Catching Up to Date

In my last blog post I was talking about all the crazy things I had going on last year that overwhelmed me.  I left off at the end of August just as I was being buried alive in projects...

I have always loved September.  For me it represents so many new beginnings;  the first day of school, my birthday, it is even Jewish New Year though I've not particular celebrated it that way.  September 2015 was all about just getting through the next step, one little bit of progress over the mountain path, carefully as to not cause an avalanche.

Here's what I worked on month-by month:

September

Searched through lots of pattern books for ideas for my design

Hand knitted socks for my sister

Used Jamberry nail wraps to quit biting my nails

Started knitting socks for my daughter

Started spinning this SAPGAP yarn order

October

Working out pattern details

Finished my daughter's socks

Wrote, tested and published this hat pattern

Started socks for my son

Hand spun and mailed out all this yarn

November

Sewed box bags for a fiber festival

Sewed a special order bag and an new cube-sized bag

Hand spun and hand dyed this yarn

Hand knit this adorable dragon

Started a fund-raiser for my ferret's surgry

Finished writing the pattern, and got it test knit

Sent off my Geek-Swap package

December

Make custom-order slippers

Dyed wool

Sewed more bags

Sewed a different style bag

Designed new fiber graphics

Hand-combed LOTS of wool

Learned a new style of art-yarn

Dyed this wool

Went on vacation to visit my family!

January

Designed something I haven't revealed yet

Hand knit a skirt for my daughter

Made a custom order of two hats

Finished this SAPGAP art-yarn order

Finally finished my son's socks

Got my ferret her life-saving surgery

Started an MKAL for my latest pattern

Whew!  All that was tiring!  That gets us all caught up!  My husband is still on swing shift so I am still 99% a single parent.  However I am going to be careful as to not overload myself to *that* point again.  I am enjoying my freedom of sitting and enjoying an evening of MY choice instead of trying to keep up with that frantic pace.  I still have a lot to get done, but at a much more reasonable pace. :D  I have lots of exciting things to share with you!

Wilma

Ok, I'm back everybody!  Sorry for the cliffhanger.  Well, maybe I'm not sorry exactly but I'm glad you're back.  :P

I left off talking about Tour de Fleece!  I had set myself up with several ideas going in:

• stash busting
• trying new things
• washing, picking out vegetable matter, and flick-combing to prepare a bunch of my raw wool for spinning
• Play with dyeing!  
• two SAPGAP trades, one again with the same person I did before, this time with a Merino/Cormo cross and if I finished that I would start up on some alpaca/silk roving from the next SAPGAP trade.

I started off on the wrong foot.  I intended to start with the Merino/Cormo fleece but the carder machine I was using broke down.  So I had to try to get back out to my local yarn store to rent the big machine.  That didn't happen until about a week into TdF.

Let me take a moment to tell you about this fleece.  It's amazing.  Its the softest that I have spun to date and oh-so-squooshy!  If that wasn't a word before, it is now.  This is the seconds (it's not even the best stuff off this sheep!) from a sheep named Wilma.  There is something special spinning from fiber from a named sheep.  I can feel the love that went into the care for the animal.  I hope Wilma is happy with how I've been spinning her fiber because I feel that she is now my animal friend.

The first skein I just went for it.  I tried spinning long-draw as finely as I could make this fleece work with me - and it took forever.  Spinning and plying all day for 3-4 days (I forget exactly now but it was the aforementioned "forever").  I knew I would never finish before my August 1 due date.  I shared  pictures (the ones below actually) with the person who owns the fleece and she liked it but felt it was too thin.  So I set it aside to add to my share and moved on.

624 yards, 100 grams; 23 wraps per inch

Next I tried spinning short-draw and making it a bit thicker and fluffier.  It worked perfectly.  I hit right in the 17 wraps per inch range which is fingering weight.  This style of drafting also allowed the yarn to be even sqooshier.  It'll make lovely baby clothes, as she said that's what she wants to do with the yarn.

Unfortunately after I finished this skein I got side tracked by life.  My kiddos and home needed tending to.  Always going on about the "I need clean clothes," and "I'm hungry," and some such.  Then my 14  year old wanted a birthday party.  Ugh.  I just want to spin!  lol

So then I got back to it and got two more 100g skeins done and two singles for another skein as Tour de Fleece came to a close.  The next day I plied the two together and washed & set all the yarn to date.  At this moment I have to finish spinning this last single, ply the fourth skein, wash, set, dry this last skein and then I can mail them home. :)  I'm cutting it close and its making me nervous.  I know she'll be okay if it's a day or two late but I like things to be on time.

Here's a purdy picture I took of her yarn modeling my yarn bands I've put up for sale.

So I probably should tell you about these yarn bands.  I made these up for my first SAPGAP order and since then I've updated them.  Two days I found out that my rent is going up so I had the brilliant idea of selling custom yarn bands & tags.  So, I fixed them up a bit more, made a second page for small skein tags and put them in my online shop.  They'll make your yarn and roving look more professional and at a measly $5 they'll pay for themselves in no time.  Take a look! 

Tour de Fleece results:

• stash busting  Got some stash spun!
• trying new things  Tried new things!  Spinning from the lock and new fiber.
• washing, picking out vegetable matter, and flick-combing to prepare a bunch of my raw wool for spinning  Eh, not nearly as much done as I wanted.
• Play with dyeing!  Nope, nothing got dyed. :(
• two SAPGAP trades, one again with the same person I did before, this time with a Merino/Cormo cross and if I finished that I would start up on some alpaca/silk roving from the next SAPGAP trade.  Didn't get the first one done but I'm okay with the progress I made.

My project Moleskin with TdF numbers

In closing today I'll flash this pretty picture at you.  This is everything I spun and plied during Tour de Fleece.  Again, the dates for those who forgot was July 4 - 26th.