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So, I got a shiny-new Ashford spindle from Nature's Yarns this past Saturday, since my little tiny spindle was Full-o-Yarn. I also got three little $1 bags of merino roving, and a three-minute impromptu how-to-draft properly lesson. Here's what I've done with it so far:
Tour de Fleece Day 9 (aka "Saturday"):
The plan is to make one long yarn from the red, orange and yellow fluff (1.5oz all told). I was able to get all the red done Saturday during the NASCAR race (not the most exciting race of the season, as it turned out), and thanks to actually *finally* being able to draft as I go all the time, it went quickly, comparitively. The heavier spindle actually helped with that! Also got much thinner yarn.
Tour de Fleece Day 10 (Sunday)
Started spinning up the orange the next day, and got very, very tired. Soooooo very tired. I think I only got a quarter to a third of the bag spun up. Near the end, it started to get thicker, too, so I called it quits for the day.
(Day 11, Monday, was a Rest Day)
Tour de Fleece Day 12 (Tuesday)
I was *beyond* tired Tuesday. Not only was it really, really hot ("93F, feels like 100F!" at 5pm), but the air quality was HORRID. It would've been a Red Air Quality day under the old system. So, in addition to not sleeping, I got to add "not really breathing" into the mix. On the other hand, of all the crafts I do, at this point, spinning takes the least amount of brain-power. (Getting the photo posted in time on the proper TdF thread on Ravelry? That almost didn't happen!!)
Tour de Fleece Day 13 (Wednesday)
The third and final color began, and except for interruptions due to some amazing dance routines on SYTYCD, went smoothly. So, by the end of the evening, I had about 120 yards of a three-color single.
Tour de Fleece Day 14 (Today)
Now, suddenly having the ability to try the whole Navajo plying thing was too entrancing to hit the snooze alarm, so this morning, I tried it. I got some stuff that actually looks like a nice little three-ply yarn:
... however, on the main, it's a wee bit of an overtwisted mess. When the spindle is going slowly, it's pretty easy to get about five feet of nicely-twisted looks-like-yarn stuff - but then the spindle has to stop, get wound with yarn, and things just *happen* in the middle of it. Part of it, certainly, is a practice thing, but part of it is something that just plain works better on a spinning wheel. Constant tension on the stuff being plied, on the resulting thing, and constant motion? That would actually work. (Possibly having caffiene *before* plying might help, but I think it's mostly mechanics.) Anyway, it resulted in 40.5 yards of yarn that *will* be used to make a tiny bag - since that's about all one can do with 40 yards of yarn.
I think I probably should've been able to get double that - but it's horribly overtwisted for the first third, badly overtwisted for the second, and almost real yarn-like in the final third. Oh well, that's why Attempt at Plying #1 was with the $1 bags of fluff! Back to the silk tomorrow!
I was originally going to leave my yarn as Just Singles, but was reminded about the whole "Navajo Plying" thing. Which sounded pretty much like A Thing To Learn, and also keeps insanely long color runs (hello!) intact. Hadn't a clue how to do it, though, so once again, interwebs to the rescue! I found this GoogleVid which explained everything succinctly, with written words (which help me retain the knowledge better):
Thus, armed with my new knowledge, I put the royal & lavender yarn on my other bobbin (I have two... yes, only two at this time) and started to spin up the green. I figure this will be days six (yesterday) and seven (today) for my TdF. That gives me all weekend to figure out the whole plying thing once and for all. Taking advice from many lovely Ravelers, I'm putting the spun stuff on my spindle so it's not right on the whorl, and I'm getting a lot of yarn on there. I'm also getting more consistent with my thickness.
If I put the teal I spun up before TdF started in between the royal and the green, I should (hopefully!) wind up with enough yarn (300-400 yards?) after plying to Actually Make Something. Although that may not work - I think the green is coming out *much* thinner than any of the other colors, so the lavender/royal/teal may be one yarn, and the green may be spun onto some amber and yellow. But SOMETHING will be knitted with the lavender/royal once it's plied into Real Yarn, for sure! Like, perhaps, Jacquelyn Landry's Nereides? It says right in the pattern that it's good for handspun, particularly silk, which I am (actually, with my own paws!) making. And I'm still knitting lots, really. You just can't tell from this week's posts.
Wordsmith.org's A.Word.A.Day offered this up yesterday - I added a third definition which isn't necessarily "standard", but is certainly in widespread use among a certain crafty set:
RAVEL
PRONUNCIATION:
(RAV-uhl)
ETYMOLOGY:
From Middle Dutch ravelen (to fray out), from ravel (loose thread). Earliest documented use: before 1540.
MEANING:
verb tr. intr.:
1. To fray or to become disjoined; to untangle.
2. To entangle or to become tangled.
3. To foster one's addiction to knitting, crocheting, spinning or weaving in an online community of like-minded individuals. See also enabling. There, that's better!
That enabling thing is key. Fellow Ravelers and Tweeps encouraged me to try the Tour de Fleece this year - so far, so good. I have managed to spin every day, although I fell asleep before I could post in yesterday's thread (drat). I'm mostly working on getting through the giant pile of tussah top I brought home from MDS&W in May (see photo at top).
Day three was finishing up the rest of the purple fluff pictured above, and that's all done. There's six ounces total, and since 1.6oz previously got me 120 yards, I think I'll have enough to make something pretty once I'm done. I think it's going to be two separate yarns - the purples, blues and greens as one, then all the warm colors together. Except maybe the bright pink; that might be on its own. These are going to be singles, since the batch I did up pre-fleece actually looks like yarn:
Anyway, Here's Day 1, which is some superwash merino:
I have 4oz of this, and it's a LOT:
Here's Day 2, which isn't quite as spectacular, but it's still pretty:
So, that's the start of my Tour de Fleece, and I'm hoping to have a big dent in the stuff I bought at MDS&W, and have the skillz/courage to spin up the pretty orange fluff A sent me by the end of it all!
