Swatchless

I planted some vegetables earlier this spring, but I am limited to a balcony with planters and dishpans full of soil. Luckily there is LOTS of sun.

I now have 6 little tomatoes growing

these will be BIG tomatoes one day!

I harvested some carrots (they are cool spherical carrots designed to grow in shallow soil–like window boxes).  I have some very odd radishes–not quite sure what happened to them, they are long and not really radish shape.  My snow peas have been really productive too!  I can gather about 5 or 6 peas a day–perfect for a snack right off the vine.

Harvest for Today

For my tour de fleece spinning today I plied the singles from yesterday.  I made it 2 ply, but it was still thin and appeared fragile (my singles didn’t have quite enough twist).  I then treated the 2 ply like roving, and spun the whole works then chain plied it, so what I have is an accidental 6 ply yarn.  We’ll see how that works up.

I am tempted to take a break from spinning so I can try knitting with it!

I haven’t really mentioned much about my Tour De Fleece progress, because it didn’t feel like I was making much progress.  I have been carding and spinning and carding and spinning, and the bobbins barely looked like they were filling up.  Finally today I had two bobbins full which I plied together.  I’m not all to thrilled about how lumpy and bumpy this yarn is….I should have carded the fiber more perhaps.  (Carding is NOT my favourite part of this process!)

Anyway, it’s pretty neat to see the transformation from this

washing fleece

to this

carding fleece

to this

spinning yarn

and finally this

spun yarn

But my progress seems much slower than those other fabulous spinners who are working from roving.  In any case, this yarn is going to eventually be turned into mittens.  I always find it nice to knit something for the farmer that gave me the fleece.  In this case, I don’t even know the farmer!  They will certainly be surprised.

To give myself a bit of a break, and make me feel productive on the spinning front, I started into some commercially prepared combed top that I purchased from Paradise Fibers.  I stuck it into my black bean dye (recipe) just to see what would happen, and after a day or two it turned a very light almost periwinkle blue.  I stuck part of it in some ammonia afterwards and that part lightened to a lichen green.

The fiber drafts like a dream, and I find that I’m spinning very thin, and consistent singles.  I was starting to doubt my ability when I was spinning that lumpy stuff I carded.  I am enjoying the subtle colour changes too–way more enjoyable than spinning white/offwhite speckled with grass.

For some other inspirational tour de fleece blogs with some awesome pictures, check these out.

• Word Lily
• I dream of sheep
• Leafgreen Knits

When two fiber enthusiasts get together you’d better stand back–the fleece will be flying!

Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting Teira in person.  I’ve met her on Ravelry and through reading her blog, but to be in the same room with someone who is keen to discuss the ins and outs of washing fleece, or experiments with dyeing, or recent spinning wheel issues, was something very new for me.

What's on Teira's wheel?

Apart from meeting a new fiber friend, I learned a new skill tonight–combing wool.  Now, if you’ve never prepared a fleece before, you may not be familiar with this term.

Combing wool is different than carding wool.

Carding wool uses anything from a dog brush, to hand cards to a drum carder, but all of these tools are similar in that they are a surface that has small teeth placed in rows across the entire area.

image source: wikimedia.org dog brush

image source: pacificwoolandfiber.com hand cards

image source: clemes.com drum carder

Carding will leave you with a batt (a flat mass of fiber that has been brushed). There will still be short and long pieces, and there might still be bits of grass left in the batt–of course this depends on how fine the carding cloth is (the more teeth per inch, the better job it does of brushing out all the unwanted bits).

Combing, I realized tonight, is TOTALLY different.  The resulting fiber is smooth and uniform without any dirt or short pieces–those end up on the floor!  Also, and very important to know…combs could be weapons!  They have two rows of stainless steel tines that are very sharp.  Be very careful when using combs!

image source: bountifulspinweave.com

Here’s how to comb fleece:

Step 1:  Fix one comb to the table so it will not move.  Mini combs can be used one in each hand, but I don’t think I’m coordinated enough for that yet.

Step 2:  Load the locks (clumps of fleece) onto the stationary comb so that the butt end of the lock (the end that was cut off the sheep) is stuck in the teeth of the comb.  Don’t load it too full!

Step 3: Put the moving comb (teeth downward) into the locks starting at the tips and working toward the base.  Continue this until the fleece is almost entirely transferred to the moving comb.  All the short pieces will be left in the teeth of the stationary comb–discard these.

Teira demonstrates how to comb

Step 4:  Change combs–secure the full comb to the table, and use the empty comb as your moving comb.  Transfer the fleece back to the other comb by brushing in a similar fashion.

Step 5:  Using a diz (anything with a fine hole in it–Teira has a seashell), thread the combed fleece through the hole, grip tightly and pull the fleece through the hole to make a roving.  If the fleece is not combed open enough, the roving may not pull out nicely.  This part took the most practice for me!

Teira demonstrates the diz

There you have it, 5 steps to combing fleece!  Thanks so much Teira for the great lesson.

I’ve been working away with the tour de fleece, but there’s not much to show for what I’ve done.  It’s slow going.  It’s HOT and humid.  I think that’s the biggest issue.  I really don’t want to even look at fleece right now.  I’m not complaining, I know that in January I was asking for the heat.

Little by little I’m carding and spinning up thick singles right now.  With the heat, and the short intervals of spinning time I’m not making great progress, and what’s worse is that I’m getting bored already with spinning white fleece.  That’s a lie, it’s not entirely white.  It’s coloured by the flecks of desperate vegetable matter still clinging to the wool….

I think on a cooler day, that the yarn will look rustic and natural and make really warm and sturdy mittens, but right now I’m thinking of iced tea not mittens!

In other wheel spinning action, my trusty 3 speed bike is now working again!  It had a terrible run-in with a whipper snipper last week which left the tire wall threadbare.  Thanks to my dad, his tools and WD40, we got the tire changed in record time.

whipper snipper was the last straw

Now, don’t feel too sorry for me…the bike is and always will be a bit of a junker–the kind of bike that is worth less than the lock.  It’s my favourite summer transportation though, and I was eager to get it back on the road.

This tire may have doubled the worth of the bike!

If the weather stays like this, I may just ride to the lake and jump in!

What are you doing to stay cool?

If you leave a bag of raw sheep fleece in the car all afternoon, be prepared for a particularly ripe odor when you open the door.

I got a large feed bag full of raw fleece today.  It is much softer, crimpier (wavier) and has a shorter staple (hair length) than the fleeces I’ve had before.  I’m hoping that these characteristics will lead to a much softer and less scratchy yarn when it is all said and done.

can't ya smell it??

After work, I poured a nice hot bath, and dumped the whole stinkin’ lot into the tub.  I use a washing liquid (pH 4.5) which maintains the acidity, and is beneficial for the wool.

Something of supreme importance in this whole process is a bathtub drain filter.  This can be picked up at a hardware store, and it will reduce the amount of hair and sticks that go down the drain.

It’s at this point that I wonder if the fleece will ever get completely white, and I wonder if my bathtub will be white again.

The training begins tomorrow.  A strict regimen of ankle stretching, and fleece carding every day for the entire week should be ample preparation!

You see, I’ve just signed up for a really big challenge this July.  I just joined the Tour De Fleece, for Team Canada, and as such I vow to spin every day that the Tour De France riders are on their bikes.

That’s from Saturday July 3rd to Sunday July 25th, 2010.  I aim to get part way through this bag….but we’ll see how that goes.  I imagine that a lot of it will end up as sport weight yarn that I can use to make mittens this winter.  I’m thinking that some creative dyeing may be needed, because that’s a LOT of white fleece! 

I know, there’s lots of fun to be had in July….cottages, beach days, camp outs, and many other adventures.  Good thing spindles are portable!

If you are tempted crazy enough to join in, sign up on ravelry, here are some of the guidelines (not RULES):

1. Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. Saturday July 3rd through Sunday July 25th. Days of rest: Monday July 12th, Wednesday July 21st. (Just like the actual tour)
2. Spin something challenging Thursday July 22nd. (The Tour’s toughest mountain stage from Pau up the legendary Col du Tourmalet)
3. Wear yellow on Sunday July 25th to announce victory. Why not wear yellow on any day you feel particularly successful? (Yellow is the color of the race leader in the Tour – but here we are all ‘race leaders’)

Teams: Join one, or many, or none.

• Rookies (first years)
• Sprinters (fast and/or high mileage like lace)
• Climbers (conquer mountains, big personal challenges)
• Breakaway (Art yarns)
• Peloton (The main group. Everyone is in the peloton at some point)
• Lantern rouge (You will participate as much as possible but you may skip days here and there. Cheerleaders welcome.)
• Wildcards (This is for people who want to form their own team. This includes sponsored teams, like those affiliated with a specific fiber shop or people who live in the same town, etc.)