Tour de Fleece 2017 progress

It is amazing what you can get done when you are not at work all day!

I have been spinning every day and as a result have made a lot of progress on a number of fronts. The warp and the weft for the collapse weave project are all spun. I even have a PVC niddy noddy ready to finish the yarn to be ready for weaving (more on that below). I finished this so fast that I added another project to my TdF list this year.

 These are the two halves of the weft. I divided the braid in two so I would get shorter color runs which would ensure that I was able to fit the entire gradient into the project. I can always add more colors from the other half as needed.

 This is the Z spun warp. I am hoping to use just this for the warp but I have a backup plan in case I need more yardage.

I have some S spun singles from the sampling back in March. I spun some more in the S direction so that I can alternate S and Z spun singles if I need more yardage.

Next up on these is to set the twist temporarily so that I am able to weave without getting pigtails from the twist. I had a problem with this when I wove the samples. I thought that letting the singles rest would make the twist dormant enough. But it didn't. So now I am going to wind the singles onto a PVC niddy noddy and wet and dry them under tension. Additionally, I will add a sizing to the warp so it will have a bit more strength and will move through the heddle more easily. I am planning to use a xanthan gum solution for sizing. This will wash out when the woven item is wet-finished.

There is the PVC niddy noddy. I need this because my wood one will absorb the water and could get damaged by the damp. I also took this opportunity to make a 2 yd niddy noddy. My wood one makes 30-32" skeins, not quite 2 yds.

I also am carding and spinning the locks i dyed. I initially thought I'd keep the colors separate but I prefer to let them get blended or stay separate rather randomly so I am doing it as they come to hand.
I pick, I card, and I spin. Then I repeat. This keeps my hands from getting too sore from one activity.

A couple of piles of rolags.

And here's the yarn.

That is one full bobbin on the left and the second bobbin I started on the right. I am spinning this on the Tina II and loving the process of treadling. I think I am going to keep a carding project going on the Tina II while I spin top on the Hansen.

Since these are going so fast, I decided to add in a third project. I have these two braids which are both the same red but one is cool and one is warm. Here they are.

 The two braids where you can see the difference. To make sure that they don't clash, I am drafting them together so that the final yarn will have bits of each read blended together.

 This is how I hold the two braids. I divided each braid into 4 width-wise and am holding the entire width of each braid in my hand and drafting.

Here is one quarter of the project done. This is 2 oz. 1 oz from each braid.

Lastly, I finished the color gamp Shetland scarf. I wanted to get it done so the loom will be free for the collapse weave project in August.

I got tired of changing the weft every 1.5" so after doing 1 set of each color, I started doing 4.5" (3x1.5) stripes in the middle. Two sets of those and then a repeat of the 1.5" stripes on the other end. I am in love with the way the Shetland looks and feels in this scarf. I have more of the Harris tweed Shetland yarn and I am going to weave more scarves with it.

I also splurged and bought a lovely new supported spindle. I haven't used it yet but I think that after the Tour de Fleece is done, I am going to spend some time spindling.

It is from Glasspins, by Mingo and Asho. They had a sale on. The glass focal is a red and gold swirl but I love the body. It is bird's eye maple. My favorite wood.

Next time I hope to show you the finished warp and weft for the collapse weave and even maybe a plied yarn from the locks. 

Washing a fleece using seed starting trays

This is the third method of washing locks that I am trying and I have to say that I am sold on this. I looked for trays with holes in the bottom and I guess they show up periodically at dollar stores or thrift stores. When I went looking for them over the summer, I didn't find any. I hit every dollar store around me and also the thrift store and failed. So I ended up buying these seed starting trays online. I had to buy a pack of 10, which was OK because they were approximately $1.00 each.

Plan A was to use the large foil pans (the ones that go in those wire chafing dishes) as I had done when I washed the previous lot of fiber. But, as they say, the best laid plans.... The trays were too big for the foil pans.
Plan B worked. The trays fit exactly into the tub in my laundry room. Of course, this means that draining is easy.

 These are the locks loaded into a tray. I only put one layer of locks in each tray because the trays are quite shallow. I think I could do two layers but they would take longer to dry. If I had a whole fleece, I might do that.

I am washing 3 trays of locks at a time to save on hot water. I start by putting in a couple of inches of hot tap water into the tub and soaking each tray for 15 mins. This is just to remove surface grime and wet the locks thoroughly. These locks are clean and the water is barely dirty after the first soak.

I use an empty tray to help keep the locks in order. When a tray with locks is put into or taken out of the water, the empty tray is nested into it and pressed down. This helps keep the wool underwater till it is saturated or helps squeeze water out of it as I remove the tray. It worked like a charm. Since the trays nest into each other closely, it is easy to do this.

 This is one tray soaking in a soapy bath. I washed these in Dawn dish detergent to remove the lanolin. For the wash and the rinse soaks, I added about 3 quarts of boiling water to the tub in addition to the hot tap water. I did this for each tray so the water remained hot. Each soak was 15 mins long.

 Wet locks after they come out of the wash. I stacked them on top of each other on top of an old towel so that they didn't drip all over everything. I rinsed them in hot water using the same process (boiling water + hot tap water for a 15 min soak).

 After all the washing and rinsing was over, I put the trays on my laundry drying rack over night. There is a heating vent just below the rack so they got plenty of air. They looked dry this morning.

 But just for safety's sake, I moved them up to an unused bedroom and stacked them up there. I will leave them to air and dry for a couple of days before I put them away. Another advantage of these trays is that they can be stacked on top of each other in very little space. They are also light.

As far as actually using the fiber, I am spindling away. This is more of the gradient being spindled. I also started spindling a Cormo top on my little Kuchulu. I am so not into knitting right now. I just want to spindle.

For the want of a stopper

Today was a gorgeous day. I thought I would take advantage of it and finish preparing the two fleeces I had. One was from May and the other from August. The May one was washed but that was it. The August one needed to be washed.

 This fiber was from a Montadale/Corriedale cross so I had high hopes for it. I was not disappointed. The locks were well defined and there was little or no vegetable matter or other junk in it. The ends are slightly sunburned which will add some depth to the color of the yarn.

 I decided to wash them in these seed starting trays I bought for fleece washing. I wanted to keep the locks intact so I could comb or spin from the locks. Here they are, nicely lined up like soldiers on a tray. I have 8 trays, I think.

 I kept two trays empty to act as weights when soaking and draining the filled tray.  I thought I would put the trays in the foil trays I used to wash the last fleece. I would use the empty tray to push down the filled one into the water and then again to squeeze the water out of the locks.

 The trays stack up nicely. You can see the color variation in the locks in this picture. This set is more grey than some of the others.

I wasn't able to fit all the locks into trays. This is the amount that is left.

Unfortunately, the seed starting trays are too big for the foil pans. So I decided to use the laundry tub, but we don't have any stoppers for the drain. Or at least we do, but it is cracked and useless. I went out to the hardware store to get a replacement but they didn't have any that size. So that was the end of the fleece washing plan.

However, I had the washed fleece to work on. I began with this

and ended with this.

And this is where I spent the day. No complaints here. I feel a sense of accomplishment and I think I can wash the fleece tray by tray over the next week or so. Once I get a stopper of course!