Tour de fleece... the end

My wheel is empty so I'm declaring this as the end of my tour de fleece for 2016

Random facts.......5 1/2 fleeces washed
                              360gm (at least prepped) and spun
                              950 yards in total

Working full time certainly cuts back the amount I can spin but I think this is the first time I have spun everyday but two and certainly the first time I have spun it all from fleece I have prepped myself.

I'm going to carry on spinning as much as possible to build up my stock for knitting :-)

The Ryeland is super springy/bouncy and shrunk quite a lot on being washed although if I stretched it out fully the yardage would be better :-)
My wheel will probably never see herdwick again!!
Texel, outer wear only !
The charolais was a surprise, assumimg that that is what it is! mittens, hats no problem good job I have a pillow case full.
I still prefer combed fibre to spin even if the waste percentage is higher.

I wonder if there is a challenge for the Olympics ?

Tour de Fleece day twenty one?

help, I'm losing count here.

Still very warm so I've been plodding on with the grey ryland with a view to getting it plyed and washed on Saturday.

I've decided that I am going to still push myself to spin over the next couple of months to make sure that I have plenty of yarn ready for winter knitting.

My washed fleece stash has grown and I have the remainder of the large grey ryland soaking today ready for a good wash tomorrow morning. This means that majority of my fleece have now been washed and stashed in pillow cases and I'm pretty sure that I have labelled them all?

Most of these are this years!! I have tamed them though, they all fit into the large blue bag ( except the last one which I will probably work on next anyway.

The boxes contain either spun yarn or processed fibre ready for spinning. I generally find that I can fit around 100gram of combed fibre on a box so when I feel like spinning I just grab whichever colour I fancy.

Tour de fleece.. the end is in sight!

Hi
for those who are fed up with the constant spinning updates.. it finishes on Sunday!!

this doesn't mean that I will stop spinning !

I may not post everyday !

but you don't get rid of me that easily :-)

Anyway, for today, back to the spinning wheel, dark Ryeland this time. In case anyone is wondering, I am spinning mainly to around a 4 ply weight ready for some hat/mitten knitting. This means that again I am looking for as many different shades as possible. I could use the dyes but at the moment that doesn't grab me but in the future I may over dye some of the light greys.

Tour de Fleece day nineteen

Hi
Just too sticky to spin, the fibre sticks to my hands and felts so just one spindle spun sample of mystery fleece to show :-)

and thats about it for day nineteen....although I did get most of the mystery fleece dried and packed away.

tour de fleece, day 18...are we at the end yet??

Hi, seriously, I am loving the fibre prep and spinning. I'm trying to decide which fleece to take on holiday with me in a few weeks time. I will be taking my wheel and hope to get some spinning done out in public as well as in the rented cottage.

So, today's update.

The light brown ryland is plyed and ready for a wash..

the grey ryland has dried and is in a pillow case so I emptied this out of its bag.

no idea what breed etc and the person who owns the sheep doesn't know either!! I'm also a little confused as to the true colour so will be test washing some of the locks.

 and this is the reverse....

I thought it was slightly felted but now I'm not so sure as it pulls apart without too much trouble.

the sample locks............

and after a quick bath....

Most of it is now on the line in the sun I'll have a play with the washed sample later today.

Tour de Fleece, day seventeen and an elephant.

Hi,

Spinning...not a lot, just continued with the light brown ryland and will hopefully get it plyed tomorrow.

Fibre prep.... working through the mixed bag of ryland.

Washing...

Dorset down sorted and partially washed, some of this fleece is really dry and coarse so may be discarded. BTW just in case you think I'm wasting money, these fleeces came at minimal cost from a friend who has a few coloured sheep as well as commercial flock, I just turn up and always walk away with more than expected. I have found that I'm much more picky about what I will keep compared with a few years ago.

I still occasionally buy from other sources but may have to curtail that due to space issues rather than financial!!

tomorrow I hope to wash the large grey ryland fleece and put the mystery caramel one into soak really not sure what colour it really is !

And that brings me to the elephant.....

outside Sheffield railway station are some interesting water features,

and two elephants.. this one

and somebody please make me a pair of trousers based on this one !!!

Tour de fleece day sixteen

Hi
About two month ago I bought a 500 gram bag of mixed brown ryeland fleece so todays spinning was the lightest of these browns.

I also washed the skeins of texel gray ryeland and put two more bucket of Shetland to soak. Sadly I have had to give up on the white shetland,as its too dirty and full of the smallest seeds. I will try and process the washed fleece but the rest is destined for the compost or garden.

Tour de Fleece day fifteen

Hi,

I finally managed to finish up the prepped grey Ryeland ( I still have to wash the rest) and plyed it. It is now gently dripping on the line.

This week I will try and wash my spun yarn and work out how much there is. I also need to prep the Manx/suffolk as that looks amazing but its just a sample to play with.

Tour de fleece days 12-14

Hi,

I've been spinning a little everyday between all the other stuff that life throws at you.

At the moment its back to the grey ryland to try and spin all the prepped fibre then most of the weekend will be fleece washing ( assuming that we get some sun) I really want to get all the fleeces washed and bagged.

So this is where I am at the moment.

However I do have some time off in the week so I may still get some more spun although the garden is such a mess that it may have to take priority :-)

Not the tour De fleece.

Hi

Probably no spinning today or tomorrow.

Today I have to go to Sheffield for the day, sadly work not pleasure. So I thought I would see what happens if I use my camera phone for the day and look for anything of interest.

Tomorrow it's yet another work commitment but this time in Nottingham although I suspect I will be totally brain dead by the end of it.

I haven't actually left Nottingham yet and I've already taken several photos so this may be one long post or two short ones, not sure yet.

Just walking up to the railway station I spotted these :-

And I quite like this pig :-)

I had a closer look at this doorway...

Then at the rail station there was art case, this time with work made from tin cans.

I've never been to Sheffield before so I'm looking forward to if they have any art around the station.

Tour de fleece day eleven

Hi,

 I spend today in Sheffield so not a lot of spinning, however I did spin abit more of the shetland then plyed.

When I went to collect the fleece, my friend said that pile over there is the shetland, its not very good so I don't think you will want to bother with it. I will be putting the rest of it into soak this weekend !!

Tour de Fleece day ten

Hi
this is a really short update as we have been out this evening and I'm about to go to bed, so very quickly.....this is where I am.

On the wheel.... dark shetland, spun very fine, not really sure why I've gone so fine with this, maybe it just seemed a good idea at the time!!

and I've quickly plyed the texel sample

I have to be up early tomorrow to catch a train but I will have my drop spindle in my bag as that may be the only spinning I manage to do.

Hopefully I will have sometime away from work next week so I can wash the yarn spun so far and see how much I end up with.

Tour De fleece day nine

Hi, today started with popping into town to sort out some train tickets so I took the opportunity to take a photo of the outside of Nottingham railway station this time. Looks wonderful after all the cleaning and renovations which mean that there is now a link between the rail and tram systems.

After short walk along the canal I headed back home to face the housework and even got to sweep out my workroom.

The big blue bag and the pillow slip all contain washed fleece which is labelled,  yes I am learning to be organised.

Spinning today is on the spindle and is Shetland,  the sheep name is phoenix :-)