#wota roving

[craftycoola]

plans for tdf '23

Y'ALL. it's time. it's an excuse to spin more. it's tour de fleece.

spinning!me is super disorganized -- i only own one (1) spinning tool (a drop spindle) -- so i'm fully prepared for a we'll-burn-that-bridge-when-we-get-to-it kind of tdf. that's not stopping me from having Plans (TM), though!

in the interest of not ruining everyone's feeds, i'm going to keep yelling below the cut.

(also, if you don't want my hopefully-daily updates on spinning, i'll be tagging everything with #tour de fleece and #tour de fleece 2023 if you want to block)

in general, i want to spin and post progress every day. i've attempted to do daily progress things on instagram, but i always chicken out because of the Aesthetics (TM). here on the hellsite i can only hope that i will not be such a terrible pedant about lighting.

PROJECT 1: MERINO/SILK FRACTAL 3-PLY

first off is finishing what's on my spindle right now. i've got about 1/3 of a ply left to go on a fingering-weight fractal 3-ply spin in merino/silk (dyed by emily c gillies for luck of the draw december 2022). i've been working on this for WAYY too long; i started spinning it in, uhh, february.

here's the breakdown of the milestones i want to hit:

07/01: finish spinning the ply

07/02: wind a plying ball and start plying

07/04: finish plying

PROJECT 2: PERUVIAN WOOL 3-PLY

next up is another wip... kind of. i'm working on a sweater quantity of handspun -- i have one skein finished, but the rest of it has been on hold while the merino/silk takes up the spindle.

this yarn is a dk-weight 3-ply in a heathered fiber (knit picks wool of the andes roving in indigo heather). i have some leftovers on two of my makeshift bobbins from my first skein, so i'm hoping i can just slide the cops back onto my spindle and connect new fiber.

i have 800 g of the fiber, and will probably need at least 700 g for the sweater project, so... i think this should probably take the rest of the month (and beyond).

nonetheless...

PROJECT 3: DORSET WOOL CHAIN PLY

i have two GORGEOUS 100 g braids of dorset (again from emily c gillies' luck of the draw, this time for june 2023). there's an orange/pink/purple/blue gradient, and there's a coordinating pastel green/blue/purple/brown tonal.

i want to spin both up into lace/fingering-weight yarns to combine in a knitted project. to preserve the gradient, that'll get chain-plied, and i think i'll do the same on the tonal just for consistency (and because how does anyone split braids in 3???)

~~~

and i'm pretty sure there will be absolutely no time for anything else, so. that's a wrap for my @a-tour-de-fleece plans!

#tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #emily c gillies #merino/silk #lotd 12/22 #knit picks #wool of the andes #wota roving #indigo heather #dorset #lotd 06/23 #craftblr #spinning #handspinning

[craftycoola]

tdf '23: day 15

plying! hopefully this'll be blocked and dried by tomorrow.

#craftblr #tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #fiber art #hand spinning #spindle spinning #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #p: we pull apart the dark #wip

[craftycoola]

tdf '23: retrospective

I'm pretty proud of what I accomplished this Tour de Fleece, even if it's not all that I hoped for. After all, last year I probably spun about 1000 yards total (~200 yards of 4-ply). This year, I did so much more.

emily c gillies merino/silk (luck of the draw december 2022)

+ finished spinning about 25% of one of the plies (~144 yards) + plied the main 3-ply yarn (576 yards) + plied a 2-ply with leftovers on the bobbins (157 yards) + chain-plied the final leftover bits (12 yards)

knit picks wool of the andes roving (indigo heather)

+ finished spinning 7.5 plies (~1298 yards) + finished plying 2 skeins of 3-ply (340 yards)

knit picks bare wool of the andes roving (hand dyed)

This was all already spun from last year, but they were hanging around unfinished in my spinning box, so I skeined and wet finished them. I'm not adding this to my final yardage count, but it's something that I finished nonetheless.

totals

That brings us to a grand total of about 2527 yards! That's well over 2 times the amount I did last year, which is pretty awesome. Plus it's all spindle spun (on the one (1) beginner drop spindle that I own), so it would be unfair to myself to compare to wheel spinners. (Although this event has reminded me why I do really want a wheel. buy my patterns or something /s)

Anyways, I'm really happy I did Tour de Fleece this year, and really proud of what I accomplished. Thanks to everyone who spun along and @a-tour-de-fleece -- it was awesome seeing everything you all made!

#craftblr #tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #hand spinning #fiber art #spindle spinning #drop spindle #emily c gillies #merino/silk #lotd 12/22 #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather

[craftycoola]

tdf '23: day 18

halfway through ply 1/3 of another skein. trying to be conscious about spinning loftier and with softer twist, because hooo boy do i not have enough fiber if i keep going at the dense pace i've been doing.

#tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #fiber art #hand spinning #spindle spinning #craftblr #wip #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #p: we pull apart the dark

[craftycoola]

fo: we pull apart the dark (2)

(name is from sleeping at last "embers" because the fiber is pretty dark in person and impossible to photograph but when drafting it you can see lovely rich shades of reds and blues)

dates: + start: july 4, 2023 + finish: july 9, 2023 + events: tour de fleece 2023 (@a-tour-de-fleece)

fiber specs: + brand: knitpicks + composition: 100% peruvian wool (wool of the andes roving) + prep: commercially prepared top + dye pattern: heathered (indigo heather)

spinning specs: + structure: traditional 3-ply + direction: s-twist + prep: stripped into fourths and pre-drafted + finishing: snapped and wet finished

yarn specs: + twist: 25 degrees (medium spun) + wraps per inch: 11 (dk / cyc 3) + yardage: 167 yards / 153 meters (ish) + weight: 3.25 ounces / 92 grams + grist: 823 yards per pound (again ish)

#tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #p: we pull apart the dark #fo #fo spec post #wip #(haha) #craftblr #fiber art #spinning #hand spinning #spindle spinning #drop spindle

[craftycoola]

doesn't everything look so much better in the daylight?

#severely tempted to start tagging all my pics based on their lighting quality #tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #hand spinning #spindle spinning #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #wip

[craftycoola]

tdf '23: day 20

allllllllllmost done with ply 1/3 of pull apart the dark (4). and pull apart the dark (2) is being knit up into a sleeve.

i've been slowing down recently, but i'm hoping to get that fourth skein finished by the end of tdf.

#tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #craftblr #fiber art #hand spinning #spindle spinning #drop spindle #wip #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #p: we pull apart the dark

[craftycoola]

fo: we pull apart the dark (3)

dates: + start: july 9, 2023 + finish: july 16, 2023 + events: tour de fleece 2023 (@a-tour-de-fleece)

fiber specs: + brand: knitpicks + composition: 100% peruvian wool (wool of the andes roving) + prep: commercially prepared top + dye pattern: heathered (indigo heather)

spinning specs: + structure: traditional 3-ply + direction: s-twist + prep: stripped into fourths and pre-drafted + finishing: snapped and wet finished

yarn specs: + twist: 20 degrees + wraps per inch: 11 (dk / cyc 3) + yardage: 173 yards / 158 meters (ish) + weight: 3.25 ounces / 105 grams + grist: 747 yards per pound (again ish)

#tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #fiber art #hand spinning #spindle spinning #drop spindle #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #p: we pull apart the dark #fo spec post #fo #wip #craftblr

[craftycoola]

fo: we pull apart the dark (1)

(yes, skein 2 got posted first, shhhh)

dates: + start: october, 2022 + finish: february, 2023

fiber specs: + brand: knitpicks + composition: 100% peruvian wool (wool of the andes roving) + prep: commercially prepared top + dye pattern: heathered (indigo heather)

spinning specs: + structure: traditional 3-ply + direction: s-twist + prep: stripped into fourths and pre-drafted + finishing: snapped and wet finished

yarn specs: + twist: 15 degrees (soft spun) + wraps per inch: 11 (dk / cyc 3) + yardage: 171 yards / 156 meters (ish) + weight: 3.06 ounces / 87 grams + grist: 889 yards per pound (again ish)

note: a lot fuzzier than the other skeins, possibly because i accidentally left it to soak for like, 12 hours (and also the lower twist)

#knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #p: we pull apart the dark #fo #fo spec post #wip #craftblr #fiber art #hand spinning #spindle spinning #drop spindle

[craftycoola]

tdf '23: day 14

things i did today:

wound the cake of purple yarn

chain-plied, skeined, and wet finished the mini periwinkle skein (leftover merino/silk)

skeined the purple and green mini skeins (the scrappy bits from my tdf last year)

finished my third ply for skein 2 of the purple yarn

tomorrow will be plying! hopefully i finished the single early enough today that it'll be nice and rested for tomorrow.

#craftblr #tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #fiber art #spinning #hand spinning #spindle spinning #drop spindle #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #p: we pull apart the dark #wip

[craftycoola]

tdf '23: day 12

halfway through the third ply! once i have the skein done, i think i'm going to cake it and cast the sweater on. (as if i don't have enough knitting wips.)

#tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #craftblr #fiber art #hand spinning #spindle spinning #drop spindle #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #wip

[craftycoola]

tdf '23: day 11

i feel like these posts are starting to get confusing, so i'm gonna try listing everything i've done during tdf and taking a picture of everything that's been done. idk it seems easier than "halfway through the second ply of the second skein of purple yarn that's actually the third skein of the project" you know?

but anyways that is indeed where i am.

#craftblr #tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #fiber art #spinning #hand spinning #spindle spinning #drop spindle #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #wip

[craftycoola]

tdf '23: day 8

managed to finish the second and third plies for this braid, and started winding up a plying ball. i maybe should've let them rest first...

#craftblr #fiber art #tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #spinning #hand spinning #spindle spinning #drop spindle #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #wip

[craftycoola]

tdf '23: day 7

just over halfway through the ply! hoping to finish this ply tomorrow.

#tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #craftblr #fiber art #spinning #hand spinning #spindle spinning #drop spindle #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #wip

[craftycoola]

tdf '23: day 6

finished my first ply of this 100 g braid of wota, and about 25% done the second one! in a surprising twist, spinning dk goes so much faster than light fingering does. (ok so maybe that shouldn't be surprising.)

#craftblr #fiber art #tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #spinning #image #wip #hand spinning #drop spindle #spindle spinning #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather

[craftycoola]

tdf '23: day 5

didn't get much done today; i ended up accidentally printing off a sewing pattern and then spending a good chunk of time assembling and cutting that. but i've made a little progress on my sweater spin, and my fractal spin has been wet finished.

#tour de fleece #tour de fleece 2023 #fiber art #craftblr #crafts #spinning #hand spinning #drop spindle #spindle spinning #knit picks #wota roving #indigo heather #wip