Crazy Tour de Fleece Challenge

This year I decided to set a simple TDF goal. For the last two I have spun up a sweater's worth of fibre and plied it as my goal.

The challenge this year is to spin yarn fine enough to make a Shetland shawl, to practise / spin for half an hour every day. I want to keep the goal realistic as life often has a way of interfering with my spinning.

I ordered fine tops from Jamieson and Smith as I am not a 'fibre preparation' kind of girl. Every time I attempt this, it is either too much for the hip injury or it activates my allergies.

Gorgeousness arrived on my doorstep. I weighed it out into 10g bundles and could not wait to start.

Next, Grace, my Ashford Tradional was cleaned down and given a service so she would be ready and waiting at the starting post.

Day one  arrived and I was off. I started by sampling some singles to see what kind of fineness I needed. That is turquoise sewing cotton in the middle with a 2ply above and the single below.

The first half hour and I thought I had it perfect ....

Day 2 and I was moving along swimmingly into Day 3 and 4 and life had intervened and I was not focused on spinning much.

On the morning of Day 5 I woke up to the fact that the single was not as thin as I needed it to be and was back at the starting post again. The bobbin on the left is the restart.

Day 6 and Day 7 and the size of the single was still nagging in the back of my mind but life interfered yet again and I lost focus.

I checked my single agains the first one and it looked good so I continued

and the amount on the bobbin grew.

Day 10 was a rest day and I again found myself thinking about whether I had the right single fineness for what I want to knit. It was awfully fine when I plied 2 singles together.  It was finer than a sample of lace weight yarn that I had so I continued spinning through to Day 12.

One of the ladies on the forum, Dawn, always posts the loveliest collages and inspired us all to play  and create some for ourselves. I looked at this image on Day 13 and looking at it photographed I knew that this single was not right.

Day 13 saw me back at the starting post AGAIN but my perseverance paid off and I managed to get the angel hair single that I do need to knit the shawl.  I switched from spinning from the fold to spinning worsted / semi-worsted and it worked a treat.

and here is a link to a video of me spinning it.

On Day 14 I did a happy dance around the room whooping with delight:) 41 wraps per inch for my 2 plied single which in means the single is 82 wpi and I am blown away by this.

I learnt that even though I had a sample and kept checking it against my single, they were both under tension and looked the same even when they weren't. Because I was aiming for so fine, I could not eyeball it and I only knew I had the weight I wanted once I wrapped it. I wish I had considered this sooner. This is where my spinning inexperience shows.

Below my sample with 2 Jamieson & Smith yarn samples

Left      = 2 ply Shetland Supreme
                (a laceweight yarn)
Middle  = my cobweb 2ply sample
Right    = 1 ply Shetland Supreme
                 (a gossamer weight yarn)

The bobbin on the left is what I am currently spinning and the one on the right is the restart from earlier. What I am currently spinning is half the thickness of the other.

It has taken me 8 and a half hours to spin up my current bobbin and I have spun about 15g of fibre.

Regardless of the frustrations I have experienced with this project I have learnt so much. I love Tour de Fleece for the encouragement and the cheering along in the forums and I am grateful to be part of a lovely group of enthusiastic spinners. They all helped me to continue on when I really was thinking of retiring form the race.

Thanks y'all!

Mottisfont Rose Garden

Every summer we look forward to a visit to the Mottisfont Walled Rose Garden and enjoy an exquisite walk through the scents and colours. The roses are late this year but truly worth waiting for.

Tina, these are for you:)

This lady looked so wonderful in her hat which was decorated with flowers. Don't they look so happy.

All too soon we were back at the entrance.

Wonderful Willow Weaving Workshop

Today I visited the new art and crafts space, Rum's Eg, run by the Hampshire Art and Craft Community in Bell Street, Romsey to attend one of their summer workshops with Linda Mills.

There are some astoundingly beautiful pieces in their gallery space too.

I love baskets and have wanted to try willow weaving and this workshop offered the perfect easy setting and class. Here are examples of the platters we were going to weave.

The willow was lying on the floor dressed in towels to keep some of it damp. It is necessary to soak some of it for up to 5 days to improve its pliability.

We started with a ring,

then cut pieces and taped them together to form the ribs of the platter

and began weaving the willow around them. Getting the first two pieces in place was the hardest part.

Bit by bit my weaving grew

and after a morning of great fun, I had one platter completed.

After lunch I began the second one

and had soon completed it too.

I left with two beautiful pieces after a wonderful day at play.

I highly recommend a visit to this lovely gallery if you have the time and I am keeping an eye out for their next workshop program as I will definitely be going to play some more.

For those of you in the area, on some Tuesday mornings there is a Threads and Yarn club where you can take your knitting, crochet, embroidery, (apparently anything you can carry in and do there) and enjoy some time with other crafty people. Check by telephone with them about the dates. Here is a link to their contact details on the website - Hampshire Art and Craft Community. 

Their summer exhibition opens next week and I enjoyed the sneak peak I got today.