Day 7 Tour De Fleece 2015

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Spinning Falkland Wool that I dyed with turmeric.  I'm covered in turmeric now.  I love the colour but I don't know if this is going to work out.  Little disappointed.  Would love a hat this colour but I don't want a yellow mark on my forehead.  Will have to decide if I will continue spinning it or not.

Day 6 Tour De Fleece

I spun up these batts that I made with hand dyed superwash merino and some silver angelina fibre.  I think it will make a nice hat.

Will wash and set this yarn tomorrow.

I dug this yarn out of my handspun stash and decided to attempt knitting one of these hats.  I have a small head and knit with a big gauge so I am knitting with 5mm needles and cast on only 72.  I will see how I get on.

Happy Spinning!

Day 5 Tour De Fleece

I got a bit of spinning done today.  Yesterday and today, I didn't have as much time for it.  It is great to do this spinalong because even if you do 5 minutes, it's something and it counts.  There are no real rules.  It is nice to be spinning again.  I might even run out of hand dyed wool before the Tour is finished.  It is fun thinking about what I will knit with these new yarns.  I'd like to make some simple shawls and hats.  I've been looking up patterns and digging through all my handspun yarns.  I do want to start some but I have so many projects on the go.

One day, I will dye and spin matching hat, scarf/cowl/shawl and mittens/fingerless gloves.

I am beginning to find appreciation for fingerless gloves.  A shocking truth is I wore a pair of fingerless gloves that I dyed, spun and knitted while taking Lexi out for our last walk tonight.  Shocking because it's July.

Day 4 Tour De Fleece

Didn't get much spinning done today but I did a bit and took a few photos.

Today I made a chocolate, cherry, coconut banana bread.  It should be called everything including the kitchen sink cake!

Day 3 Tour De Fleece 2015

Day 3 of the Tour De Fleece.  I am planning on plying these two different colourways together and am looking forward to seeing the outcome.  I have high hopes of plying these bobbins after dinner.  I make no promises and I probably will photograph the plied yarn tomorrow.

Happy Spinning!

Day Two Tour De Fleece

This is yesterday's spinning plied.

This is Lexi, making the most the sunshine while it lasts.

I am going to spin and ply both of these together.  I spun the more orange-y one today and will spin the other one tomorrow.

Orange-y one spun.

Happy Spinning!

‪#‎tdfspinalong15‬, 

Tour De Fleece 2015 Irish Spinalong Day One

 Today is Day One of the Tour De Fleece and the Tour De France.  This is the first year, I am participating.  I am hoping to spin up a lot of my stash.  It's lovely here, so I was able to spin in my back garden.

The blue wool was some combed top that I purchased and the batt was one that I made.  It is a mixed fibre back from my LHogan wool days.

‪#‎tdfspinalong15‬

Remake No. 2

When I first started knitting garments, I decided I wanted to learn how to make sweaters out of my hand spun yarn.  Maybe the reason behind this was due to being slightly intimidated by normal knitting patterns.  Also I just wanted to knit the simplest of designs. I tried to learn how to make pieces that fit me.  I love to learn how to do things.  It all began with learning how to knit t toppers because I also wanted to knit in the round.  As great as the process was, I found I didn't really want to wear t toppers.  I made three.  I have ripped out two and reknitted them.  I will be tackling the 3rd soon.  This is the second t topper that got frogged and reknitted.  I spun all the yarn used.  I didn't dye it.  Purchased the dyed top off Felt Studio Uk years ago.  The natural coloured wool is Blue Faced Leicester which is always dreamy.

Lexi met a pal today and they had a great time.

Look at them ears xxx Love Love Love xxx

Warm Spices Falkland Handspun Sweater

This is a top down seamless raglan sweater.  I dyed and spun the yarn then knitted it.  I 

love knitting handspun yarn.  The wool is Falkland and the colourway I named Warm Spices.  I have it finished a while now and was happy to get it photographed.  Been knitting the sleeves bigger at the cuff lately.  I don't know if I will continue doing so but it is a result of me decreasing at the 8th row instead of at the 6th row.

I spun some yarn last week that I would like to use as part of a cardigan but I am aiming to finish a few projects before I cast on/start any more projects.  This is a lot harder than it sounds.  It's always exciting to start a project, finishing one sometimes demands great discipline.  The infamous and irksome question "Are we there yet?" is often asked.  Also the thought of using many of the the new stitch markers that I made, makes starting new sweaters very tempting.

The hat, I knitted as well.  I used some scraps from a This is Knit Yarn Tasting event and also some leftovers of projects that I had.  I dyed the purple-y blue yarn which is a Merino, Cashmere and Nylon yarn (MCN).  I like putting colours together.  It's probably my favourite thing to do especially in my print work that you can see here and here.

And as mentioned before, wooly hats are essential here.  I've never been a big fan of umbrellas.  May hasn't been warm.  It's been chilly and raining.  It's not as cold as winter but it's the furthest cry from bikini weather.  Grateful for my wooly jumpers and hats to keep me cozy. Wool is an indispensable ally against an Irish Summer.

Royal Meath Show

Dear Santa,

I would very much like a baby goat for my Christmas present this year.

Sincerely,

Laura

We went to the Royal Meath Show yesterday.  The baby goats are always my favourite in the festivals.  I quite like the idea owning a goat and spinning its fleece to make sweaters each year.