At last

My computer woes have finally been resolved. The modem arrived yesterday and everything's working well. So now I can provide pictures for you of what I've been up to.

I head for SOAR tomorrow. There hasn't been much chatter on it this week but I do know one thing: it's been cold! Snow flurries have been falling in the night and the daytime temps have been in the 40's. Sunriver is on the high desert plateau which is around 5000 feet so it's a great place to wear one's woollens. I was able to finish the Ruba'iyat mittens for the walk from my room to the classes building.

One of the things I needed to do was clear off all my bobbins for the wheel I was taking to SOAR. In the past few weeks on and off I've been working on this fiber and plying it with a lovely heathered pink merino silk. The resulting fingering yarn came out nicely.

Autumn Sunset. 710 yards, 16 wpi, 2 ply. Medium wool plied with merino silk.

Finished spinning

Hydrangea Abstract Fibers BFL 7.5 oz 702 yds estimated wpi 18-20 Also, from earlier in the summer I completed this:Magic Judy Dicentra Designs Merino/Silk Colorway "Eowyn" 715 yards, 6.5 oz completed June 2009 (for Judy Becker, cast on inventor and all around great knitter)

Because of all the spinning I have been doing this week, I've managed to bung up my right knee again, so I'm laying off the wheel spinning for the rest of the Summer of Spinning weekend. However, I do have some spinning on a spindle at the office I will be fetching later today to complete. I did a preliminary tally of my spinning and I've completed over 3700 yards. That's over 2 miles. Whoo doggies!

Fin!

It's still daylight here in the west coast but the last of the Icelandic has been spun and plied. It will rest tonight as will my fingers. The roving escaped another mauling from the cats so I didn't have bits and pieces. There's a fair bit of vegetable matter I didn't get out but I did get quite a bit removed. These will be added to the other five skeins of spun Icelandic. I found a big ball of Shetland/alpaca blend in a beige that will work well for a contrast pattern for the yoke of the jacket I want to make from this yarn.

Now to finish a sock for Sock Summit 09. It's less than 2 weeks away. Whoo!

An end to the marathon

This weekend had one goal in mind: to spin up as much of the Icelandic as I could. Considering how out of shape I am I did pretty well. I completed the spinning up of the light Icelandic fleece bumps and plied them up. Three of my Louet bobbins are now stuffed with their plied yarn and will spend the next day resting before getting their twist set and hung out on the back porch to dry. Estimated amount of yarn spun this weekend: 19 oz.

I still have the two bumps of the other Icelandic to spin and only up to the 26th to complete the spinning for the Tour de Fleece. A healthy chunk of it will be spent cleaning out the VM from it as it has much more than the lighter fiber. If the weather is decent in the evenings, I'll be doing that on the front porch as it's a messy job. If I don't drink coffee in the morning, I should have the energy in the evening to spin the product of my labors. Saturday I'll be volunteering at the Oregon Humane Society but will have time in the morning and evening. Sunday's wide open for finishing up the yarn.

I think I'll make it.

Yarn in more ways than one

The canteloupe Romeldale is plied and set. It came out uneven because of using the Journey Wheel with some sections thick and thin and the rest even at a sport weight. The color is pretty though. I don't know what I can use it for -- perhaps a child's sweater or hat.

Canteloupe Romeldale

3.5 oz, 99 gms -- 254 yards -- 2 ply

Spun on Journey Wheel, plied on Louet S10

The first bobbins of the Icelandic have been spun and I have an idea of what I'll be doing with the two rovings since one's lighter than the other. I'll ply the lighter fiber with the darker to create a kind of tweed. There's a lot of vegetable matter in the fiber despite the cleaning so the challenge has been cleaning out the stuff while spinning it up. I'll most likely do at most one bobbin a day of spinning just to avoid straining my hands.

Good love

It's Memorial Day weekend and an opportunity to take care of things around the house. One of the biggest chores is gathering up the yarn and fiber I've pulled out and had lying around the house. I had a fair amount and needed to sort it out and put it away in my fiber room. One item that was full of yarn was a floor basket which after it was emptied was Buster's object of curiosity.When I'd take a break from the cleaning, I'd do some spinning or check my email. At one point I had the TV on and my feet up. Maisie seized the opportunity for some kittylove and I gave her plenty.

Summer of Spinning 2009

Saturday I started on my spinning for the summer. I'm participating in David Daniel's Summer of Spinning 2009 challenge to spin up as much of my stash as possible. I have a handspindle at the office and my wheels at home to produce as much yardage as I can. I'll be noting my finished yardage here. For more info, click on the button on the sidebar.

Surprise again!

At last the moment some of you have been waiting for. As you know if you're a regular reader of this compendium of nonsense I participated in Ted Myatt's Fibre to Scarf exchange. Getting my scarf so quickly gave me extra incentive to finish the one I was working on, so by the end of March it was complete.

It started with 8 ozs of Bullen's Wullens in a mulberry heathered with copper. The blend was combed out so it was very easy to spin up. I opted to making it a DK weight so that it would be a quick knit but not so thick that you don't have much yarn to make a scarf. I came up with almost 400 yards of lovely 2-ply that after finishing was wonderfully squishy and promised to be warm.

The next challenge was finding a scarf pattern that would keep my interest. I chose Brooke Nelson's Column of Leaves pattern off of Ravelry for its interest and quickly memorized pattern. The yarn worked very well with the pattern to my pleasure.

And who is the lucky recipient? None other than knitsib Kate Winkler who I've known from the list. She's tickled about the scarf and the goodies I included, and very happy that spring has offered at least an opportunity to wear it before the weather warms up and she has to put it away. It was a pleasure to make it for you, Kate. I hope it gives you lots of warm enjoyment.

Finished yarn

Miami Stripes

Dicentra Designs BFL "Gulf" and combed Romney top

2 ply, 10 wpi, 4 oz

Spun on Ashford Joy, plied on Louet S10