Fiber Arts Friday: Watchman Hat, part 3 - Even More Yarn

I received the extra yarn for Hubba's Improvised Watchman Hat.  Hooray!

Something isn't right though.

My existing orange is Mandarin.  The new orange is Carrot.  Both are Lot # 002.  grrr.

In going back to the transaction, the seller was clear that this yarn was Carrot, so the color difference is completely my fault.

However, I come from an industry where lot numbers are always unique... just like serial numbers.  So I am annoyed that the lot numbers are not unique with this brand.

Fortunately, there was one more option for more yarn... especially since I am now making this hat larger.

This is a much better color match.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday?

Fiber Arts Friday: Shave 'Em to Save 'Em, Jacob-American

Jacob - For the SE2SE initiative, I focused on sourcing roving as locally as possible first.

This roving was sourced from Aspen Kid, who is an advocate for wool, rare breeds, and our local Fiber Shed.

I actually purchased four different rovings from her, which you'll see later.  This wool came from sheep that live in my zip code.

As with the Navajo-Churro, I have spun Jacob before because they are on our sheep short list.

I love Jacob fleece and this sample was no exception.

This is a beautiful mill-prepared roving

with a very nice 3-inch staple.

I remember this being lovely to spin, but wow it's so much nicer to spin than I remember.... there is a reason this breed is on our short list.  ;-)

The Jacob sheep are purported to be decedents of sheep kept by Jacob, son-in-law of Laban, as described in the Book of Genesis, though there is no genetic evidence supporting this story.

From the Livestock Conservancy:  The Jacob sheep came to North America in the mid-1900's.

They are listed as Threatened, meaning that fewer than 1000 sheep are registered in the US each year and that the estimated global population is less than 5000.

I was wondering why The Livestock Conservancy was calling this breed Jacob-American instead of just Jacob, so according to the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook, there are two varieties of Jacob Sheep:

• American - which tend to be smaller and have been bred primarily for fleece characteristics 
• British - which tend to be larger and have been bred primarily for meat production

I enjoyed spinning this sample.  The wool has a wonderful bouncy characteristic which has me thinking about hats and cabled sweaters.

As I've mentioned before, it feels good knowing that I am able to support a local conservation breeder of rare breed livestock.  :-)

Final Yarn: Jacob-American
Single Duration: July 13 - August 3, 2019
Ply Duration: August 3
ounces: 3 7/8
yards: 213, 2-ply
wpi:  12
Source: Mill-prepared roving
Ready to Submit:  August 9, 2019

SE2SE Status:
Total Breeds: 22
Breeds Sourced: 11
Breeds Spun: 4
Breeds To Go: 18

Months Remaining: 28 (12/31/21)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: County Fair 2019, part 2

I did enter 4 items into the county fair, but not all were in my plan.

Top to Bottom:  Clun Forest, Navajo-Churro,
Black Welsh Mountain, Tibetan Mastiff,
Twined Tibetan Mastiff Mittens

The Twined Mittens are here.

The Copperbranch Shawl is not.  It's been too hot to work on something this large, and it's too big to travel with now, so it has had no work in the last several weeks.

The Clun Forest yarn is here, along with Navajo-Churro and Black Welsh Mountain... all of which were grown in Colorado.

My photo is not here.  I had it printed... twice.  It's not as good as I initially thought, so it was not entered.

There are four items are in two classes.  The Clun Forest, Navajo-Churro, and Black Welsh Mountain will be competing against each other in the same Plied Wool class.  The Tibetan Mastiff Yarn and Twined Mittens are a single entry for the Non-Woven Project using Handspun Yarn class.... and everything is in the Spinning and Weaving Department.

Everything was dropped off on Tuesday evening.  The judging occurred on Wednesday, and the Fair opened to the public on Friday.

As usual, Hubba and I went over on Friday evening.

The display is two glass cabinets, a wall, and a (new) free-standing frame.

The competition is fierce... our county has an active guild and is home to both Interweave Press and the Estes Park Wool Market.  Which makes any recognition I receive all the more special.

So I am very excited that my mittens were awarded Reserve Grand Champion!

Tibetan Mastiff Twined-knit Mittens

This means that they won 1st place in the Non-Woven class, against 6 other gorgeous entries, then won Champion of the Spinning Section, then Second place to the Grand Champion of the entire Spinning and Weaving Department.

The Grand Champion was a gorgeous, finely spun yarn with pearl beads.

It appears that each of my yarns also won ribbons.... I can't wait to see the judge's comments.  As usual, I am primarily interested in the judges comments.

Black Welsh Mountain

Clun Forest - I feel like the red ribbon was
left in the cabinet by mistake, since the
BWM also has a red ribbon

Navajo-Churro

... Now that I have everything at home, there wasn't much in the way of comments, but the judge did rank my skeins in the same order that I did.

L-R: Clun Forest, Black Welsh Mountain, Navajo-Churro

I don't know why there are two 2nd places, but the Clun Forest was awarded one more point than the Black Welsh Mountain.  All three of these skeins were entered in the same class and as far as I can tell, they were also judged in the same class.

Tibetan Mastiff Twined Mittens and Yarn Sample

So not only did my mittens win Reserve-Grand Champion, and a special award from Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins (one of my favorite local yarn shops).... they received a perfect score!

Holy Cow!! I know they're not perfect, but wow.... this is my first perfect score.

Now I really have to decide what to do next.  ;-)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Shave 'Em to Save 'Em, Black Welsh Mountain

copyright: Desert Weyr

Black Welsh Mountain - At first glance, I'm really looking forward to spinning this wool.  The preparation is spongy without the immediate feel of lanolin and feels very consistent.

This is a naturally Black Fleece... with a generous 3-inch staple length.

There was a small amount of VM, that came out during the spinning process.

I started the Tour de Fleece with one single complete and 1 7/8oz remaining of this sample.

My thoughts while spinning this breed is that it would make a lovely felted pea coat, and also be nice in socks.  I love the natural black color.

From the Livestock Conservancy:  The Black Welsh Mountain sheep is the only completely black sheep breed from England and first came to the US in the 1970's.  The Black Welsh Mountain is listed as Threatened, meaning that fewer than 1000 sheep are registered in the US each year and that the estimated global population is less than 5000.

This roving was sourced locally from Desert Weyr.  I've mentioned before, it feels good knowing that I am able to support a Colorado breeder of rare livestock.  :-)

Final Yarn: Black Welsh Mountain
Single Duration: June 23 - July 5, 2019
Ply Duration: July 5 - July 13, 2019
Ready to Submit: July 20, 2019
ounces: 4 7/8 oz
yards:256, 2-ply
wpi:  12
Source: Mill-prepared roving

SE2SE Status:
Total Breeds: 22
Breeds Sourced: 11
Breeds Spun: 3
Breeds To Go: 19

Months Remaining: 28

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Resting

I restarted my yoga practice about a month ago.

I wasn't planning on writing about it here, at least not for a while.  Mostly because I wanted to make sure it was, in fact, re-started.  But also because some things just need to stay private.

Anyway, I was talking with the studio owner recently about my day job and travel schedule and told her how happy I was to have the Sunday afternoon class.

She commented that as a project manager, I probably accomplish a lot more than most people.... I had to agree, but then told her the down-side is that I don't rest very well.

I have always been goal-oriented, which means I have always been very busy... learning and working toward my goals.  The flip side of this is that I am an introvert, and need quiet time to recover.  My day job as a project manager is counter to my needs as an introvert.  So I most often recharge by spinning, knitting, or brushing my dogs.... but sometimes I need to truly check out, which I did last weekend and cancelled all of our plans with others.

I spent the weekend catching up on farm chores, brushing dogs, spinning yarn, learning how to use my new Inkle Loom, knitting, listening to podcasts, and watching Star Wars.  Hubba and I made a quick trip to the Farmers' Market and to see my entries at the County Fair, but otherwise I checked out.  He went to spend some time with his friends and I took a nap.

I took a nap, not because I was exhausted and could not move any more, which is my usual.  No.  I took a nap because my brain needed a break.  I stopped what I was doing, went to the bedroom, and took a nap... and I did not feel bad about not accomplishing my next micro-goal.

I credit my month of yoga practice with helping me take a mental break... a mental break that I hope to take more frequently.

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece, 2019 - Epilogue

As I discussed last time, I did a crazy thing and joined two teams.... Chiengora and SE2SE.

Since I was on the road for most of this tour, I decided to do a weekly summary.... hopefully you haven't missed my daily progress log.  ;-)

Week 1:  July 6 - July 12

7 days of spinning.

I had more time than I expected for spinning before the TdF started, so I had finished the Black Welsh Mountain singles prior to the Tour and I plied all but 1/4 oz this week for SE2SE.

Plied Black Welsh Mountain

I also spent at least 15 minutes each day spindling Tibetan Mastiff.

Friday, July 12th was the first Challenge Day.  I didn't have any specific challenges planned for this year, so I spent a little time doing free-spindling.  I'm primarily a park-and-draft spindler, so I would like to practice this more... of course my yarn is nicer when I park-and-draft.  ;-)

1/8 oz of Tibetan Mastiff

Progress as of Friday: July 12:
Tibetan Mastiff (TM): 1/8 oz
Black Welsh Mountain (BWM): 5 oz plied
Time Spent: 7 days of spinning at least 15 minutes each
Challenge: 1 completed


Week 2:  July 13 - July 19

6 days of spinning.

Tuesday, July 16th was the first Rest Day, which I did not observe.  I had two very long work days planned, and there was a high risk I wasn't going to be able to spin on these days.  But I was able to spin every day this week, and had a couple of days that were closer to 30 minutes.

As a result, I added 3/8 oz to my Tibetan Mastiff spindle.

1/2 oz of Tibetan Mastiff

After completing the Black Welsh Mountain from last week, I started spinning my Jacob-American sample on Saturday and was able to complete 7/8 oz.

7/8 oz of Jacob-American

Progress as of Friday, July 19:
Tibetan Mastiff (TM): +3/8 = 1/2 oz
Black Welsh Mountain (BWM):  4 7/8 oz plied, washed and dried
Jacob-American:  7/8 oz
Challenges: 1 completed
Rest Days: not observed
Days Missed:  0 (net +1)


Week 3:  July 20 - July 26

6 days of spinning.

Monday, July 22nd was the second Rest Day. - which I did observe

Thursday, July 25th was the second Challenge Day - I did not intend to observe, but Ruby the cat was so excited to have me home that she rubbed her face all over my face and arms while I was spindling, so I think that counts.  ;-)

I also worked a little on the Jacob I started the week before.


Week 4:  July 27 - July 28

2 days of spinning.

I was out of town for a family event over the last 2 days of the tour.  I thought I might be able to get some quiet spinning time in before everyone else work up, but there are a lot of earlier risers in my extended family.  :-)

So I completed my 15 minutes each day... and one of the littlest cousins knew what I was doing.  He told me where he learned about it, but did not want to try it.  :-)

Final Tally:

The Tour Guidelines were::

• Spin every day the Tour rides:  Saturday, July 6 through Sunday, July 28
• Days of Rest:  Tuesday, July 16 and Monday, July 22
• Challenge Days:  Wednesday, July 12 and Wednesday, July 25

My Goals were:

• Spin every day the Tour rides for at least 15 minutes - complete +1
• Make progress on both projects - complete
• No challenges were planned - one completed

3/4 oz Tibet Mastiff

Black Welsh Mountain: plied 4 7/8 oz

Jacob American 2 7/8 oz

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!