My knee is killing me!

Seriously, I can see me breaking out the walking stick again for the first time in years & I really don't want to do that. Then again, 'tis my own fault since I actually did it - I did the Tour de Fleece! Yeah okay so it's not like I did anything remotely comparable to cycling around the Alps for 3 weeks but I did at least do what I set out to do.

Here's a wee round-up (copied & pasted from my rav posts 'cos I'm too lazy to type it all out again). Be warned, this is gonna be a long post :0D

Day 8

I spent yesterday arvo washing & whacking week one's output & dyeing up this -



100g of 25.5 micron merino, split in half & dyed with KoolAid. Top braid was dyed with strawberry, strawberry-kiwi & tropical punch & bottom was grape & black cherry.

The plan is to spin them separately then ply & I just spent the last 2 & a half hours spinning the first -



Complete with gratuitous coin shot :0D

Day 9

Another 2 & a half hours spinning up the second braid of KoolAid-dyed merino. I now have a pink/purple single to ply with the pink/red -



No more spinning for me today tho' unless I break out a spindle - all this treadling is bringing back an old knee problem & I *really* don't want to end up on a walking stick again. It was bad enough last time & I didn't have toddlers to chase after then :0P

Day 10

Rest day. I did spend 1 hour in the evening plying up the purple/red merino that I spun up over the weekend, mainly to free up my 3 bobbins for day 11 :0D



Day 11

Hand-carded some mystery blue fluff with some hand-painted silk top to get lots of fluffy rolags. Spent just 30 minutes spinning today as I'm trying to learn longdraw & getting very frustrated :0P

Day 12

Another 30 minutes spinning the mystery wool/silk rolags longdraw.

Day 13

Finally seem to be getting the idea of longdraw. Spent 1 hour finishing the wool/silk rolags. The plan is to spin up a textured batt tomorrow & ply the 2 together - I was never going to get an even single while attempting longdraw so am going for a textured yarn this time :0)



Day 14

An hour & a half spinning the wool/silk/alpaca/sparkle batt. I was very meh when I saw this & the wool/silk from yesterday side by side OTB but had to ply anyway to free up the bobbins (since I only have 3 :0D). I'm glad I did 'cos I love the finished yarn. It's aran to chunky weight, soft & squishy & I suspect will be very warm. Roughly 95 yards too so maybe enough for a hat or some wristwarmers. Took another 45 minutes to ply & I used the rest of the wool/silk single to practice navajo-ply.




ETA managed another hour & a half off & on through the day spinning some (possibly) merino roving that I got in a swap. Pics to follow when I find the new camera batteries :0P

Day 15

Went to Edinburgh today to get 2 year old DS a kilt & came home knackered so only managed about 30 minutes spinning. Still working on the mystery-but-probably-merino fibre.

Day 16

Much better today. Spent 2 hours finished the mystery singles then about 45 minutes plying them. This started out as 4 small braids of mystery fibre which I suspect is commercially-dyed merino. I broke each braid into 3 then stripped 'em in half & spun them into 2 singles. I had thought about chain-plying but I really wanted the colours to run into each other so 2-plied them & the result is 205 yards of roughly DK-weight which I've called Sunshiney Day -



Day 17

Sort of rested (ie didn't spin) but spent 2 & a half hours carding some merino, silk & cashmere into rolags.

Day 18

Only managed about 20 minutes spinning the merino/silk/cashmere thanks to my treadling knee playing up.

Day 19

Knee still playing up so just 30 minutes today on the merino/silk/cashmere.

Day 20

Another 20 minutes *still* spinning the merino/silk/cashmere . . . am slowly losing the will to live. Decided I needed a break & spent an hour carding some chocolate merino, biscuit alpaca & toffee camel into rolags to be plied with the white single.

Then felt hungry & went off for a chocolate biscuit - Mint Clubs mmmmm.

Day 21

Had a big push & spent about 1.5 hours finishing the white merino/silk/cashmere. I've discovered that I dislike spinning natural-coloured (or at least all-white) fibre as I have the attention span of a concussed kitten & need to see the changing colours winding onto the bobbin to keep me focussed :0P

Day 22

About 30 minutes spinning the first of the merino/alpaca/camel - lush!

Day 23

Half-filled the bobbin with the merino/alpaca/camel then got impatient & decided to start plying to see what it'll look like. I don't have a jumbo flyer & am working with about 160g of fibre so this was always gonna be plied in 2 halves anyway.

I now have 170 yards of gorgeously squishy, roughly DK-weight merino/silk/cashmere/alpaca/camel (talk about overkill lol) with probably about the same length again on the first bobbin - just have to finish carding & spinning the darker fibres & I'll hopefully have enough for a really lush scarf for me me me :0D



This has actually been a really challenging week, dodgy knee & all - I have very little experience with the hand carders & with spinning from rolags so it was very slow going plus poor Daphne isn't used to being used so hard & has been protesting (I've just ordered a maintenance kit - I think she deserves it).

The Tour has been fantastic tho' & this year I actually did manage to spin every day with a pretty reasonable amount of yarn at the end of it all. I even managed to get a group shot of all my yarnz minus the very first of the tour which has already been sent off in a swap gift.



See that pic in the bottom right? That's how I feel right now.

I did count up my time total t'other night & it came in at 41 hours which cannot be right so I'm gonna do it again when I have an uninterrupted 10 minutes (yeah, right) & see what the proper figure is.

It's been a great tour tho' & I'm looking forward to next year's - I'll just make damn sure I have a double treadle wheel for 2010!

I'll finish this post with my effort for the 'Creative Display' prize category on the TdeF group -



Yep, I really do need to get out more ;0)