Pushing on

After posting about my Tour de Fleece spinning I felt inspired to push on and ply the second skein.  As I filled the drop spindle each time I had wound the spun fibre into a centre pull ball using my nostepinde. Now I don't know if I'm missing a trick here but although I love the little nostepinde eggs I find it really tricky to do anything more than a 2 ply from them, especially with fine singles with a lot of twist. Chaos and yarn barf usually ensues. Long story short I wound the singles onto the bobbins from my wheel under a small amount of tension and then spindle plied from the built in lazy Kate. A somewhat convoluted process but less stressful than the alternative.
Having got the wheel out for this purpose it seemed a shame to put it away without doing any actual spinning. I already had one bobbin full of singles in a bright orange wool/silk blend which I bought from Old Maiden Aunt at UK knit camp around 3 years ago so it was high time I hunted out the rest of the fibre and did something with it. By the time my recording of the London-Surrey classic ran out yesterday (another BBC sport recording fail) I had three bobbins full and was ready to get plying. I should have the finished yarn to show you today or tomorrow.

Tour de Fleece

Whilst I've never formally signed up to the Tour de Fleece or set myself tour goals it does act as an annual kickstarter to get me spinning again. I was a bit slow off the mark, in fact the riders had had their first rest day by the time I got going, but I still managed to spin all and ply half of the braid of fibre by the time the peloton reached the Champs Elysée.

The fibre is 100 grams of 100% Southdown dyed by Megan as part of her 2012 sock club. I've ended up with a worsted spun, 3 ply sock yarn. Estimated yardage (once the second skein is plied) is around 320 metres.

Fleece Day 2010

Saturday was Fleece Day for the Oxford Guild of Weavers, Spinners, and Dyers at Stanton St. John. This was kind of a guild open day with demonstrations, fleece and yarn to buy, and lots of cake (which I totally failed to take any pictures of).



[Oxford Downs fleece]

I arrived early with Megan just as Kate and the other dyers were setting up the dyeing tent for demonstrations.



It was fascinating to see Megan's dyeing process. I've seen and worked with lots of the finished product so I was so interested to see how she gets those lovely results.







There were lots of lovely items on the sales tables. This hand felted alpaca cushion found its way home with me (after some dithering) as a house warming gift to myself. I can't tell you how soft it it. Not only is the cover made from felted alpaca but it's stuffed with alpaca fibre too.



Between eating cake and watching Megan and Kate's dyeing demos I got on with some spinning, answered questions, and taught three people to spin (or at least gave them a go on my wheel).



It turns out that Clare (from Bluestockings) is a natural. Megan and I will be continuing her fibre education/corruption by pushing a spindle and fibre on her in the very near future - I think we have another convert to the dark side.

Three bags full

Or at least a shoebox full.



Just under 400g of Navajo plied blue faced leicester which I finished up last night freeing me up for my Tour de Fleece challenge.

I'm still a pretty newbie spinner so the challenge I've set myself is to spin a batch of fibre into yarn with consistent wpi from beginning to end. I'm really pleased with the blf yarn but the thickness varies rather throughout and this does complicate matters when thinking about gauge for a knitting project.

I'm kicking off le premier etage by heading off to the Handweavers' Studio in north London to buy materials. One of the challenges of this year's tour is to spin from stash but I don't have a fibre stash (yet). Actually I'm planning not to acquire one (mutters of 'I should think so' from the boyfriend) and to spin what I have before acquiring more. Then it can go sit in my yarn stash!

After the HWS I'm heading to the other side of London to the Alternative Village Fete at National Theatre Square for the monthly iknit spinning morning (or rather afternoon) so I'd better go and get ready, especially as my plan for an early night was completely scuppered by Dorothy L. Sayers' fantastic Gaudy Night. Although you know it's a good read when you look up from your book before bedtime to realise it's one in the morning!