Went raspberry picking Saturday evening at Childer’s Raspberry Farm in Albany. The raspberries are ginormous! Today I made freezer jam with them. Is it wrong to just have toast with jam for dinner?
Here’s my yarny progress for the last few days:
DAY 15
Beach Glass – chain plied (N-ply)
DAY 16
Maleficent – Polwarth from Abstract Fibers
DAY 17
Maleficent – 2 ply, 426 yards
OMG, how many days does this thing go on?
Through July 25th!?
::thud::
I’m okay!
DAY 12
Raspberry Pinstripe – Targhee, hand dyed by me
DAY 13
Iris – Merino/Tussah silk from Dicentra Designs
DAY 14
Beach Glass – Merino, hand dyed by me
Went to the Oregon Garden in Silverton yesterday with my friend Brooke. Didn’t get many photos, but thought this one was kind of cool.
I think this rain fountain was the highlight of the day, though!
Day 10 was a day to rest from spinning, so instead I washed 13 skeins of yarn and dyed this Polwarth:
Except I decided I hated the chestnut brown color with the yellow – at least using this method for dyeing – so today I overdyed the whole thing with cherry red and golden ochre. Now it reminds me of those flames that get painted on cars. In a good way, though. Pictures tomorrow.
Day 11 – Didn’t get much spinning done today. I spun up a little sample of the above fiber to be sure I hated it (yep), and then I got started on this Targhee that I dyed:
Took me a couple of false starts to figure out what I wanted to do with it, but finally decided to split off three even sections, with the red by itself, and then do a 3-ply. Will probably finish this tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s a big day for Visitor Cat… she’s finally going to the vet. And if I get the green light on her health, she’s probably coming into the house. Yes, I’m nervous about it.
I kinda started calling her “Mabel” in my head, but its not set in stone.
Been working on this for four days now… have the first bobbin done and am working on the second.
Decided to take a break today (Day 9) and ply this fiber that I’d already spun. It’s merino that I dyed a while back with Easter egg dyes:
As you can see, the final picture is much too orange… took the shot in some bad light. The fiber is more of an overall pinkish-red as the roving photo above shows better. The final yarn is about 4 oz, 368 yards, and about 18 wpi.
New reader (? I think?) “Hook and Needle” has commented that she has a spindle on the way. Whoo hoo! I need a lot more practice with my spindle… any decent looking yarn you see here was done on a wheel.
Since I’ve been talking about Tour de Fleece here and have been receiving search hits on that term, I thought I would share a couple of books that may be helpful to anyone just starting out.
First, Abby Franqemont’s Respect the Spindle:
Abby is… well, I find her inspiring, and not just due to her spinning prowess. It’s her generosity. She freely shares information on her blog and through YouTube videos and elsewhere online — and yes, she runs a business and has a book, but there are no strings attached (ha ha, see what I did there) to the information she shares. Abby also has DEFINITE OPINIONS (and the expertise to back them up).
I swear, I’m not stalking her online. I’m NOT. We just hang out in some of the same places, honest.
Two other books I have enjoyed since starting to spin:
To anyone just starting out, I would also suggest joining Ravelry and seeking out the spinning groups in the forums… but with a caveat. Just take it all in, and don’t be discouraged. Apply the advice that feels right to you while you practice & learn. It’s the internet, you know?
Above all, to anyone just getting started… enjoy! And if there’s one piece of advice I have, it’s to allow yourself a little luxury in the fibers you spin when you’re getting started. Many of us have this instinct to “save” the pretty stuff until we are better, but I firmly believe that if you are spinning something pretty to look at, you are more likely to stick with it. Even if it’s full of lumps and bumps. 
Day 4: Left, the plied results of the Day 3 spinning. Right, starting on some merino/Tussah silk from Dicentra Designs.
Day 5: Plied the Dicentra fiber from Day 4. I love how it turned out.
Day 6: Polwarth from Abstract Fiber. I think I’ll be working on this for several days. Have 4 oz. total to spin and am hoping to get at least fingering weight out of it.
Monday is a rest day… I need it!
Progress for days 2 & 3…
I took the drop spindle to a party on the 4th. My technique hasn’t improved much from last year, and here are my fug results:
Much happier with day 3:
2 oz of BFL spun into about 338 yards
I might sell this skein on Etsy. It came out pretty nice, I think!
Our poor chickens still don’t have proper names. I never actually gave them the Little Women names… I don’t think Dennis would ever remember. How much higher can I hoist the geek flag, though? There are three that are hard to tell at a quick glance (for me), I actually have to kind of study them for a minute to figure out which is which.
So, I don’t know. We love ‘em, despite their having no names.
