TDF recap

Between having houseguests and going on a car trip during Tour de Fleece this year I feel like I barely got any spinning done, even though I actually spun much more than I normally do. Above is some spindling I managed in the hotel room before crashing at night. Fibre is Northbound Knitting cheviot in 'Violent Mood Swings'. I only got half of it spun, so I need to finish.

 I also had a small amount (1.8 oz) of some sw merino / nylon I'd dyed left over, so spun it up into a 2-ply fingering wt. and got about 206 yds. I'll spin something else to go with it now.

A few weeks ago my friend in Sweden gave me some amazing batts from Limmo-Design. They had lots of great nepps and made for a highly entertaining spin. I got about 216 yds 2-ply dk weight from 100g.

And finally it was touch and go at the end but I managed to finish my sweater spin. Fibre is Northbound Knitting bfl in 'Purple Rain'. I got about 1376 yds of 2-ply sportweight, so that should be plenty.

I'm happy with everything, even if I feel like a slacker compared to some other people I know. I also didn't see a lot of the bike race, though I barely watch tv during the summer anyway. Maybe the Olympics will captivate me.

fibrey shop update

I've been spinning, dyeing, and dreaming fibre lately. Tour de Fleece ends tomorrow, so I've been trying to finish spinning my sweater's worth goal. Not yet sure I'll make it.

I just put some new fibre in the shop - Finn, BFL, and a superwash merino / nylon blend that is perfect for socks and fantastic to spin.

Now, back to the wheel...

lightning kerchief

Finally, a FO!

Pattern: Lightning Kerchief by Odessa Reichel
Yarn: my new sock yarn (!) - more deets later

I'm blaming an acute case of startitus, spinning a lot for Tour de Fleece, and being on holidays for the lack of FOs lately here at chez Doodle. I always think I'll have tons of knitting time when I'm not at work, but I think I really have less. Not sure why.

But I'm very happy about finishing this up. Odessa is a designer superstar who I'm so privileged to know personally. This was a fun and easy summer knit. Great for car trip knitting, late night hotel room knitting (is anyone else addicted to Pawn Stars?) and poolside knitting. I probably blocked it huger than necessary, but I was intrigued to see how it would look. I'm going to wear this one a lot.

fun drive in a heat wave

I've been on a car trip with my family, so my TDF spinning suffered greatly due to spending every waking moment either in the car, in a pool /waterpark /amusement park, or in a mall. But here's my meagre 2 oz 'accomplishment' from the past few days:

Spindle spinning is slow (for me, at least) but very relaxing. Now that I'm home again, I'm torn between finishing this braid or getting back to the sweater spin on my wheel.

One of my favourite stores is Zandbroz Variety in Fargo. It's on Broadway, which is a great street that I've mentioned before. I found this there:

Had I read the Boucle newsletters they've been sending I would have known they recently moved from Broadway to Main St., but luckily I saw it in time and stopped to get these:

Portland Tweed and Donegal Tweed Homespun (bottom) are yarns I've been wanting to try so I'm happy I found them.

We were also in Minneapolis and while I didn't get to any yarn-related places I was happy to go to the Weisman Art Museum at the U of M campus. Architect: Frank Gehry. Small but very cool collection.They have a lovely Louise Nevelson piece.

 
I got a bit of knitting done in the car, too:

First 3 days of TDF

Tour de Fleece Day 1: spun 2oz of my first braid (next braid shown for reference).  Not too impressive, but I have lots of other stuff going on, so I'm fine with that.

Day 2: another 2oz spun, so need to let them rest a bit before plying them together. Also, watched part of the race. Always exhilarating.

Day 3: another 2oz single spun, plus plied together the first two bobbins and got about 286 yds of 2-ply sportweight. If I'm consistent that means 1430 yds which should work for a sweater for moi.

Though I just received an absolutely awesome swap package from my friend in Sweden and it includes these beauties:

I'm very tempted to take a wee sweater-spin break to try them out on the wheel (yes, I know I just started the sweater and hardly qualify for a break. your point?) cause I've never spun tweedy stuff before.

You're caught up. Vive la TDF!