Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece 2016, part 2

I started this week with less than 1/8 oz of yak down left to spin.

Friday, July 8th
Morning: So close to being finished.

Evening: I couldn't stand having such a small amount to go. So the Friday night activities included spinning...

and skeining...

and one very excited single of Yak Down, ready for a bath. :-)

1 1/8 oz
122 yards

Saturday, July 9th - Challenge Day
I didn't have any specific challenges for today.  So I started spinning a Medium Brown Suri Pencil Roving.

Being a gift from a local Suri Alpaca breeder in March, this is quite youthful as far as my stash goes.

It turns out that transitioning from the short staple of the yak down to the long staple of the Suri was a challenge.  ;-)

Sunday, July 10th
This is spinning much finer than I intended. So I'm thinking about plying it.

Monday, July 11th - Rest Day
While today is supposed to be a rest day, I'm working to make spinning a morning habit.

Tuesday, July 12th

Wednesday, July 13th
I am really enjoying spinning for a few minutes in the mornings.

Thursday, July 14th

I've almost filled the first layer on the bobbin. 

1 3/4 oz to go. 

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece 2016, part 4

I spent a few days working on whichever ball was larger, then I decided to focus on the smaller one.  So both balls of Suri Pencil Roving are smaller than they were at the start of last week.

Starting with 1 3/8 ounces this week.

Friday, July 22nd

Saturday, July 23rd

Sunday, July 24th

I spun a lot more after my photo from yesterday and a little more this morning.

I have 7/8 oz to go. 

Epilogue

The Spin Your Stash team was a lot bigger than any I've been on in the past, so I found it difficult to keep up with who's who.  Not to mention a lot of them were spinning huge amounts of yarn.

I had to remind myself that I was using short staple yak and spinnging the Suri extremely fine, both of which go slower than some other fibers.

The nice part is that I ran into Fat Cat's Corner, who's spinning is looking wonderful... and who's blog needs some love.  ;-)

These are the fibers I was choosing from for this year's tour:

This is what I accomplished:

yak cloud - stashed October 2008
122 yards, single
1 1/8 ounces

Medium Brown Suri Roving - stashed March 2016
Started with 2 5/8 ounces
Ended with 7/8 oz to go
1 3/4 oz spun
Plan is to finish as a 2-ply yarn.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece, 2024 - part 2

 **Week 1

Before the event even started, I was compelled to spin.

Alpaca: Suri - Diamond Valley, Dark Brown and White Sliver

I had gotten my initial fibers organized and wrote last week's post.  Then as I was preparing to do something else, I was consumed by a compulsion to spin.  I have not had this feeling in quite a long time... and ultimately gave in to it.

After about 5 minutes, the compulsion was beginning to subside... but I spun for another 30 minutes, until I felt completely satisfied.

I love spinning, and really appreciate days like this.  It's especially nice to forego the feeling of just accomplishing a task, and instead focus on the joy of it.

I've spun nearly daily since and have completed the Dark Brown + White Suri Alpaca Roving.

The middle cake was completed some time ago and was spun with both the Dark Brown and White together at the same time.  The other two were completed in the last week and were an attempt to spin the colors separately.  You can see the split was not perfect, which leads to some interesting color play in each single.  I think these will each become a 2-ply but that will have to wait until later.

AND now my bobbins are empty again and the fibers are staged for the Tour de Fleece beginning tomorrow.  :-)

Saturday, June 29

TM: Ramen: 36 minutes

Alpaca-ish: Double K Diamond Llamas - Katydid (Alpaca+Bamboo): 53 minutes

I don't know the percentage of the blend, but was happy to see that the format is Pencil Roving.  This should go quickly.

It appears I forgot to take a photo of the alpaca progress... so here's the TM after Day 1.

Sunday, June 30

TM: Ramen: 40 minutes

Alpaca-ish: Double K Diamond Llamas - Katydid (Huacaya Alpaca+Bamboo): 58 minutes

 

Monday, July 1

No Spinning was accomplished today.

Tuesday, July 2

TM: Ramen: 13 minutes

A broken (and repaired) drive band.  So just a short trip with TM today.

  

Wednesday, July 3

No Spinning was accomplished today.

Thursday, July 4 - Independence Day Holiday

Alpaca-ish: Double K Diamond Llamas - Katydid (Huacaya Alpaca+Bamboo): 26 minutes

After a visit to the Greeley Stampede, where I learned to throw a rope (bucket list item checked off), I spent a little time with my alpaca and cared for our animals during the fireworks.

Weekly Status:

Duration:  

• + TM:             1 hr 29 min
• + Alpaca-ish:  2 hrs 17 min
• = Total:           3 hrs 46 min

Net Days Spun: -2 days

Finished Skeins:  0

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Medium Brown Suri Yarn, Finished

This yarn was part of a package of local Suri given to me by a fellow alpaca breeder in the spring of 2016.

I started spinning it in July 2016, and finally finished it in June 2018.

It spent most of it's time resting.  ;-)

This yarn turned out much better than I expected.... it's always amazing what a bath does for fibers.

This is a 2-ply and will be part of a long-term project, yet to be revealed.

233 yards
2.25 oz
21 wpi

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Medium Brown Suri

It's been a while since I've sat at my wheel.

My fingertips are out of shape.

Assuming I've fixed the linkup tool, please share your posts and Happy Fiber Arts Friday!