Tour de Fleece: Week 1

Normally I'm not one to join groups, KALs, SALs, etc., but when Kristin of All Spun Up formed an ASU group for the Tour de Fleece (on Ravelry), I was helpless to resist.

We were supposed to set goals, so I set a characteristically nonspecific one: spin down the stash as much as I can. The T4S stash might be visible from space at this point, so I probably won't be able to make much of a dent. (Please don't tell me I should spin thicker. I just can't...for several reasons.) In any case, I have made some progress.

Fiber: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sheep 2 Shoe kit (superwash merino), "Rooster Rock"
3 ply
850 yards (only 400 yards was done during TdF)
234 grams

Fiber: All Spun Up merino, unnamed, but I'm calling it "Orchard"
3 ply
424 yards
114 grams

Fiber: All Spun Up merino, unnamed, but I'm calling it "Prepster"
chain ply (Navajo ply)
434 yards
119 grams

One week: 1248 yards of 3 ply fingering weight yarn. Maybe I should have set a yardage goal.

Flirting with disaster

The universe seems to be throwing things at me lately. Item #1:

The tree in our front yard was blown down in a wind storm a couple of weeks ago. I was actually home when it happened, and I didn't hear a thing. I didn't find out about it until the Professor came home later that evening and asked me when it had happened.

The tree couldn't have fallen down more considerately. It didn't hurt anybody, and it didn't hit the house. Additionally, it stayed out of the street, our driveway, and our neighbors' yard. All in all, the tree showed admirable deportment. The irony is that we had already made arrangements to have it cut down when this happened. I suppose the tree wanted to go out on its own terms.

Item #2: This morning the universe threw me another curve ball. A small truck ran a red light and struck me while I was walking across the street between a parking lot and my office building. I'm fine—rather sore, slightly bruised, and more than a little freaked out, but otherwise I seem to be completely fine. No one else was injured.

Anyway, now I'm wondering what's next in store for me. Lightning strike? Meteor hit? Locusts? Only time will tell.

Yardage recovered

Many thanks to those who commented on the last post and suggested—ever so nicely—that I need to get over myself and stop worrying about yardage. Point taken.

However, I seem to be back to my old ways.

Fiber: Fiber Optic superwash merino, OOAK colorway "Golds and Browns"
3 ply
462 yards
113 grams

Fiber: All Spun Up superwash merino top, May/June SAL colorway
3 ply
460 yards
113 grams

Fiber: All Spun Up merino top
3 ply
580 yards
122 grams

Fiber: The Arts at Eagle's Find fine wool blend top, "Cranberry Bog"
chain ply (Navajo ply)
416 yards
118 grams

Sucking yardage

It's no secret that I prefer to spin fine yarns, most often fingering weight. Normally I count on getting at least 400 yards out of 4 ounces of wool. Getting that kind of yardage is something I've come to take for granted. Well, I recently went through a period during which I couldn't hit 400 yards to save my life.

Fiber: All Spun Up merino top
chain ply (Navajo ply)
340 yards
113 grams

Fiber: Sheepish Creations superwash BFL top, "Carmen"
3 ply
376 yards
123 grams

Fiber: Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino, "Gypsy Queen"
3 ply
710 yards
226 grams

They're all good yarns, but really, where did my yardage go? I've thought of things I might be doing differently, blamed my wheel, etc. I still can't figure it out. My current theory is that the yardage was sucked into a parallel universe. It could happen.

Think pink

Wow, I really didn't mean to be silent for nearly a month. Life gets in the way—work, traveling, etc. The kicker was that my computer died about a week ago. I think the Professor felt vindicated because he has been saying for months that we needed to replace that computer. So now I have a new baby and therefore no excuses for neglecting the blog.

My goal is to do a bunch of make-up posts in the next week or so. I have a lot of catching up to do!

Since I like to be methodical, I'll use this post to highlight some FOs I finished about a month ago. In March I mentioned that I planned to knit two pairs of pink socks for my two young nieces. Well, I accomplished my goal, but barely in time for each of the respective birthdays.

These were for my older niece:

Terrible artificial light photo.

Pattern: Gentleman Socks by Kristi Schueler
Yarn: my own handspun
Needles: 1.75 mm DPNs

What a great pattern for handspun! I had originally planned to do right twists on one sock and left twists on the other, but somehow my left twists didn't seem to mirror my right twists very well. It could be that I just didn't give it enough of a chance before I ripped out the left twists, though. (Hey, I was under a deadline!) And I really love the irony of knitting "Gentleman" socks for my niece who is the girliest of girls.

My younger niece got something simpler:

Since I only had a couple of days to knit these, they had to be ankle socks. It's a good thing that handspun looks so great in plain stockinette. Even in this sad unblocked state, they still look pretty good.

However, I doubt whether I will be able to knit with pink yarn for a year or two.