Fiber Arts Friday: Shave 'Em to Save 'Em, Leicester Longwool

Breed - Leicester Longwool

This was my first breed for the 2020 Tour de Fleece and my 11th SE2SE breed.

The staple is about 5 1/2 inches in a nicely prepared roving.

Thanks to the Tour de Fleece, not travelling, and being laid off due to COVID-19, I was able to spend more time than normal spinning, and therefore made some great progress on my Shave 'Em to Save 'Em project.

Before a bath...

The Leicester skein ties came loose during washing.... it's surprising how slippery this longwool is.  I retied the skein using feedbag twine.  I need to remember so I either change it or don't enter this skein into any competitions.

The Livestock Concervancy states that the Leicester Longwool was developed in the mid-1700's in England by Robert Bakewell and were in the Americas by the early 1800's.  The Leicester Longwool 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.

I greatly enjoyed spinning this breed and love the luster of the Leicester.  :-)

This breed roving was sourced from The Ross Farm in Pennsylvania.

Final Yarn: Leicester Longwool
Single Duration: June 27 - June 30, 2020
Ply Duration: July 1 - July 2, 2020
ounces: 4.25
yards: 144, 2-ply
wpi:  14
Ready to Submit:  July 4, 2020

SE2SE Status:
Total Breeds: 22
Breeds Sourced: 16
Breeds Spun: 11
Breeds To Go: 11

Months Remaining: 16 (12/31/21)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece 2020, part 6

Day 21 - Friday, July 17
Chiengora - Gold Tibetan Mastiff: 32 Minutes

I have some clockwise Gunnar singles that are unfinished.

I've been working on this drop spindle for a while (2019) and know that it does not have a continuous single.  So I wound each of them off by hand for a total of 22 grams or ~3/4 oz of prior-completed singles.

I will add these to the single I started spinning last Wednesday for a 3-ply yarn, hopefully to be completed on the last day of this Tour.

SE2SE - Shropshire: 39 Minutes

Podcasts/Timekeeping:

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

Total Time: 1 hour 11 minutes

Day 22 - Saturday, July 18
Chiengora - Gold Tibetan Mastiff: 36 Minutes

SE2SE - Shropshire: 92 Minutes

Podcasts/Timekeeping:

Wise Traditions by the Westin A Price Foundation - 1 3/4 episodes

Total Time: 2 hours 7 minutes

Day 23 - Sunday, July 19
Chiengora - Gold Tibetan Mastiff: 49 Minutes

Today is the last day of the Tour.  So I organized the Gold TM singles by weight and started plying them... heaviest (and theoretically longest) first.

The 5 small singles to the left and the large cake finished out at exactly the same time, so I have a tiny bit of the largest ball to the right remaining.... 48 yards of 3-ply.

SE2SE - Shropshire: 64 Minutes

I have a bit more of this single to complete, but I feel good about my progress on this yarn... 78 g spun, 36 g remain.

Podcasts/Timekeeping:

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

Total Time: 1 hour 53 minutes

1 yarns completed and 5 hrs 11 minutes of spinning for the week

For a total of 8 yarns completed and 31 hrs 7 minutes of spinning for the Tour.

Epilogue
For me, spinning is very much a solitary activity.  I use the time to listen to music, the news, podcasts, or just quietly think.

What I love about the Tour de Fleece, is that it makes the solitary activity of spinning more of a community event.  There's a daily (or so) check in with the team who are there to cheer each other on, to offer advice, and inspiration.

As an introvert, this is the best part.... I have the benefits of extroverting without spending the energy of being in a crowd.  And often the members of the team are located all across the country and sometimes in other countries, which adds to the richness of the experience.

My goal for this Tour was to spend at least an hour each day, dividing that between my two wheels.  I definitely achieved that goal.  :-D  I learned that like having two yarns going at the same time because helps to keep from getting bored, even if it might be harder to follow in a daily tracking blog post.

This has been the most productive Tour for me in quite some time and I made great progress on my SE2SE project.  Which I'll post more about later.

The 8 completed yarns constitute 646.9 yards and 495 grams (17.46 oz).

SE2SE: across the top, L-R

• Leicester Longwool:
• 144 yd, 2-ply, 14 wpi, 119 g / 4 1/4 oz
• Cotswold
• 111 yd, 2-ply, 10 wpi, 106 g / 3 3/4 oz
• Shropshire
• 78 grams in a single

Chiengora: across the bottom, L-R

• Mill-ends Roving, Tibetan Mastiff + Huacaya Alpaca + Shetland Wool:
• 105 yards, 2-ply, 13 wpi, 65 grams (2 1/4 oz)... 42 grams spun during this TdF
• Core Spun - Gold Tibetan Mastiff:
• 71 yards, variable wpi, 61 grams
• 50:50 Roving, Tibetan Mastiff + Huacaya Alpaca:
• 156 yards, 12 wpi, 88 grams, 2-ply
• Core Spun - Gold Tibetan Mastiff:
• 3.9 yards, variable wpi, 8 grams
• 8 yards, variable wpi, 16 grams, 2-ply
• Gold Tibetan Mastiff Only:
• 48 yards 12 wpi, 32 grams, 3-ply

Podcasts/Timekeeping:

While I did make progress on my Podcast backlog, I spent most of my spinning time listening to the news or music.

• Wise Traditions by the Westin A Price Foundation - I began this Tour with a 2 year and 1 week backlog of episodes.   I ended this tour with a 1 year and 6.5 month backlog.  So I gained about 6 months on the backlog.
• Professional Weaver -  I began this Tour with a 2 episode backlog, listened to 2 episodes, and finish with a 3 episode backlog.

The actual Tour de France is still planned to begin at the end of August.  So a second Tour de Fleece is  planned to follow the re-scheduled Tour de France, August 29-September 20.  I already have my fibers set aside for round two!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece 2020, part 3

Daily Progress:

First up for this year's TdF is the remainder of my mill-prepared Mill-Ends Roving (42g) of Huacaya+Shetland+Tibetan Mastiff (here's a shot of the bobbin prior to beginning the Tour de Fleece).

and 122g of Leicester Longwool for SE2SE (here's the starting point for this bobbin).

Day 1 - Saturday, June 27

Chiengora - Mill-ends Roving, TM+Huacaya+Shetland: 67 Minutes

The Mill-Ends Roving has a 2.75-inch staple.  This roving is loose and slippery due to the alpaca and Tibetan Mastiff, but it drafts quite nicely.

SE2SE - Leicester Longwool: 121 Minutes

The Leicester Longwool has nearly a 5-inch staple and is a glorious, shiny, white.

Podcasts/Timekeeping:
Since I tend to multitask and am interrupted frequently, I am marking my time this year by using a stop watch and listening to podcasts.

Wise Traditions by the Westin A Price Foundation - 2 1/2 episodes
Professional Weaver - 1 1/2 episodes
Total Time: 3 hrs 8 Minutes

I know my days won't always be this productive, but this is a great start to this year's Tour de Fleece!


Day 2 - Sunday, June 28

Chiengora - Mill-ends Roving, TM+Huacaya+Shetland: 32 Minutes

It's interesting to come back to this roving after the Leicester Longwool yesterday.  I was hoping to increase my adaptability by spinning different lengths on different wheels at the same time.  So while this felt very normal yesterday, it felt short this morning after spending so much time on the Longwool yesterday afternoon.

SE2SE - Leicester Longwool: 41 Minutes

Podcasts/Timekeeping:  Professional Weaver - 1/2 episode

Total Time:  1 hour 13 minutes

Day 3 - Monday, June 29

Chiengora - Mill-ends Roving, TM+Huacaya+Shetland: 29 Minutes, the single is finished.

SE2SE - Leicester Longwool: 48 Minutes

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

Total Time:  1 hour 17 minutes

Day 4 - Tuesday, June 30

Chiengora - Mill-ends Roving, TM+Huacaya+Shetland: 30 Minutes

I left the cake on the ball winder since about 1pm yesterday afternoon.  Then pulled it off the winder at 6am this morning, about 17 hours.

Notice how the center hole stays intact.

The center hole did collapse after spinning for a bit, but the center is still quite loose.  

This certainly isn't necessary, but I do think it helps plying from the same cake to go more smoothly.

SE2SE - Leicester Longwool: 37 Minutes

This single is now complete.

Podcasts/Timekeeping:  None

Total Time:  1 hr 7 minutes

Day 5 - Wednesday, July 1

Chiengora - Mill-ends Roving, TM+Huacaya+Shetland: 29 Minutes

I finished plying this yarn.

105 yards were wound off.  I'm looking forward to seeing this yarn after a bath.

SE2SE - Leicester Longwool: 32 Minutes

I began plying this morning.

Podcasts/Timekeeping: none

Total Time: 1 hour 1 minute

Day 6 - Thursday, July 2

Chiengora - TM+Huacaya: 33 Minutes

I began my second chiengora blend this morning.  This is 50:50 Black Tibetan Mastiff + Medium Silver Grey Huacaya Alpaca.  Both animals are from our farm.

The staple is a nice 2.5 inches.

The drafted roving is quite slippery.  This is to be expected since both Tibetan Mastiff and Huacaya Alpaca are slippery on their own.

So I'm starting out slowly and have reverted to my typical thin gauge yarn.

It's interesting how different this roving is from the mill-ends from earlier this week, which is the same blend but also has some Shetland Wool in the mix.

SE2SE - Leicester Longwool: 39 Minutes

I finished plying this sample today.

I really like these Longwool sheep.

Podcasts/Timekeeping: none

Total Time: 1 hr 12 minutes

2 yarns completed and 8 hrs 53 minutes of spinning for the week

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!