ok then, just one more :-)

 HI

A chance post on Facebook about free fleece and  a comment from a former work colleague resulted in a knock on the door Saturday afternoon. A large black bag was handed over with a very quizzical look, apparently the bag had been passed onto yet another colleague who lived nearer to me and she really had no idea what I would be doing with it.

Last time I had a Texel fleece to spin it was awful so I was keeping my fingers crossed that this one would prove to be better. First impressions were favorable, not felted, not too dirty, not too much vegetation and a 3-4 inch staple length.

So it was into the buckets, washed, pegged out on the line and then combed as I have a real fondness for hand combed fleece 😀

I couldn't resist spinning the first comb full, just a quick spin to see how it felt ....

and of course, after spinning the fluff, I had to knit it...right ?

Now all I have to do is make more of these !! 

This will probably be the fleece that I take camping with us next time so the spun and knitted samples will help me explain what the devil I'm doing when I switch on my e-spinner.

I'm beginning to worry that this blog is morphing into one about cross stitch rather than spinning, hey ho, whatever. The truth is that its always been craft blog and if you scroll back 10 years or so you will see quite a bit of embroidery of different types.

I'm the sort of person who tends to fixate on different things at different times, often changing direction when my life takes a different turn. I never give up on any particular craft, just pop them on the back burner for a few weeks or in some cases years !

So for the time being the craft content will be mixed and blogs about my local area should start late April when we are allowed out and the shops begin to open again.

On a different note, we are puzzling over where to visit later in the year, I'm thinking about heading south to Somerset/Devon area for a change, we have friends in Somerset and north Cornwall so it would be good to meet up and gossip.

I did actually get the wool combs out and start on a fleece. I bought this Ouessant fleece back in 2019 so it was washed that summer and has been stored ever since in a cotton pillow case. I ten to store all my washed fleece in pillowcases as its easy to write the name on the outside :-)

I'm also playing with a small design destined to be a pincushion, its a long time since I've drawn out anything but will hopefully update you next week with the result.

later ...

In other news, the weather seems to be getting better, the birds are singing and we spent the last night booking 8 campsites and keeping our fingers crossed that we will not be back in lockdown later in the year !! We will be heading south to visit friends and catch up on the gossip :-)

That's about it for now, speak soon xx

link to free pattern http://e-subrosa.blogspot.com/2013/10/halloween-free-chart.html 

Tour de Fleece day 18 & 19

Hi,

Another update, first bobbin of Portland spun up 60gm and the second is on the wheel and should be finished later tonight as I've only about 10gm to go.

I threw some dye at a mule fleece and I'm blending it with the undyed remainder, its looking a bit like the old fruit salad sweets :-)

The ugly hat is finally finished

and I sort of like it !

The spindle now weighs 24gm but its difficult to see any difference so I'll report back on that one next time.

One other thing happened over the last couple of days. Tuesday afternoon I went shopping, well just one shop but it was the first time I had been in one since the start of lockdown. I suspect that I won't be going near any others for some time, weird and uncomfortable experience.

That's about it for now,   take care xx

Tour de Fleece day 5

Hi

Day five already ! Firstly my listening list.

Frost at Christmas  by RD Wingfield abandoned as I realized after about sixty minutes that I had listened to this one before .

Innocent Grave by Peter Robinson

Scotland Outdoors podcast, BBC Radio Scotland

Today I have been spinning the Zwartbles fleece, about 60 gm per bobbin which I will ply tomorrow to see what I think of it. I have sampled it before but as a thicker yarn than I really want.

This is the previous sample

This means my job tonight and tomorrow whilst the plumber is here will be to prep more of this fleece.

For several years now I have concentrated on spinning British fleece and I rarely buy any commercially prepared fibre. This braid has been hanging around for may be 6 years or so, its merino and Baby camel 50/50 and dyed by Feltstudio UK. I thought it was about time that I played with it, so far 1gm spun, long way to go :-)

That's about it for today, spin safe  xx

TDF countdown is on :-) 6-5-4-3-2-1

Hi

I hope you have all had a good week ? The weather here has not been kind so very little fleece washing has taken place. This means I am welcoming this weeks forecast of sunshine and reasonable temperatures.

My plans for last week really went out of the window around the middle of the week, all was going fine until I realized that something was going on with my eyesight and promptly phoned my optician. After a full exam it appears that it isn't as serious as first though and should clear up but I've been told not to bungee jump and I have some new glasses on order ( I was due to upgrade just as lockdown started) Not really new glasses, more new lens into old frames due to there being a shortage of frames at my opticians.

I did receive a parcel at the beginning of the week.

containing ..

Yep, a really small fleece !! this had been added to my order simply to make the weight up as the postage came in as more than the fleece cost!

This is the main fleece, slightly dark and still to be unwrapped, hopefully it will be as soft as the first one although processing the first one is a little tedious due to a break/natural rise in the locks.

However the results are definitely spinnable ...

I have also finally got round to picking up my knitting and have finished a very rustic looking pair of mitts and I'm well on the way with knitting a hat Both items are being knit with the bfl/swaledale fleece.

my early morning work desk, yep coffee is still hot .

In other news, we have started to clean the inside and outside of the camper ready for use although she will probably be serviced before we stay in her overnight. However it was really good to get back in even if just for 50 miles to check all was well.

That's about it for this week, take care, stay safe xx

Tdf count down

We are now starting the count down to the Tour de Fleece 2018. Just two more weeks to wash and prep fleece ready for the big spin.

I had been steadily working through my fleece stash and nearly all of it was washed until my mate turned up with my Jacob fleece that had been left at his house.

As you can see, its been stored for a while and try as I did, I couldn't get it to roll out nicely but its a nice fleece and really clean.

I've spilt the grey from the white, there is a little brown but I'll probably blend that in. I'm looking for some white skeins for a hat and some grey marled skeins probably to use in a fair isle something:-)

Unfortunately the Jacob brought some friends along... another Jacob, 1/2 mule, 2 unknown, a Shetland and a bag of Norfolk Horn.

And a Southdown dropped in by post !!

No wonder this has been a fleece washing weekend!

I have already washed some of one of the unknown breed fleeces, filthy fleece but washed up lovely and white, proper woolly feel to it so maybe some down breed in the mix somewhere?

I still have a couple of bobbins to empty on the wheels then I will be ready to kick off TDF18 with a visit to the Wool Experience and I suspect more fleece will follow me home.

that's about it for now, more to follow soon plus we are planning another camper trip so keep an eye out for that one.

speak soon xx

Woolly Wednesday

Hi, I was going to write this last night but decided that I needed to restring the banjo, over an hour later, 3 new strings on and in tune, two broken nails I decided to quit. Never know such a stupid set up, hooks and looped wires which are barely big enough. Still, it sounds a little better, hasn't improved my playing hehe.......I've only had it for just over a week so its taking up a lot of my time at the moment and you know where this conversation is going...................

I've not done so much spinning in the last month but the green Romney is on its way to a new home to say thank you for a gift I received recently, also I've made a note not to dye that colour again as it really doesn't suit me and much as I enjoy spinning it, I really don't think I could knit with it. I did once and my niece now has a lovely green shawlette ! Anyway, at 500+yards and gradient spun from light to medium green I suspect that someone is going to have a lot of fun with this.
The Jacob has been plied and is ready to be washed at the weekend and I have spun a bobbin and a half of brown bond with quite a bit more to go!. The monthly guild meeting saw a Great Wheel turn up and a snowy trip to the Peak District resulted in some retail therapy. The book on Linen spinning was an absolute bargain, untouched with dust cover for...........£2.49 in the Oxfam bookshop in Glossop.
The latest copy of Yarnmaker dropped through the door and I treated myself to a copy of the Spinners book of Yarn Designs :-)

At the Guild meeting I was handed a small bag on Shetland x Berrichon du Cher, at least I think that is what it is !! the fleece had been washed but was still greasy so I gave it a good hot wash and popped it into the dye pot...........more truthfully, I put it in the cat litter tray ( no cats here, just a good deep tray) splashed some dye on it and chucked in into the steamer. Once cooled I rinsed it well, gave it a quick spin and left by the radiator to dry. I mixed up the colours and blended them on my combs ending up with various shades of a sort of crushed berry colour. This yarn, if nice enough, is destined to be a shawlette to be either auctioned or raffled off in aid of Teen Cancer Trust which is this years workplace fund raising challenge. In fact the crafty folks at work are hoping to put together a series of craft nights with demos and mini workshops to raise funds.
I have spun one bobbin and am now working on the next one.

My plan not to buy more fleece has failed as a small amount of Jacob/Polwarth came through the door last Saturday, very soft but very short staple, mostly less than 2 inch so this will be a challenge for the future. In the meantime it has been washed and popped into a pillow case for storage. I took a photo and then found out that, taking a picture of white and grey fleece on a grey background is not necessarily the best idea! So here is a slightly better one.

So, I will leave you now and have a wander round the other Woolly Wednesday posts to see what you have all been up to then I will carry on with my spinning.

 Have a great month everyone xx

                            

Romney fleece..what came next

So here I talked about washing the fleece, so here is what came next.

Whilst the fleece was still damp I placed it in a large cat litter tray which is one of my standard pieces of dyeing equipment ready to add the dyes. I generally use either colour craft all in one acid dyes or Landscape dyes depending on the colour needed although I will soon be in need of a restock so will expand the colour range at that point.  I mix a little of the dye powder/crystals with hot water in a jar then top it up with cold water. Now I know that people would like to know how much dye powder but I generally dilute and mix until I get a shade I want!!!

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Care should be taken when handling dyes and associated chemicals - rubber gloves and protective clothing should be worn when necessary.  Precautions should be taken to avoid accidental ingestion, inhalation and skin & eye contact.  Keep containers closed and away from young children.  

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Once I've added the dyes, taking care not to get  the fleece too wet, I wrap it in cling film ready to go in the steamer.

My electric steamer has three units so I can steam quite a large quantity in one go, it is also kept for dyeing only. Once the fleece has cooled completely, I give it a good rinse, a quick spin in the washer and hang it out to dry or near a radiator in this case.

I'm sorry that this photo is a little dark and doesn't show that the dye doesn't penetrate all the fibre in this case.

this is a little better, shows the variation of colour.

using the wool combs produces lovely little nests of fibre ready to be spun

resulting in this..................

washed and hanging out to dry

waiting to be balled up and sent to its new home

I hope this wasn't too boring for you, I had promised to show how I coloured the fleece xx