Tour de Fleece Day 9

Day 9! (stage 8 - I'm a little confused)

July 11
Time 2 hours spinning




Finished the first 4.5 oz batt from Spincerely's Merino/Bamboo/Nylon roving.

I'm not quite sure what happened but my ball winder was not cooperating and I took my own spill (3 times) I spent two hours (not counting above) emptying the bobbin! What a mess. I wish I could have just fixed it without spending so much time being frustrated. You know it's not like I spent two hours handling something course or worse smelly. This was soft and smooth but still I couldn't help thinking that I could be plying right now!


I spent two hours doing fiber prep which I know doesn't count but it made me happy!

Tour de Fleece Fiber Prep

Color Blending on English combs. 

Since I don't have a hackle and I needed to blend some of these intense colors that Spincerely dyed for me to my specifications - I had alwasy intended to blend them but on a drum carder with naturally colored fibers.  I was playing with my diz and thinking that I would much rather have a blend that would produce a more worsted vs. woolen yarn so I went up to my studio and got out my deadly English Combs.


I lashed on several of the warm colors, brought the ends down to a point.  Jenny Bakriges always refered to this as a goats beard.  Pocked it through one of the larger slots in my diz. and . . .

gradually pulled the fibers through alternating my hand position when pulling from top to bottom to side to side.

I then made a basketful of pretty little bird nests.

Can't wait to start spinning this!  I believe Monday is a day of rest for the race so I'll start in on this basket on Tuesday.  If I can hold off on testing one . . .

Tour de Fleece Day 8

Team Phat
July 10, Day 8
Time spinning 3.25 hours


Holy Phat Fiber, Batman!


First off [Spincerely](/people/Spincerely) and I spun together while watching the Tour de France in her living room :)  Where I did 15 minutes on my drop spindle.  This is the first time I have ever seen Tour de France ever!


Then Spincerely gave me another early birthday present - more of her Spincerely Natural organic line!    Yum! and she also gave me . . . .





My very first, very own Phat Fiber Box!  Ok [Phatfiberlady](/people/PhatFiberlady) I'm hooked!


Then I went next door and spun for two hours while hanging out with my dad with the brand new fiber I just bought from Spincerely - 60% sw merino/30% bamboo/10% nylon.   I bought the entire 1++ lbs if this "to be named" color way.  I'm hoping to come up with a creative name for it to help her out.  I figured if I bought it all, that would buy me some more time!  I love that there are so many different ways to spin a space dyed roving - this time I decided it would be fun to use the method that [PhatFiberLady] (person) used in her day 1 video.  I didn't strip down the little sections as much as I typically do a long draw and I get mesmerized watching the fibers fall into the drafting triangle - but it is a cool technique.




It will end up being a two ply yarn that I will likely weave with.  Spincerely would really like to see it become a sweater but I don't thing that is likely.



Our dad came back with me to Spincerely's house where he watched me spin some more and Spincerely joined in when she wasn't preparing dinner.  When I called to let him know I was back in my home state later that evening he made a point to tell me how much he enjoyed watching us spin together.


Finally, when I got back home I was ecstatic to find my purchase from Natchwoolie - Which was just as beautiful as I anticipated.





All but the bamboo mix will be remaining in it's packaging and untouched until my Thursday River Spinners guild meeting where I plan to show off all of it's fibery goodness and make everyone drool.  The only problem with this is I will create more competition in getting future  Phat Fiber boxes.


It was an excellent day on the Tour!  Hope it was for you too!


Go Team Phat!

Tour de Fleece Day 7

Team Phat
July 9, Day 7
Time spinning 5 minutes

Busy busy day - I hope Friday was the least amount of spinning I will do during the entire Tour - but so worth it - after a full day of work  I drove to meet Spincerely pick her up and go see Jack Johnson! How awesome is that. I met her at Subways and that is where I fit in 10 minutes of spindle spinning. Same llama fiber dyed by Spincerely

I found my wrist distaff the other day when I was looking for my wpi tool. I’m sure it is in a bag with a project somewhere… .

Looking forward to getting caught up on reading teammate’s progress!

Go Team Phat!

Tour de Fleece Day 6

Team Phat
July 8, Day 6
Time spinning 2 hours

Bobbin is almost full.

 

Go Team Phat!