job for about a month and a half.  Which was great.  I got back to knitting and spinning and even started writing fiction.  I was absolutely creative all the time once he was working and out of my hair.  Don’t get me wrong, I love him beyond all reason but having him home for 3 months just about drove me crazy.  I need my alone time.

But the job sucked and the hours sucked even more (odd schedule of 12 hour days, 2 on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off).  And then the pandemic hit.  Neither of us has gotten sick, but we are both borderline vulnerable.  We’d been talking about him quitting that job and finding another and after taking a look at our finances decided that it would be safer for him to just quit and stay home for awhile.

So I have not left our property (I’ve been out in the yard) since March 14.  He was working and now does the occasional grocery run but mostly we just stay inside.  This time is a bit better than the last.  For one, it’s by choice.  For two, we’ve had practice at it.

I have dropped the more complicated knitting into hibernation but I’ve got some simple things in progress.  Not much spinning but then I’ve just not been in that kind of mood.  A bit of writing (it’s niche and nsfw so I won’t be sharing unless asked.)

Before everything went weird we did buy a 3D printer.  Haven’t really used it yet but we have plans for spinning wheel parts and other assorted bits and bobs.  It would be nice to get my old broken wheels running (one needs a flyer, another 2 need whorls.)  Maybe even make some spare bobbins for my working wheels.

So now on to the knitting.

2 pairs of mitts.  My own patterns.  The teal/purple still need a wash and block and the red needs ends trimmed.

Evenstar shawl – This has been on my to-do list for years.  Nearly since I first started knitting.  I had planned to use a reclaimed silk/cashmere for it, but I could not get it to caston properly and it turned out to be fragile.  So I found this reclaimed merino that I had dyed in a green-blue gradient a few years ago.  I like it but it’s in hibernation for being a bit too concentration heavy right now.

Sateenkaari – In looking for yarn for the Evenstar shawl I came across this reclaimed lambswool/Angora/nylon.  It’s also dyed in a gradient from white to dark blue.  It came out looking like denim in various degrees of wear.  But it’s also fragile so this simple garter stitch shawl is best.

This simple cowl uses no pattern.  Yarn is handspun Merino.  I had won a braid of fiber years ago and spun it on my spindles.  I finally finished it last year.  The problem is that while gorgeous in the braid, I don’t like the finished yarn.  I dislike the barberpoling and the colors are too pastel for my tastes.  So a simple cowl it is.  I’m sure I’ll find someone who likes it.

So that’s it for now.  Hope everyone is safe and healthy and that we all stay that way.

Finished Object!

I made mitts for my husband. And it reminded me why I do not do custom work.

My husband’s work room (play room, studio, whatever) is in the basement. It’s not really heated. The furnace is there and puts off some heat but there is no vent. It gets pretty chilly.

He likes orange. I do not. I buy and unravel the occasional orange sweater for the rare occasion he requests something. He requested mitts. He has Popeye arms – a big muscle that tapers to a smallish wrist. He requested that the mitts be loose, which directly conflicts with my belief that mitts should be snug. He won in the end, but not without some arguing and much annoyed sighing from me.

So now my husband has a pair of orange cashmere mitts made to his specifications. He’s happy with them which makes me happy, but I’m not knitting something for him for another few years. I need time to get over this experience.

Honestly, I did enjoy the challenge of designing and knitting these mitts but I much prefer to make things how I think they should be, not what someone else wants.

On that note, I’m now on a mitt knitting kick.  No pattern, although I am writing down what I’m doing.  I’ve also gone through some books, adapting colorwork patterns to fit the stitch count and transcribing some Japanese charts to written words.  I plan to use these in future mitts.

I’ve been knitting on huge, long-term projects (months, if not years to complete) and it’s nice to finish things is just a few days.  The mitts will be added to my bin of things I’ve knitted but don’t use.  Maybe one day I’ll actually get around to finding a place to sell them.

Finished Sweater!

At long last, an update plus a finished object.

Yarn is wool and lambswool worsted weight reclaimed from 2 different sweaters. I dyed the pink/purple myself (the original was hot pink).

The pattern is based my favorite top down raglan sweater generator, altered into a circular yoke and adjusted to fit the stitch count. The colorwork chart is from a magazine sweater, also altered into the circular yoke.

It turned out longer than expected but not too bad, just above my knee. Sleeves are a smidge tight around the forearms. My sleeve tension was tighter than my body tension, despite my best efforts. Still, it’s very wearable and very warm. It’ll be great when the temps really get cold in January/February.

This sweater has been my sanity saver for the last month.  At the beginning of November my husband lost his job.  His position was eliminated.  To be perfectly honest, we’d half been expecting it.  The business has been going downhill for years.

So, after 18 years, my husband has been without work.   And home….and in my way….for over a month now.  Plus we’re stressed.  It’s never a good time to lose one’s job but right before the holidays has to be the worst.  Plus government bureaucracy is the worst.  There are a lot of hoops to jump through to get his unemployment benefits.

But we did/do have a bit of a nest egg and with some cutbacks in our spending, we’re doing fine.

I am stressed and knitting on this sweater has been my saving grace.  Now that it’s done, I’m kind of at a loss as to what to knit.  For now it’s been that never-ending border for the French Quilt Shawl as I’ve not got the undisturbed time for Brioche.

Send us luck if you’ve got any to spare.  Thanks.

FO and new cast on

Dracula’s Bride Shawl. It took me 5 years, on and off (more off than on) but it’s finally done. 1 strand each of reclaimed cashmere, merino and lambswool plied together. They’re 3 different shades of red but at a distance look the same. Up close it’s marled.

I did quit about 12 rows early. I just couldn’t take the 100+ stitch repeats anymore.

Ring of Fire Brioche Cowl in reclaimed cashmere, plied and dyed by me. I was trying to match the colors of the one in the book. I think I got pretty close. It’s going well and I really like how it looks. This is just over 1 repeat and I think I’m going to do 8 repeats. For Brioche, it’s pretty easy. Shockingly, I managed to do the cast on in one try. I was positive I’d messed it up and was going to have to start over. I have no idea how I managed to keep it untwisted. The last time I tried Brioche, I had to cast on several times just for a small flat swatch.  This yarn and pattern had been waiting for 2 years for me to cast on.

In fiber news, Duchess is finally all carded.  That makes 3 whole (smaller) Icelandic fleeces ready to spin (Meadow, Duchess, Salty).  I still have 1+ skeins worth of Dodge thel, plus 2-3 skeins worth of Dodge tog waiting to be spun.

I’ve started combing Meadow’s second fleece.  I don’t know how I can run into new problems after this many Icelandic fleeces prepped, but I have.  Meadow has a break about halfway through the locks.  Sometimes the outer half is matted, sometimes it’s not.  When it’s not matted, I can comb the whole lock.  It might break during combing but the two halves are long enough that it doesn’t matter.  When it’s matted, I just pull off the mat and put the rest on the comb.  Tog and thel are both soft so I’m keeping them together.

Overdue Update

I’ve been hard at work in September.  I finished the scouring.  The garden is done and I’m drowning in squash (butternut and acorn).  I’ve done some knitting (more on that later) and quite a bit of fiber processing.

On the left is Duchess.  Her fleece is a mess with lots of vm and matting.  I’ve simply trimmed off the mats and discarded the worst of the vm bits and carded the remaining fiber – tog and thel together.  I’ve pulled the fiber off the carders as mini-batts and am layering them in bins with tissue paper in between.  Meadow was just as bad and got the same treatment.  Imagine 2 more bins of the same.  I just don’t want to open them as they’ll explode.  I really packed the fiber into them.

On the right is Salty’s tog and thel, combed and made into nests.

Today I assessed the remaining Icelandic fleece.  It looks like everything else can be combed (aside from those slated for the drum carder).  Of 20 fleeces, I’ve prepped or prepped/spun 7 (once I finish Duchess).  7 more are waiting for a drum carder.  6 are scoured, awaiting prep.  It’s been just over a year since I finished scouring them.  That’s darn good progress.

In knitting, I’ve done some repeats on the edging for the French Quilt shawl.  I’m almost to halfway.  I just pulled out the colorwork sweater this week and did about 5 rows.  I’ve been faithful to the Dracula’s Bride Shawl on Wednesdays and expect to finally finish that in early December.  It’s a bit tough right now as there is patterning on every row and for some reason my brain has trouble with patterning on purl rows.  I find it harder to keep track of than knit rows, despite the knit rows being more complicated.

Sometime this winter I’m going to have to take some time to spin.  I’ve got quite a bit leftover from TdF and more processed since then.

August Misc.

 

There was a chunk of Luke the Icelandic’s fleece that was too felted to pull apart. I finally got around to felting it the rest of the way.

I learned that I don’t like felting. Which means that the 2 fleeces from Pinto that I had set aside as being too short to spin and planned to felt will now be scoured. After that, I’ve no idea. Maybe I’ll wait til I get a drum carder and card the two coats together.

For now, this chunk will be a cat bed, unless we catch them trying to groom it. In that case, I’ll figure out some way to use it as decor. It’s about 10 X 21 inches.

August has been all over the place, in terms of what I’m doing.  I’ve re-scoured one of Luke the Icelandic’s fleeces.  I’ve knitted some, but not much, other than the weekly 2 rows of Dracula’s Bride.  I’ve done some prep.

I need to re-scour Pepper’s adult fleece as well as scour the grey-brown Merino and both of Pinto’s fleeces.  Those two will just be torn into chunks, tossed in bags and scoured.  The Merino needs to be pulled into locks first, which will take awhile.  I’m planning on doing that this coming weekend.

Winter may be coming sooner than people think.  My zucchini are already done.  The tomatoes are on their last legs.  The cucumbers are slowing down a lot.  The squash vines (acorn and butternut) are just starting to die off.  Our weather has been unusually cool for the middle to end of August.  Low to mid 70’s is almost cold for this time of the year.  We should be in the high 80’s.  On the plus side, it’s good scouring weather (the low 70’s) so I can get that done before it gets too cold.

TdF 2019 the final results

 

This is what I completed during TdF.  22.5 cakes of singles.

 

After a week of plying, post tDf, this is my final result.

Left pic from left to right: Icelandic, laceweight and plied unless otherwise noted
Duchess – 2 tog, 2 thel
Dodge – 2 tog, 1 thel
Cocoa – 4 tog (singles), 2 thel (bulky)
Cinnamon – 2 tog, 2 thel (bulky)

Right pic: all sportweight, my default spin
2 Cormo
1.5 Corriedale
2 Merino

Now for the numbers

1053 yards of Icelandic Thel
1271 yards of Icelandic Tog
1029 yards of other breeds

6248 yards of singles spun or 3.6 miles

5lbs 4 oz of fiber used of 8 lbs 15 oz prepped

All of the Icelandic Tog is for weaving warp. All of the not white Icelandic Thel is for weaving weft. White Icelandic Thel is for lace shawls and will be dyed once I decide on projects and colors. The Cormo will become a sweater. Possibly the Merino too. I need to spin more of both. The Corriedale has no plans.

Now it’s back to knitting.  Both myself and my wheel need a break so it’s all knitting for now.  I’m working on the edging for the French Quilt shawl every day, except Wednesdays which are for the Dracula’s Bride Shawl.  Even with A/C it’s just too hot to work on the sweater.

In the first 9 days of TdF I have spun:

• 1 bobbin of the grey/brown merino (bottom right)
• 2 bobbins of Duchess Icelandic thel (top right and bottom next to the blue)
• 1.5 bobbins of Violette the Corriedale (dyed blue)
• 1 bobbin of Dodge Icelandic tog (the big hairy looking one on the right)
• 1 bobbin of Mercedes the Cormo (left side above the blue)
• 2 bobbins of Cocoa Icelandic thel (left side above the cormo and right side above the tog)
• 1 bobbin of Cinnamon Icelandic thel (top left)

I won’t be plying until after TdF is done.

Ready for TdF

I have nearly 9 lbs of ready to spin fiber from 7 fleeces.  I don’t expect to spin it all during TdF but I like having options.

Dodge the Icelandic. Left: 776 grams thel. Right 936 grams tog.

Cocoa the Icelandic. Left 186 grams thel.  Right 434 grams tog.

Cinnamon the Icelandic.  Left 210 grams tog. Right 186 grams thel.

Duchess the Icelandic. Left 348 grams thel.  Right 280 grams tog.

These 4 fleeces are completely prepped (no more fleece left).  I’ve already spun 4 laceweight skeins of Dodge.

Merino 242 grams.  Most of this fleece still needs to be scoured and prepped.

Violette the Corriedale 126 grams.  This is all that is left of this fleece.  It was dyed as locks and then combed.

Mercedes the Cormo 348 grams.  Still have more of this fleece to prep.

Just over a week to go til TdF begins.  I won’t be prepping more.  I need to rest my body so that I’m ready to spin daily for 3 weeks.  This is going to be an agonizing wait.  I really want to start spinning.