Almost There

Firstly, has it really been 10 days since I last posted?  Sorry about that!  Here's a pretty yarn picture I offer in apology.



Now on with it!
 Yesterday I set out to ply my beautiful BFL singles in the sun.   Now, that looks like very close to the same amount of yarn on each bobbin, right?  The one maybe has a little less, but not much right?



WRONG!  After  a while (when the sun began to hide and supper needed to be cooked, I moved inside) I looked down and noticed this:

Really?!  There was that much more single left on the bobbin???


This is how it ended.  With one bobbin nearly 1/2 full, the other completely empty.


I hate when that happens.  But I ended up with 640yards!  Now, how much is left on that bobbin?  Probably another 200.  That's a lot of yarn!  Look at how pretty it turned out!  A little thicker then I had intended, but hopefully that doesn't make a crazy difference in the Belinda shawls second layer...




Speaking of the Belinda shawl, I finished off the first layer!  It still needs to be blocked, but I'll wait for the second layer to be finished.  Look how much more yarn I have left!  Matching hat?  Mittens?  Fingerless gloves? Leg warmers?  Who knows.... Something though!



Now just to figure out this nature dyeing again! That beautiful white wont be white for long!

~Kara

Well, so much for that.

This is was my final project yarn:



It's coarse, it's uneven, it's not what this lovely BFL fleece wanted to be.  So I'm starting over. I'll make hubby a pair of uber durable socks out of it... if you can make socks out of 250 yards of 9wpi yarn.

So this extends my personal deadline, again, by probably 2-3 weeks.  Oh well, I'd way rather send away something I'm proud of, then something that I really don't like.

~Kara

Progress!

Check this out!  Look at the difference in this wool!  Washed lock by lock is SOOOOO worth it for this wool.


  I'd say I've washed about 1- 1.5 pounds already.  I've got to take a break though, as we are off to visit the in-laws for the weekend.  But I can't wait to get back to wash more.  Over all I've spent at least 3 hours washing so far.  But it's turning out to be a zen experience.  Even with the little ones 'helping'.

This fleece is going to be so wonderful as a warp yarn, or a super fine lace weight, and I'm almost afraid of carding it!  Straight from the lock for most of this!

Oh! And this is what 6 lbs of BFL fleece looks like, in case you were curious.




~Kara

6 lbs to go....

Today I start the daunting task of washing 6 pounds of Blue Face Leicester fleece lock by lock.  I've decided that even though it's a greasy fleece I'm only going to wash it, instead of scouring it.  But maybe, just maybe I'll change my mind and scour it anyway.  I just know that it will take a good long time to dip each of those locks 4 times.   Spinning a slightly greasy fleece isn't all that bad.  Once upon a time I wondered why on earth anyone would even touch a greasy fleece.  Now it's something I enjoy!  It's fun to see the pieces of the sheep, to be able to lay out a dirty fleece and identify the parts, sort them and spin them into just the right yarn.   Okay, so I can't quite spin just the right yarn yet, I'm not there in my learning, but that's the whole point of becoming a Master Spinner.
Anywho, wish me luck because the washing isn't  my favorite part, but it's something that must be done!

~Kara