al dente crafting

it / xe / they | 27 | spinning, knitting, quilting, crochet, and whatever else takes my fancy

[soleils-stitches]

radfems fuck off challenge :)

[affreca]

Tour de Fleece Day 21 (last day): Zwartbles

Black sheep; it's in the name. I feel like this is another breed that's relatively new to the NA spinning scene; it's not included in the Spinner's Book of Fleece.

I found it somewhat coarse, but not to bad. The dark color is nice, reminds me how my black cat's fur is actually dark brown.

I feel I have mostly been seeing it in blends coming from World of Wool, though the only blend I see on their website is the wonderfully named Reindeer Poop. I find the 100% Zwartbles top at Paradise, and Mohair and More. For some reason (sarcasm) I'm not finding any hand dyed braids.

Not a bad 21 breed study. I'm still in love with my favorites, but will happily spin some of the coarser meat sheeps. And a new least favorite wool.

References:

Ekarius, C., & Robson, D. (2013). The Field Guide to Fleece: 100 Sheep Breeds & How to Use Their Fibers. North Adams: Storey Publishing, LLC.

Robson, D., & Ekarius, C. (2011). The Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook: More Than 200 Fibers, from Animal to Spun Yarn. North Adams: Storey Publishing, LLC.

Sheep pic By Earthernware - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15614322, the rest by me.

[soleils-stitches]

I think I might buy myself a supported spindle as a reward for keeping to my goals with tdf and spinning 15 minutes a day minimum! I am however presently exhausted by spinning so it might end up sitting in my spindle box for a few weeks until I'm ready to go again

[romanceyourdemons]

guy working on an artwork they knew would push them technically: what the hell why do i keep doing this wrong. am i haunted by malevolent spirits and such

[kaysoncoffee]

Tour de fleece! Yesterday was a little on the spindle and today was a little on the nano

[ofchaosgoddess]

okay so that was an absolute waste of 7 hours of my precious Sunday so that’s a bummer but hey I got some spinning done and soon I shall be home

[potatoshoe]

more positively this is my tdf result! the grey is about 1/3 of the yarn i need for the cardigan i want to make and the bright yarn is enough for another hat for the winter in case it's cold this year.

[amymon-arachne]

TDF Day 16

Another 15.7g today. Didn’t start until after 11 PM because it was so hot lol. I feel like I’m really flying through this one but that’s because this is the only one I haven’t spun at 55 WPI. Going for something thicker and fluffier for this fibre.

[radiationconnoisseur]

Getting very strong, very powerful, very into quilting

[professionalghost1250]

Finally went to the hand doctor after having inflammed thumbs for 6 months! I can get back to hobbies soon!!!

That means I got the quilt back out!☺️🤍💜🖤

-Currently sewing the whole quilt in vertical strips

-Yellow is finished

-White is more than halfway finished

[keeperofkats]

TdF Day 3: Thick Floof

Found a lovely floofy white roving in my grab bag and tried a combo long/short draw from Abby Franquemont's Drafting DVD (thank you local guild library) that made everything go SUPER quick. It was a little unnerving holding my hands next to each other and basically having a super-wide drafting zone, but I did enjoy it once I got going.

I'm really hoping I can make this into one of the cool crepe yarns from the Spinner's Book of Yarn Design. Fingers crossed.

[golden-pothos]

I started processing the fleece, I have 2 batches scoured (abt 300g total before scouring) and abt 17g totally processed. It’s going slowly as I figure it out and since i’m having to flick open every lock it might just be quicker to spin directly from that flicked lock instead of combing it. Not sure i’ll have to experiment a little.

I’m trying to separate out the colors a bit to maybe do some color work? We’ll see!

Also a bird stole some of the fleece to make a nest!

[ofchaosgoddess]

TdF Day 16

many colors spun thicc

also did coffee/muffin/spindling out and about which was very nice. I made it to 9 whole grams on the supported spindle (total, over all of tdf thus far 😂) but I’m spinning potentially a 3ply laceweight? maaaaybe a light fingering so this will in fact take Forever but I will enjoy every moment of that forever.

[stringbit]

Finished the 25 grams of Tussah silk, and started on the 25 grams of muga silk, with 25 grams of peduncle silk to follow. Massively improving my skills on the takhli. And when this is over, I've 100 grams each of raw corriedale, merino, and leicester to play with. Improving skills on the combs is next in line

I mean this started as tour de fleece. But why stop there?!

[soleils-stitches]

decided to go ahead and ply a bobbin bc i really didn't want to spend an hour putting it on a spare only to ply it later

207m/50g approx fingering before finishing. i'm hoping it will bloom to around a sport weight / light dk after wet setting and thwacking

[knits-and-crafts]

Tour de Fleece update! We're just starting week 3, but I personally missed a week and a half due to vacation plans so I'm only about 2oz down of my project so far. I'll tack on the extra 10 days at the end to even it out.

After a very minimal amount of sampling I decided to spin a 3-ply yarn, with one ply being the sparkle fiber, one ply being solid orange, and one being a rough blend of the pink and yellow. I'm a little frustrated with the sparkle fiber though because there are a lot of white/ undyed pieces I have been pulling out as I go, so we'll have to see what the final yardage ends up as. And as usually I'm loving seeing everyone's projects this year! Now back to spinning!

[dangerphd]

TdF Day 21: A Plan Is Just A List of Things That Doesn't Happen

spun and plied today: 50/50 jacob/cheviot; 420m/205g

I think it will stripe. one ply tonal purple, one ply grey/blue and pink in repeating sections. thinking about looooong self-striping yarn as easy woven plaids now...