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Day 5: Boucle is coming together

4/7/2013

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Slowly but surely - yesterday evening I finished what boucle I could - turns out that 1 bobbin of mohair only covers 1/2 bobbin of the silk/merino, so I'll be having to prepare some more batts and spin some more mohair singles later, but for now I'm concentrating on finishing enough silk singles to bind the 2-ply I've done so far.

The silk hankies are surprisingly quick to spin from the corner - I'm going to get Ken to video me doing that in the weekend, and I'll post it then. I have already been doing this with my spindles, but I'd never spun from hankies from the corner with my wheel before - I'd always started pulling them out  from the centre and attenuated into roving. Spinning from the corner is so much easier and goes so quickly.

So: Z-spun core of merino/silk (so old I haven't any idea what the proportions were) with lots of twist, mohair singles spun from my own batts, also high twist, plied S with medium twist; binding thread of fine silk, medium S-twist, to be plied Z with the 2-ply. We shall see!

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Day 4: slow progress.

3/7/2013

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Well, I finally got to start plying the mohair and silk singles in boucle - seeing it had been over a decade since I plied in boucle, it was a slow start. This is about 1/2 of each bobbin - as the mohair will be longer, I spun about 1 1/2 times as much mohair as silk/merino. Enjoying the freedom of my new Ashford Jumbo flyer!

I wouldn't say it's my best work, but I'm really enjoying the challenges I've set myself for the Tour de Fleece!

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Because I was out spinning with a friend, I didn't want to start plying, so I took some of my next fibre - the fine Falkland wool I got in my swap parcel from the New Zealand Fibre Swap group on Ravelry. Bright? I'm thinking it might be a good yarn for Stephen West's Akimbo scarf.


Note: to go to Ravelry links in these posts, you need to be a member, and to be signed in - then the links will take you through to the page.

More tomorrow!

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Day 3: slog, slog...

2/7/2013

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Not much achieved yesterday, because Monday is typically a heavy workload day out in the shed. 
I'm continuing with the singles for my 3-ply boucle yarn. The next component is the third ply, a binding ply of fine pale blue silk. Also on today's list (again), fuchsia silk hankies. Rough hands shall not deter me!
I'm off to spin in Christchurch today with one of the Heavenly Wools TdF team members, so I should be a little more productive.
Until tomorrow...


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Up and racing on Day 2!

1/7/2013

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Tour de Fleece Day 2
Well, Day 2 was a lot more fun - the change of wheels led to a change of spinning style and I spun the rest of the camel down left-handed, which made it go a lot faster.

Initially my day seemed to be loaded with other tasks - the beautiful drying conditions made washing on the line an imperative, for a start, but I managed to spin and ply a LOT as well as do the washing, catch up on some dyeing and cook a roast dinner (which was beautiful - lamb with roast veg. I still don't get yams, though).

So, the tally:
Finished spinning the camel down, which is now split into two bobbins, unfortunately, but that will be all right.
Dyed some silk to match the camel down - hot fuchsia pink.
Plied my two spindles of (respectively) silk from a hanky and merino in Ink
Began spinning some 100% mohair to ply with singles already spun. End goal is a 3-ply effect yarn - this will happen before the end of the Tour! There is only a small amount so it should be quick to finish.

Goal for today: to spin at least some of the silk from the fuchsia hanky and the rest of the mohair. Possibly to ply the mohair with the merino/silk.

Now just a few more dyelots and I can get back into the spinning...


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    Kate is a semi-retired photographer and craft dyer who lives in Southland, New Zealand.

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Site by ImageOxford © Kate Mahoney 2010 - ​2020 All Rights Reserved
  • Home
    • About Haunui Handcraft Wools
    • About Kate
    • FAQ
  • Online Shop
  • Resources
    • Using My Wool >
      • Spinning
      • Feltmaking
      • Nuno Felt
      • Needle Felting
    • Projects >
      • Norwegian Stocking Cap
      • Granny Square Beanie
      • Anna Maria Hat
      • 'Scrap' Scarf
      • No-spin knit & felt scarf >
        • No-spin scarf videos
    • Hints & Tips >
      • Felting Tips
      • Making a Felt Sample
      • Navajo Plying
      • Photographing your work >
        • Lighting
        • Framing Shots
        • Image Editing
  • Blog
  • Contact