Fiber Friday 7/7

I've been spinning on the downlow so I could show off for Fiber Friday! These skeins could be considered Tour de Fleece yarn as well for those keeping score. The first one here is superwash merino 2-ply worsted weight measuring 140 yards. It has nice subtle colors in person. It looks a bit pink in the photo but it's not quite so. Actually, both yarns have a lot of the same fiber, but with the different plying techniques, they came out like very distant cousins. I think I have an unintentional experiment on my hands.

This second one is another attempt at Navajo-ply and I don't love the 3-ply texture of it. The yarn is pretty enough but my opinion is influenced by the fact that I didn't enjoy plying the yarn and that there's only 57 yards of it now that it's done. You lose a third of the length in the plying? Am I doing it wrong? It's like you have to crochet with your fingers while feeding the yarn onto the bobbin. I couldn't get the hang of it and don't feel compelled to practice again just yet. On the plus side, I am comfortable selling this one and will add it to my Etsy shop today!

On the other hand, this yarn is pretty. Maybe I should hang onto it...

It starts with one skein

I finally got up the nerve to stock my Etsy shop with a skein of yarn today. One skein, you ask? Yes. Baby steps, people. I have a huge box of homespun to sell and I spin more and more each day. So why was this a challenge? While looking at said box of yarn I panicked. I'm going to break down my train of thought:

1. I never spin yarn like this. (insert description of yarn here) In this case, the yarn is very undyed.

2. I suddenly like this yarn even though I didn't when I first spun it up. In this case, It's softer than I recall. It would be fun to knit with. I like the uneven parts and the balanced parts all playing together in this superbulky skein.

3. I am trying to make a go of being an artist, I must start selling yarn. Okay. Let's be realistic here. I should start with this particular skein because I will never knit with it. I have knitter's block when it comes to knitting with homespun. I almost never do it. It doesn't suit me. Everything is too precious. I'm afraid of ruining it's potential.

3.5 (sub thought) I hate crap acrylic yarn. But I also can't spend a lot on yarn. I like utilitarian, functional and pretty yarn. I should only knit with homespun. I need some chocolate.

4. I'm unemployed. I fear I will never find another job again. I also fear that I will find a job. This is known as artist's logic. I need a job for money but then I am a sell out. I love the Bohemian lifestyle but grow weary of eating beans and pasta at home every night, and ordering water when I find myself in a restaurant. So I really do want a job, but until that happens I keep myself busy writing and spinning and making art. (and watching TV and eating watermelon and entering contests and contemplating the cruelty of existence...)

That train has four and a half cars. Long enough. I know knitters everywhere understand the unspeakable problem of acquiring stash that you will never use. At least they only buy it. Imagine spinning it. It's like a collection. You wouldn't put that gold coin in a pinball machine, would you? What if I made something ugly out of that pretty yarn? I better just put the skein away and never touch it again.

Well, I'm thinking since I've taken the leap it will get easier from now on. I didn't know how to price this particular skein so I did some research and took the average price of other homespun on Etsy. It's nice and high so I won't have to deal with actually selling it!

I Love Yarn

Superwash Merino
Originally uploaded by TheBon.

I could stare at this kind of thing for hours. Seriously. I'm really proud of our Tour de Fleece spinners!

Flickr Pool

Thanks to TheBon for creating a Tour de Fleece Flickr pool! Now we can all post/view our spinning results easily. If you're participating in the spin-a-long feel free to join the Flickr pool and show off your homespun!

Tour de Fleece Flickr Pool.

Red, white and blue and rainbows

The tour de Fleece spinners are staying the course! Soprano spinner finished some beautiful and patriotic yarn. If you'd like to see it and I know you do, look here.

Chipper managed to spin some yarn that looks like fireworks! See it for yourself here. It's made up of red, white and blue roving she got from the fiber of the month club from spunky eclectic. (Fiber of the month - that sounds like fun!)

Melanie has some lovelies to share as well. Check out some springy yarn here. She's also engaged in the fiber of the month club and here is what she's made of it. Her most recent entry is also really pretty.

I plied the mill ends and am moving on to... more mill ends! This stuff I already dyed though, as you can see. I'm spinning matched singles and plying them together as usual. I'd like to challenge myself to spin like I haven't spun before, so to speak. Sometimes I spin singles but mostly I spin the same 2-ply over and over. It can be called having a "style" but I feel like I should take it to the next level. I'm still awaiting an order of thread to come in the mail to ply with. (Hey, it was on sale with free shipping. I usually buy thread in stores, not online!) I'm thinking the thread may be the key to breaking out of my routine. I haven't used it to ply with before. Perhaps when the Tour hits the mountain stages I'll stretch my wings a bit and see what happens.

I'm also spinning on the sly for fiber friday because I like to post something new on fridays, even in the middle of the Tour. It's never enough, right?

By the way - notice the new knitty is up? Must. Make. Knucks.

It ain't much if it ain't Dutch

I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on my lovely Dutch-born Louet s10 wheel. (My wheel is more honey colored than the one pictured here) Since the Tour de France finished the stage yesterday in Holland I thought about my wheel and how lucky I am to have it. I bought it on ebay from a Dutch seller with the unfortunate ID: bloodymare. She's fantastic though and explained enough to me in broken English to get me started on it.

The wheel arrived at my house during a chaotic time: a week before my brother's wedding. My parents were staying with me when the big box showed up and I was desperate to dig into it. Even though we had more important matters to deal with, my family indulged me. My father knew nothing about spinning wheels but kindly agreed to assemble the wheel. I found pictures of what it was supposed to look like and he figured it out rather quickly.

The Louet wheel is a modern design and I wasn't sure I wanted one. I always liked the classic look of the wheels of old and imagined I would end up with one. Money was an issue as it often is so I had to really consider the Louet and read LOTS of reviews. Everyone seemed to be really happy with their wheels. The design is clever and the parts never need oiling. It's simple and utilitarian, highly functional. Sure I'd like to have a lazy kate that holds more that two bobbins but have you seen the size of the orifice? It's enormous! (a favorable quality in a wheel) Besides, the extras will come in time.

The Tour de France started today in Belgium and journeyed back into France. My Dutch wheel and I will watch every minute of it we can and spin along wherever and however this exciting and ever changing Tour goes.

Happy 4th!

I'm going to a BBQ party on the beach today and have to pull myself together mighty quick to not be late so this is just a quick update now with more to follow later. In the Tour de Fleece today I did manage to watch the cyclists this morning while finally plying the mill ends. I will move on to something new tomorrow, though I plan on dying this yarn at some point.

The Tour de France today had some real ups and downs with a lot of sadness as Alejandro Valverde, Fred Rodriguez and Eric Dekker all left the race with broken bones. Fast Freddy fell badly with Dekker and first reports say that he broke his wrist while Dekker has done the same to some teeth. It's especially sad for Dutchman Dekker, who crashed out before the race ended today IN Holland. Also, he had said this was to be his last Tour, and I'm sure he didn't intend for it to end like this. All three are big personalities but the loss of Valverde means the loss of a real overall race favorite. Ironically, this will favor the fortunes of American hopefuls George Hincapie, Floyd Landis and Levi Leipheimer, who today saw a dangerous man leave the Tour. Still sad though. The day was good for two T-mobile riders who are reeling in the loss of Ullrich in the doping scandal. Matthias Kessler and Michael Rodgers placed first and second in a nail-biting finish.

Have a happy and SAFE 4th everyone! Happy Anniversary mom and dad!

Late start

Sheep
Photo credit: rightee.

I tried Tivo-ing the Tour de France replay-expanded-coverage version at 5pm today and was regretting it basically from the moment I woke up. I am now finally watching the race and don't really have updates to share.

My personal Tour is moving right along. I spun more mill ends today and finally picked up batteries to make the scale work. I've been waiting to stock my Etsy shop until I had weighed the yarn. So today I started weighing my homespun and suddenly couldn't imagine selling any of it. How did this happen? I've been planning on selling it the whole time! I'm UNEMPLOYED and need the money. What's wrong with me? Where is this attachment coming from?

Perhaps looking at this sheep photo I fleeced from flickr will help. Perhaps you'll forgive the pun.

Tour updates

I report that Hobbledehoy is also spinning mill ends from Sheep Shed Studio though I gather her results will be quite different from mine. My yarns tend to be cautious and plain and hers are like works of art. You can see her yarn/buy some in her Etsy shop. Her yarn inspired me to pick up some thread to ply with, which I'll get into later in the Tour.

Commentator Paul Sherwen sums up the Tour de France stage today: "Ouff! Who says the flat stages are boring?! I was just getting over the excitement of the sprint and the win by France's Jimmy Casper when the shot panned to Thor Hushovd, the overnight hero lying on the ground covered in blood..."

Yes. The lowlight of the day happened when at the very end of the course a fan waving a cardboard hand clipped Thor Hushovd as he sped by at 40 miles an hour, thus slicing his arm open and sending him to the hospital to get stitches. Apparently cardboard hands have been banned from the finish lines from now on.

The highlight for me today was when George Hincapie sprinted to steal a two-second time bonus which pushed him into first place. It was unexpected and bold, and suggests he means to make something of this Tour. He will ride tomorrow in the yellow jersey and I am really proud of him.

I was going to include a picture here of Hushovd laying in a pool of his own blood but it was somewhat gruesome and perhaps not suitable for a knitting blog. Unfortunately I made this decision after looking at countless photos on the internet so now I need to get the image of the stained yellow jersey out of my mind, somehow. The good news is that he is OKAY and plans to ride tomorrow! They may shave their legs but those cyclists are TOUGH.

Tour de Fleece (Why didn't I think of that!)

Today is officially the first day of the Tour de France! Yesterday's time trial was considered the prologue for anyone who cares to be technical. I'm not sure if I do. But first, the spinning news:

I know Wendy aka soprano spinner is working on some blue singles and I look forward to getting a peek at those. Speaking of things that are blue, you've GOT to check out her blue ribbon socks from last year's county fair, and read about her adventures in spinning as well. I would be TERRIFIED to enter a spinning contest where you have to spin on demand in front of actual people. I also gather she is planning a book about making socks with homespun and I can't think of a better idea. Can you have that finished by Christmas please?

I'm not spinning a lot but I'm still in the race. I imagine myself to be at the back of the pack. These early days are for the sprinters and I'm a bit slow. But we all know the race is decided in the mountains. I'm still at work on those mill ends as reported yesterday. There's definitely some mohair in there and I'm glad about that. You never know what you're getting with mill ends. I can usually spot mohair or superwash but other than that I'm clueless. I'd love to be a fiber psychic who could tell the breed, age, and nature of the animal by touching the fleece. (Hmm, feels like a three-year-old alpaca named Tina who foregoes dinner occasionally. Soft as a cloud to spin) Sorry, I digress.

Hey! We've got four more spinners in the peloton - WELCOME!

Prologue spinning and a bit of history

I invite you to consider what the Tour looked like in 1906 - 100 years ago! This was three years after the Tour was born and as you can see it had a sporting start. Back then, cyclists pedaled 30-pound single-speed bikes with wooden rims along mostly unpaved roads. They strapped glass water bottles to the frames for refreshment. These were some manly men. They also knew how to grow a proper mustache.

The 1906 Tour ventured into the mountains, where 4 riders were caught riding the train (cheeky!) and given the boot. In the end, only 14 of the 75 starters made it to the finish line in Paris. The winner, Rene Pottier had ridden a fair amount of the 1905 tour on flat tires before abandoning altogether. But in 1906 his luck had turned and he won the Tour. Unfortunately Pottier saw but a brief period of joy. In January, 1907, he hanged himself in the clubhouse of his Peugeot team. The story goes that he despaired after learning his wife had an affair while he was away at the Tour. He was considered the favorite for the next year, but alas it was not meant to be. How sad!

Here we are 100 years later and all 176 riders finished the stage today. It was a Norwegian sprinter named Thor Hushovd who turned in the fastest time. Americans George Hincapie and David Zabriskie came in second and third, respectively. I would have thought Hincapie would be wearing Lance's old number 1 but he is wearing number 3 this year. For the non-cycling fans, (who no doubt are still reading this long cycling story) Hincapie is the Robin to Lance Armstrong's Batman. I don't understand how the numbers get doled out.

Overall it was exciting to watch the coverage as I sat at my wheel and spun some natural colored mill ends from Sheep Shed Studio. Vive Le Tour!

The Tour de France has begun!

SPIN
Photo credit: jaqian.

The Tour de France has started! (okay, technically it's the pre-race prologue but let's not split hairs) Let's spin!

By the way, I did a search on Flickr for "spinning" pictures to share here and I found very few of the type of pictures I was actually looking for. I found this one from Jaqian, taken I believe in Dublin. There are a lot of the teacup ride at Disneyland and something I was NOT prepared for: LOTS and LOTS of pictures of spiders. CLOSE UP pictures of spiders! How shall I ever recover from this trauma?

Now, back to spinning.