maybe a bargain?

A week or so ago I spotted an advert on eBay, 2-3 kilo of fleece, not whole fleece and a mixture of Charollais and Beltex. Simply a bag stuffed full for £5 plus postage.

I have never spun either of these breeds, one of which is not in my book of breeds so really didn't know much about them, so I thought I would take a chance on it.

I'm assuming that the shorter locks are the charollais and the longer ones are the Beltex, both meat breeds.

So into the buckets for a soak, a wash and a rinse

and onto the line to dry out. first two bags are dry ( originally 3 bags but pinched one back for the next wash)

The first samples show that the Charolais is  short staple little/no crimp and springy when spun ( reminds me a bit of down breeds) would keep you warm as mittens/hat, The Beltex is finer, softer, longer and I will probably in hats although it would probably do as cardigan/jumper depending on how much you like wool!! at 20% Charollais and 80% Beltex I'm happy.

The longer sample on the left is the Charollais, more creamy in colour than the Charollais which is oaty in colour.

I don't know if these are typical fleece for the breeds or even which part of the fleece the samples come from.

I think I will be spending the holiday weekend washing fleece!!

Back to work

HI. I went back to work on Monday on a gradual return to work plan. I only work 3 hours a day for the next two weeks which is just as well as on Monday I came home with a killer of a headache from the bright lights and fell asleep for 3 hours! With not having been at work for so long I have a lot to catch up on and some new faces to get to know.

On the craft front, I have started knitting my Fishermans Kep, all was fine until yesterday when the stitches slipped off the needles twice, I suppose that's what happens when you knit when tired.

I always worry about my spinning being uneven but spinning this as a 4 ply (thickness) has really surprised me.

I have a parcel sat downstairs waiting ro be opened, it contains fleece but it could be one of two breeds. I don't mind as long as I can use it!!

wish me luck

Hi
This is my April spinning (except one ball which I've included as its much softer and will do for the head band)
This is the project for me as I'm back to work so not so much free time, it will also be my holiday project!!
After two trial bits of fair isle I thought I would drown in the deep end. The pattern is from the Fair Isle museum and is more of a recipe, giving the designs but leaving the choice up to the knitter. There is also a Facebook page so if I get in a mess I will be able to get help.

still spinning

and why am I still spinning? I'm waiting for a delivery of knitting needles!! I need 2 and 2.5mm needles and they don't seem to be available at the shops so I've ordered some of the Internet. Once I've worked out which sizes I use regularly I will probably get some nice Knit Pro Zing DPs just because I like the colours and I've a birthday coming up!!

I've ordered a fair isle pattern, more details to follow and I've started to sample the yarns for knitting.

I must admit that I'm enjoying getting back to the spinning again.

I start back at work next week so that will slow me down a bit :-(

the round house

and now for something completely different! Last Sunday was the Big Day Out organised by the local radio station. The idea is that places which only open rarely to the public and others that generally charge an entrance fee, offer free admittance for the day.

Over the years we have visited many local attraction, so many that when we looked on the list this year there weren't very many that we had missed.  Although the idea of an iron age round house just a few miles from the city centre was intriguing. Please click the link for further info.

more sampling and spinning

HI, I'm still working on the shades of grey spinning, slowly sampling and spinning my way through a mountain of fleece :-)

shades of grey

HI,
First a quick update about me, I'm still off work but due back in the next week or so. The cause of the cough is still unknown although fibres do NOT seem to play a part in this. I now have some drugs that are helping !!

I am now trying to spin the coloured fleece shown on my previous post, I'm aiming for a 4ply weight and as many natural shades as possible.

The Ryland so far has yielded 3 shade of grey/brown with a 4th yet to be spun

Please excuse my photos, my camera is playing up, it has probably heard that I was looking at a new one at the weekend. its sulking!

The dark brown Jacob lamb has been split into two shades, dark and not so dark.

 this gives me two subtly different dark greys,

 again camera being stupid, I think I need to reset the focus setting

Samples so far, dark grey is Ryland, light grey is Norfolk/Sufolk which I still want to colour sort, brown is Bond which I purchased from Australia a few years back.

There is a reason for all this which will be revealed at some point.

Finished.

Not my best knitting and I would alter a few things if I had to knit it again but it used up some of the oddments of handspun that are lying around.

Fleecy goodness

HI
The norfolk/suffolk x had already been washed and filled two pillow cases. It's grey and varies from very light to mid/dark, the jacob is unwashed and appears to be all dark brown.

At the weekend I received this.

500gm of coloured ryland, varies from fawn to dark brown :-)

So now I'm all set to sort, spin and knit!!

I'm still knitting up the stash....

It looks like I'm heading back to work next week, thank goodness as my brain is totally out of gear and the longer I'm at home the less I feel like doing !!

Presents

Hi  a friend popped round for coffee and brought me a couple of fleece, one Jacob lamb and one Norfolk /Suffolk cross. I think I am going to be busy over the next few days :-)

Being industrious

I've a couple of projects on the go to use up some odd and ends......I also had a parcel through the post, more about that later.