Friday, July 10, 2020

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece 2020, part 4

Day 7 - Friday, July 3
Chiengora - TM+Huacaya: 32 Minutes


SE2SE - Cotswold: 57 Minutes

Starting a new yarn for the SE2SE project this morning, I decided to continue with the longwool sheep so I can keep working on adaptability.... going back and forth between 5 inches of the long wool and 2.5 inches of the TM+Alpaca blend on two different wheels is good practice...


... and boy, I don't know if there's anything more opposite than Cotswold and Tibetan Mastiff... This Cotswold is very toothy, where the TM+Alpaca is very slippery.  So much that the outside of the Cotswold roving bump is felted.  I'm hoping that this improves as I move to the inner layers of the bump, but I have tossed out several sections so far.  :-(

Podcasts/Timekeeping:
Wise Traditions by the Westin A Price Foundation - 1/2 + 3/4 episodes

Total Time: 1 hr 29 minutes


Day 8 - Saturday, July 4
Chiengora - TM+Huacaya: 43 Minutes


SE2SE - Cotswold: 111+27 Minutes

I was trying to get the Cotswold single completed today, so I could start plying after the challenge tomorrow, but it's just not quite going to happen.


Then I got a second wind after dinner and finished this single and wound it off.


Podcasts/Timekeeping:

Wise Traditions by the Westin A Price Foundation - 2 episodes

Total Time: 3 hr 1 minute


Day 9 - Sunday, July 5 - Challenge
Chiengora - Gold Tibetan Mastiff: 69 Minutes

Normally I try drop spindling on the fly, or ignore the Challenge Days all together.  But this year, I have time during the day and space in my mind.  So I decided to do it.

We had a team member pull together some suggestions:
  • First Challenge = The One Mountain Challenge.  Try a Single-step Textured Yarn, such as wolf yarn, thick-n-think, core spun, spiral, pigtails, or coils.
  • The second Challenge Day = The Mountain Range Challenge.  This time is to try a Multi-step Textured Yarn, such as silk glazing, crep, bullion, boucle, coils, and pigtails.
I didn't know what some of these were, so I went to YouTube:


I decided to do a core spun yarn for the first day and coils for the second day.  The Silk Glazing video shows how to do both.

I have wanted to do a core spun yarn for quite some time and I have always thought that coils were interesting, but have never tried making either.


I'm using some left-over carded Gold Tibetan Mastiff from my Twined Mittens project and a cotton twine as the core.

Typically I am spinning for a specific project.  So it's been a long time since I was just spinning to learn a technique.

It's quite freeing to be spinning and not caring too much about the final yarn.  This feeling reminds of painting with oils.  I have very few things in my life where the end result is less important than the process.  Painting pictures was one of those things.

This yarn certainly looks like a mess. lol


But looks much better after being wound off.


and even better once skeined.


I am struck by how soft this yarn is.

I've been making a lot of 2-ply recently, which is my least favorite.  I generally prefer 3-plies and singles because they are smoother yarns.  But this core spun is quite interesting.  I'll have to play around with this technique more.

I started with 111g (including the bag) and finished with 73 g.... so this yarn took 38 g of TM to make a 61 grams and 71 yards of varying gauge core-spun yarn.

I also spent about 10 minutes on my TM+Huacaya blend after other weekend projects were finished.


Podcasts/Timekeeping:

Wise Traditions by the Westin A Price Foundation - 1 episode

Total Time: 1 hr 19 minutes


Day 10 - Monday, July 6 - Rest
I am so enjoying this Tour de Fleece.  It's wonderful being able to spend more time than usual working on this skill.

I am especially enjoying my TM+Huacaya roving, so I spent some time with it today, even though it is supposed to be a rest day.


Podcasts/Timekeeping: None

Total Time: 32 minutes



Day 11 - Tuesday, July 7
Chiengora - TM+Huacaya: 30 Minutes


SE2SE - Cotswold: 35 Minutes

I began plying the Cotswold singles finished on Day 8.


Podcasts/Timekeeping:

Wise Traditions by the Westin A Price Foundation - 1/2 episode

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes


Day 12 - Wednesday, July 8
Chiengora - TM+Huacaya: 34 Minutes

I think I have a couple more days until this single is completed.


I've been containing my rovings in a lovely yarn bowl.


It helps to keep them from picking up any extra dog hair or lint and looks beautiful waiting for the next day.


This bowl was a gift from a friend and made by a local potter.  Isn't it pretty?

SE2SE - Cotswold: 35 Minutes

I finished plying the Cotswold this afternoon, which went quite smoothly.



Podcasts/Timekeeping:
Wise Traditions by the Westin A Price Foundation - 1 episode

Total Time: 1 hour 9 minutes


Day 13 - Thursday, July 9
Chiengora - TM+Huacaya: 34 Minutes


SE2SE - Shropshire: 30 Minutes

I began the Shropshire today.  Very fun and spongy.


Podcasts/Timekeeping: none

Total Time: 1 hour 4 minutes


Totals for the Week:

2 yarns completed and 9 hrs 39 minutes of spinning for the week.

For a total of 4 yarns completed and 18 hrs and 32 minutes of spinning in this tour thus far.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

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