TDF Day 2

Hi

I forgot to say in last nights blog, I'm trying to make a point of listening to podcasts and audiobook whilst spinning instead of bingeing on stuff on Amazon Prime! 

So far I'm listening to Wednesday's Child by Peter Robinson whist spinning and generally pottering round the house.

Bobbin no 4 on the wheel earlier this morning, I have now plyed the bobbins into 2 skeins of  which I think will be 2ply DK after washing. I will post at the end, once I've had a major wash and measure session as to the exact details. As I said, this is not the softest yarn but it will be used.

Next up is some Jacob, aiming  for a 4 ply this time :-)

Have a good evening everybody, safe spinning 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 - homework and training

Hi,

First a note to anyone who doesn't spin or knit. This blog may get a little boring for you over the next couple of months.

For everyone else.....

The TDF prep continues but the weather has turned and I'm waiting for it to get dry again before washing any more fleece. I did manage to wash the Jacob and most of the zwartbles last week and spun a sample of each to see how they behave.

It's looking promising :-) the zwartbles is soft and very dark so will be useful in my fairisle knitting when I pick that up again. the same with the Jacob which, as you can see, is a very light grey.

I spun up a couple of skeins of the BFL/Swaledale mule and they are waiting for a wash and soak.

Both skeins are around 115 g and will probably be dyed over the summer so that I have some nice and easy hat/mitten knitting for when we are away. If the campsites reopen and things have settled down , we plan to get back in the van for some more adventures.

On the wheel is the last of the dark Shetland, at least I think it's the last ! Every time I get to the end of a bag I discover another :-)

In the evenings I have been prepping fibre for the start of the TDF, so far Jacob, Shetland, Portland, Balwen x texel . I'm trying to have a around 120g of each prepared either on the combs or the drum carder. I don't have a specific amount as a target for the TDF, I'm just aiming to spin every day.

Other than that I've been busy with housework and starting to sift through years of accumulated work related stuff that I need to shred, maybe not a huge amount but enough to keep me busy for a while. I'm still baking, still losing the odd pound in weight, still binge watching stuff whilst spinning etc.

My terrible mandolin playing is probably driving the neighbours crazy! but check out the handwoven strap :-) and ignore the background of bags of fleece.

 And I may have found out why we no longer get many birds in the garden, someone thinks he's found a new dinner table.

That's about it for this weeks round up, take care everyone, speak soon xx

Its June and time to prepare !! Tour de Fleece is getting closer.

Even though things are a little different this year and the Tour de France has been cancelled, the Tour de Fleece , a major spinning event in my calendar is still going ahead.

Never heard of it? the event is open to all spinners no matter how experienced and is hosted on Ravelry. These days many facebook groups also take part. Challenges are set for those who want to push themselves, rest days for those who want to take a breather. The usually starts and finishes on the Tour de France dates and many spinners watch the race whilst spinning. A major difference this year is that the event will have two parts as it will resume when the postponed Tour de France takes place in September ( obviously this may still change)

 Many spinners set their own challenge, anything from spin every day, learn and master a new technique to spinning  a large quantity for a jumper.

This year the dates are 27 June through to 19 July so a 3 week period of spinning every day for me. Historically I have spun at festivals for at least two of these weekend so this year will be different. I may have to challenge myself as to where to spin that I can reach on foot from where I live. The drop spindles may have to get some exercise.

                                                         TDF spinning 2019

I first took part in this in 2010 !! you can find posts for the previouse events here , some years I was very productive as you can see. Looking back, it looks like although I did spin last year. I didn't document it, In fact I didn't post much on this blog last year for various reasons.

So, what am I doing at the moment? I'm getting prepared, washing fleece, prepping fleece, emptying bobbins of oddments that have been hanging around, still spinning some bits as I go. I intend to document everyday during TDF, we will see how that goes :-)

Garden prep station 

Two more bags of fleece arrived this week and I suspect that these may be the last for the time being. Not whole fleeces just a kilo or so of a nice zwartbles and 500 gm Jacob which makes up an order that was dispatched incorrectly.

I have prepped around 200gm of the BFL cross purchased a couple of weeks ago and will probably spin it up over the coming week

.

All of this helps build my stock of yarn up for knitting and the occasional sale, plus keeps me out of trouble ( apparently)