Fiber Arts Friday: Save Our Sheep Sweater, part 18

Since last time I have Kitchener'd the armpits closed and sewed on the buttons,... and, on the night before we got our home back after the major remodel, this is Complete!

AND now that it is complete, I think it is important to capture how large an achievement this is:

• This sweater is 100% Hand-spun by me from Rare-Breed, American Wool.  Some of which was grown very close to my home.
• Each of these yarns are their natural color.  Nothing is dyed.
• I began spinning the yarn used in this sweater in April 2019. 
• I started thinking seriously about this sweater in early-January 2022.
• Cast-on in late-February 2022.
• Final Bind-off and Finishing happened in late March 2023.

With four urgent projects (Wavy Scarf, Black Hat, Baker's Hat, Twisted Rib Stocking Cap), a little bit of time-out for one hot summer, finishing out the other WIPs (Summer Cardi, New Normal Socks, Clown Fish Socks, Very Berry Socks, Brown Socks) and Two Tours de Fleece interfering with knitting progress over the last year, I'm very pleased with this sweater.

Especially when considering at early February last year, I was just restarting regular knitting after moving our farm and getting our former home ready for sale...  so I would say that this last year has been quite productive.

So my Save our Sheep Sweater has been 4 years in the making.  :-)

There are several mistakes and I could have made the button holes 2 stitches instead of 3.  The final result is rustic and I love it!  This is my first, fully-hand-spun, sweater and I love it!  I expect it will get lots of wearing for years to come.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Save Our Sheep Sweater, part 17

Well, I thought I might get this project completed under the 1 year of knitting mark, which happened toward the end of February... but I avoided weaving in the ends and re-doing the Button Band Bind-off for two long.

Finally on a few cool days in mid-March, I decided it was time to get them finished.... and both were not terrible.

Weaving in ends is tedious and took a few sessions, as expected.  Redoing the Button Band went much easier than I expected.

I replaced the "standard" bind-off with the Simple Stretchy Bind-off as described in this video.

Pulling out the Bind-off was surprisingly easy...

With the new Button Band Bind-off and much less bunched-up looking...

Remaining now are sewing on buttons and Kitchenering the Armpits closed.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!!

Fiber Arts Friday: Save Our Sheep Sweater, part 16

Since last time when I completed the sleeves, I have embarked upon my very first Button Band.

Picking up the stitches was easier than I expected.

It's a bit bunched up in this photo, but I'm very happy that my existing long circular needle is long enough for this task.

The pattern instruction was to pick up and knit the first row in one step, but I wanted to err on the cautious side and understand why they wanted a multiple of 6 stitches first.

The reason is that this Button Band is ribbed in 4x2 like the sleeves.  I decided to add 4 stitches so that the rib would be the same at the bottom on both sides, and therefore should also match as the sweater is buttoned up.

At this point, I have the Navajo Line completed as well as the next few rows.  I am ready to make the Button Holes, but first I need to confirm the hole size required...

In comparing the button options I selected earlier in this project, I've decided on the bottom one.  It's a slightly oval button made from Olive Wood and stained in a Walnut finish.

Button Hole Help:

I am using Shropshire for the Button Band, and I love working with it.  It has a nice amount of stretch and softness.

Due to the stretch of the Shropshire, I decided that I will make the button hole only 3 (instead of 4) stitches wide...

And the Button Band one or two rows wider to accommodate the oval buttons I selected.

One more row was enough...

I marked the locations for the Button Holes..

Then confirmed the button would fit appropriately in the new holes before knitting the rest of the Band.

With the Shropshire being so stretchy I decided to do a Standard Bind-off, per the pattern instructions.  However, I think a Slightly Stretchier bind-off would have been better.

Now, with my first ever Button Band being complete and the life lines all removed, the remaining tasks are sewing on the buttons, Kitchenering the armpits closed and weaving in the ends.  So close!!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday

Fiber Arts Friday: County Fair 2021

Our County Fair was not held last year because the venue was being used as an overflow hospital for COVID patients.  This year's fair is being held, but is a scaled down version.

There is no knitting or crochet and my weaving is not ready to share.  But the spinning classes are being held.

So back in early June I entered 5 handspun yarns, one of which is not yet completed.  So I will be bringing four yarns: 2 Tibetan Mastiff, and 3 SE2SE wool breeds.

Like most of these type of competitions there is a qualification window, and entries are required to have been finished since August 1, 2020.

From Top to Bottom:

Tibetan Mastiff, 2-ply - July 2021

Tibetan Mastiff, 3-ply - September 2020

Hog Island, 2-ply - December 2020 (I haven't posted about it yet)

Shropshire, 2-ply - August 2020

Drop off is Tuesday.  Judging is Wednesday.  The Fair opens on Friday.

Judging is open to the public, but (again) I am not available to observe.

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 5

Day 14 - Friday, July 10
Continuing with the TM+Huacaya and Shropshire from last week...

Chiengora - TM+Huacaya: 33:18 Minutes

This single will definitely be finished tomorrow.

SE2SE - Shropshire: 33:18 Minutes

I could not have matched the durations so precisely if I tried.  :-)

Podcasts/Timekeeping: none

Total Time: 1 hour 6 minutes

Day 15 - Saturday, July 11
Chiengora - TM+Huacaya: 32 Minutes

This single is now finished.

SE2SE - Shropshire: 38 Minutes

Podcasts/Timekeeping:

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

Total Time: 1 hr 10 minutes

Day 16 - Sunday, July 12
Chiengora - TM+Huacaya: 32 Minutes

Began plying today.

SE2SE - Shropshire: 34 Minutes

Podcasts/Timekeeping:

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

Total Time: 1 hour 6 minutes

Day 17 - Monday, July 13 - Rest

Today is supposed to be a rest day, but I've built a habit of spinning while drinking morning coffee, so ...

SE2SE - Shropshire: 15 Minutes

Podcasts/Timekeeping: none

Total Time: 15 minutes

Day 18 - Tuesday, July 14
Chiengora - TM+Huacaya: 31 Minutes

I think I'll be done plying tomorrow.

SE2SE - Shropshire: 31 Minutes

I'm concerned I won't finish this single by the end of the tour, so I might try to spend more time in the coming days.

Podcasts/Timekeeping: none

Total Time: 1 hour 2 minutes

Day 19 - Wednesday, July 15
Chiengora - TM+Huacaya: 17 Minutes

I finished plying today.

This is a lovely balanced yarn.  I'm looking forward to seeing it after washing.

SE2SE - Shropshire: 48 Minutes

I am spinning this at about 10 grams per 1/2 hour and had ~77 grams to go this morning.  So that's about 8 - 1/2 hour increments and 5 days remaining in this Tour de Fleece.

I have a reasonable plan to finish the single by the end of this Tour, but one of our alpacas threw me yesterday when I was trimming her toenails.  I have a minor sprain in my right hand+wrist+forearm, so I'll have to take it easy and hope for the best.  :-)

Chiengora - Gold Tibetan Mastiff: 13 Minutes

Podcasts/Timekeeping: none

Total Time: 1 hour 18 minutes

Day 20 - Thursday, July 16 - Challenge
Chiengora - Gold Tibetan Mastiff: 48 Minutes

I fell in love with my first-ever core-spun yarn from Day 9.  So today for the Mountain Range Challenge, I plan to make a more refined core-spun yarn and then use it to make coils.

As I mentioned on Day 9, these are the suggestions that one of our team members put together:

• 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.

These are the same example videos I posted last week:

Silk Glazing Video
Wolf Yarn Video

I would not say this yarn is refined, but it is less wild than my first core-spun yarn.  ;-)

The yarn on the left was taking the clockwise core-spun and wrapping over the same cotton core in the clockwise direction.  This yielded an extremely excited yarn.

So I decided to make the right right, which is taking the clockwise core-spun yarn and plying it to itself, trying to wrap one leg around the other.

I don't think either of these represents a very good coiled yarn, but it's fun to try something new and gives me something to work on for the next TdF challenge.

SE2SE - Shropshire: 39 Minutes

Podcasts/Timekeeping:

Wise Traditions by the Westin A Price Foundation - 1 episode

Total Time: 1 hr 27 minutes

***

3 yarns completed and 7 hrs 24 minutes of spinning for this week.  For a total of 7 yarns completed and 25 hrs 56 minutes of spinning in the Tour thus far.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

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:

Silk Glazing Video
Wolf Yarn Video

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!