Tour de Fleece - days 10-15

Buffalo down:







Dyed tussah silk:



Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino:





My goal was to spin every day that the tour rides...and I'm doing it! I think that I'm improving on the wheel, and I know I'm improving on the charkha. I also may be able to get more of the cormo blend, so I'll have that to spin up. Swoon :)

Tour de Fleece - days 6, 7, 8, 9

Day 6 - Gotland:



Day 7 - Cormo silk alpaca blend from Foxfire fibers:



Day 8 - cormo blend, 2/3 done:



Day 9 - rest of the cormo blend:




I tried to spin the Gotland into a nice laceweight singles, but being combed top and a thicker fiber, I just couldn't get enough for what I want to do. I decided to go with the cormo blend because I know it's a good fiber for lace, plus it's just so beautiful. I have to wash it today and hopefully it will be dry by tomorrow so I can start knitting.

My allergies are going crazy with this warm weather - I'm having tons of sneeze attacks!

Tour de Fleece - days 4 & 5

Day 4: The Jacob, plied:



Day 5: The Gotland, singles:



I think that all this charkha spinning is good for me - I'm getting a lot more comfortable with it.

On an utterly frustrating and irritating note, remember all that cashmere I spun up? About 800 yards of 2-ply laceweight? Well, I was knitting merrily along with it, when I realized a horrible thing: it has scurf. I don't know why I didn't see it when I was spinning...I must have just ignored it. But it really can't be given away to anyone in this state, and I'll actually have to throw it out. That's right, all those hours, now to become bird's nesting material.

I now have to figure out what to spin for the swap, spin it, and hope it works with the pattern. My current scheme is to spin the Gotland into a singles that I can knit with and use it in tandem with the Stansborough. I may end up having to buy more fiber so that I have enough to make the stole I'm planning, but I won't be able to buy a full stole's worth of fiber a third time. Argh!

Add to this that DP thinks I've been spinning too much and wants me to spend more time with him instead of crafting, and you've got one crazy spider on your hands. All I want to do is go home and spin, but once I get home I have to build a shelving unit for DP, since I promised him I'd do it tonight. Double argh!

Tour de Fleece - day 3

I'm spinning up some black Jacob fleece:



I like it; it's combed top, so I can spin a fine singles easily with few slubs.

I finished the left front of Uinen, so I've started the right front. It's good bus knitting, so I probably won't do too much more of it today.

I'm casting on for my Lembas & Lace swap stole today. I'm so excited to be knitting with my first two-ply laceweight!

Tour de Fleece - day 2

I spun the rest of the Stansborough up:



I'm going to take a break from spinning for the rest of today and do some knitting. Here's the left front of the Sprossling, hereafter named Uinen:



That is, I'll start knitting as soon as I've finished folding the laundry!

Tour de Fleece - day 1

I spun this yesterday:



It's the Stansborough from International Fleeces. It's a bit coarse, but it will suit my purposes just fine! I have the light grey Stansborough, some darker grey Gotland and some almost black Jacob that I plan to make into a shawl. Who knows when I'll actually make the shawl, but using the Tour de Fleece to make me spin the yarn is perfect.

I'm still not getting the hang of the supported spindle, but I'm going to keep trying until I do.

Sweaters and support

I cast on for Sprossling in Grandma's Blessing.  The two yarns I got (from Ravelry destashes) looked like they'd be the same-ish color on my monitor, but are (sadly) quite different in real life.  I decided to use the one I have less of to do all borders and button bands, to tie the whole thing together, and possibly use a bit more of it on the sleeves.  I'd prefer to have the body be all one color with any real interference on the sleeves - it seems less troublesome that way.

I also got my supported spindle from Gripping Yarns - it is so beautiful.  Now if only I could spin supported!  I'm working on it, but it's tricky, though I think my charkha spinning is serving me in good stead.  I'm able to spin consistently with only one hand, so the main trick is actually spinning the spindle and not having it fall down.  Sigh.

I'll probably be doing less spinning and knitting in the upcoming months - DP thinks I do too much, so I'm going to cut back and spend more time with him instead of holing myself up in my craft room.  I may also try to do my crafting early in the morning before he gets up so I have more time to spend with him.  We haven't played any board games for a long time.

The swimming is going pretty well.  I would not trust myself in the ocean or even a lake if there was no helper close by, but I'm getting the hang of the whole floating thing.  Now I just have to figure out how to do the backstroke without throwing my balance off and sinking!

I just made up my living will today.  Something that I found interesting in it is that if you are pregnant, it doesn't count.  Hmmm.