Compare and Contrast

 I realised the other day that I tend to use the same half dozen or so hat patterns whilst we are travelling and restrict the amount of yarn packed in the van. Consequently many of the recent hats are simply dark brown and white as the yarn has been Wensleydale/Zwartble and white Shetland.

On our last trip I had some slightly thicker yarn spun during Tour de Fleece, Light grey Jacob,  darker grey and white Ryeland with me and the same pattern.

I'm now trying to decide which version I like best .I still have to wash and block the grey version but having tried both of them on I do like it.

                                                                      Which do you prefer ? 

Different yarn, different needle size, same pattern, I may have to try this again on our next trip.

Day 21 and 22, The end of Tour de Fleece 2026

 That's it, spinning done . I'm going to give it a break for a few days, even though its tempting to continue we have other things in the pipeline over the next week or so.

Therefore I declare the bag FULL.

The final bobbin was spun at guild yesterday.

And plied last night.

So, how much did I spin? well it came in at a similar amount to last year 1.706 Kilo or  3.7 lbs Not too shabby and at least I now have yarn to knit with when we return to Scotland later in the year. For now I'm going to play catch up on my stitching and lace making.

We have Texel, dyed Texel, Shetland, whiteface woodland, ryeland (white and coloured) Romney, wensleydale x zwartble, falkland polworth, wool from world of wool, unknown breed and border leicester cross. I don't think I've missed any out.

Well done to anyone else taking part and I hope to do the same next year as I have for the last 15/16 years.

Tour de fleece day fourteen and week two round up.

 Somehow its already the end of week two, how did that happen? Today I've been rewinding and labelling skeins from this week now they are dry.

The good news is that the kitchen cupboards are back on the wall in spite of their age and we have some new lighting as well.

This weeks spinning, three texel skeins and one zwartblexwensleydale. I then popped out for coffee and finally finished the first bobbin of the dyed polworth.

and started on the next one, I'm really hoping to finish this before the the tour finishes.

Once how I did a little house work (haha) then finished up spinning the Shetland. This was an oddment so there is around 40gm on each bobbin. This is a useful amount for a hat with another yarn as the background colour.

Plans for tomorrow are a little different but I will try and ply the Shetland if I get time.

Tour de Fleece days ten and eleven

 Very quick update today as I've been super busy sorting out the crates of stuff stashed in the house, I did take my wheel to the knit group  but forgot to take any photos . I did, however, spin up the remainder of the wensleydale x zartble and another 100gm of texel. Both skeins have now been plied and washed.

Tour de Fleece days eight and nine.

 Its been a busy weekend so I've rolled both days spinning into one post. We have had to empty the camper ready for its service/mot/hab check so now I don't just have a lounge full of the kitchen contents but a spare bedroom full of the van contents as well

Fortunately I've got away (so far) with just one box of stuff in my workroom so at least I can still retreat here when needed.

I've also started on the list of replacing bits and pieces that have come to the end of their life, the kettle that won't stay open when filling, the buckets with broken handles etc.

Anyway, back to the spinning.

Saturday, 50 gm wensleydale x zwartble, lovely dark brown fibre that  I have used many times in my knitting. I think that this is the last of the fleece that I bought a couple of years ago.

I escaped for a couple of hours in the afternoon, grabbed a coffee at the castle and spun an unknown amount of an unknown fibre.

Today I've had a routine of spin a bobbin then spend time cleaning out a kitchen cupboard which resulted in another 200 gm of the never ending texel.

Hopefully I'll get this washed and on the line tomorrow before I head out to knit group.

TDF Day 21 and 22, over and out !

 I've spent the last two days washing yarn, dying yarn, labelling yarn as well as finishing my knitting. 

Result is that I declare 2024 TDF well and truly over for me. All bobbins empty and fibre bags waiting to be refilled .

Its been fun but I need to pick up my lace making and embroidery for a few days.

Thanks to everyone who has commented either here or on Facebook, blog posts will return to the usual weekly round up.

TDF Day 17 Is this shetland worth saving and wash day.

 As the sun briefly made an appearance I decided to get all the TDF spinning washed and on the line, three of the skeins had a detour via the dyepot.

Once dry I bought them in and here they are showing just how much difference washing yarn can make to the original yardage. They are all hanging from a pole across a bookcase and all the skeins were made on my Amish style swift on the same settings.

The blue skeins are LLeyn, the green is NCM, the four cream ones are Ryeland, the white one is bowmont and the black at the end is the wensleydale cross. You can see a very dramatic difference in length between the green and the cream ones.

This is the Shetland that I'm not sure whether to rescue, It was purchased by a friend in 2019 and passed on to me around 2021 as he felt that he wasn't going to bother with it. I've washed some of it, it looks like it has a natural break/rise in places and may need another wash depending on how sticky it is.

After washing, look at those curls, I think that this may take some time to process :-)

I'm going to comb some then spin a sample to see what I think.

Verdict, spins up soft but a lot of effort for a little fibre, one for the 'life's too short' pile I'm afraid.

Days 15 & 16 and a dragon

 Busy weekend so not a lot of spinning, watched a festival parade in one of our inner city areas.

We also attended a steam punk weekend at Papplewick Pumping station, we didn't dress up but most other people did.

The fleet was in on the fish pond !

the fire was out in the boiler

and plenty of chances to shop.

Back to the spinning, over the weekend I managed to spin another bobbin of the wensleydale x zwartble and ply them ready for washing.

Today (day 17 Monday) should be a rest day so with the sun shinning I'm going to head downstairs and wash the yarn and maybe some fleece.

Day 12 still spinning white yarn :-)

                                                                I'll keep this short,

                                                              LLeyn plyed   check

                                            wensleydale/zwartble first bobbin spun check

 

                                 skeins labelled so I can tell which white ones are which   check

It seems that all the local summer fetes and festivals are this weekend coming, I'm hoping to get to a couple of them on Saturday and fingers crossed for a steam punk event on Sunday. Of course this will only work if it stops RAINNING !!! 

TDF Day 11, back in the land of the living

 I spent most of Monday, day 10 , asleep so it was a well timed rest day. My cold seems to be just that, a summer cold., fortunately as I'm feeling a lot better and actually felt like spinning on Tuesday.

I 've now got four bobbins of Lleyn lined up ready to ply.

I'm also making a start on the remnants of the Wensleydale x Zwartbles that I found in the washed fleece bag. Just 100gm of this but it makes a change.

Plans for today, day 12?  probably just to ply the lleyn but we will see what happens.