June 26, 2023
Started by taking out 75 g of washed fleece (bright white) to dye in the crock pot. Used dark orange, a blue, and burgundy. Added a little more fleece to use the remainder of the dye in the depot and then added in more fleece to get a pale blue to also card into the mix. Currently don’t have the weight, but once dry I will weigh it to see what I have. Maybe around 200 g?
Not sure what the plan is for this yet.
This is a 2017 fleece from BSG. The producer is Ramifications. I think it was a last minute purchase that I split with Marsha. It is very soft and bouncy.
07-01-2023
I finished carding this batch today.
I measured so I now know the amount that I dyed was 282 g (9.95 ounces). Today I finished carding this with three pass throughs. The final amount of fleece after carding was 255 g (8.9 oz). So I lost a little over 10% in the carding. I don’t think I’ve ever measured that before and I wonder if it varies a lot by fleece. I’ll have to try to keep track in the future carding I do this summer.
Also, I’m thinking it wasn’t a fleece that I split, I think it is the fleece that I brought to Marcail at Valley Oak to have processed into yarn. I kept a portion of the fleece back and I think this is it. I’ll have to look back at my processing records.
07-13-2023
Started spinning this and decided not to make a new project page for the handspun. I’m letting it spin pretty woolen and fluffy and it’s going to be a pretty quick spin, I think. I had originally thought I could make socks with it but after 1500 yards of sock weight 3-ply, I felt more like just spinning! So we’ll see what it turns out to be and go from there. The purple color is turning out to be really pretty. There are still a few areas where the reddish hue comes through and others where the blue comes through, but overall it is a blended heathery purple. I have a few tweedy neps coming through, but not too many. I’m not pulling them off for the most part. Again, this is a “let it be” spin! First bobbin is almost done. Not sure if it will be a 2-ply or a 3-ply.
07-22-2023
Finished up with two skeins.
108 yards, 133 grams
92 yards, 123 grams
Total 200 yards and 256 grams. I think it might have a little water weight still in it since I did have some waste from plying and it’s weighing in at a tad more than what the dyed fleece weighed. Or maybe I didn’t weigh it quite accurately in the “before” stage.
The yarn weight to yardage seems to indicate an Aran to Bulky yarn. I don’t thing it looks quite that big but I don’t know how it will knit up. It was a fun spin and true to its Targhee lineage it puffed up a lot and made super bouncy skeins. I think a cardigan out of this would be really nice. I might dye up more and think about some color work or stripes or something. Then again, it would also be nice in a squishy blanket. I don’t have to decide today!
08-15-2023
Dyed the rest of the fiber in four batches using the crockpot. One was blue/green, one batch was two shades of orange and and eggplant purple, one was light blue and the fourth was red and purple with lots of undyed fiber. I’ve since carded both the orange and the blue/green using two passes through the carder. I think that’s all I’ll do. I don’t want the colors to be too fully blended. I’ve also picked all the red and purple so it is ready to be carded.
08-17-2023
The carding on this project is finished! The amount that was dyed was 600 g
Blue-green: 93 g (3.2 oz)
Red-purple: 129 g (4.5 oz)
Blue: 157 g (5.5 oz)
Red-orange: 193 g (6.8 oz)
Total weight of batts for this round of processing: 572 g (20.1 oz)
In this batch my loss from carding was about 5%. I only did two passes through the carder with these batts.
The total finished amount from this half fleece is 827 g (29 oz).
I love the colors I got. It’s definitely more than enough for a good sized sweater. Or it could end up being another blanket.
03-14-2024
Back to spinning this fiber! I got tired of moving the boxes around the studio so I stuffed the batts in the African basket I got at Lambtown, got my wheel out near the couch and have been spinning almost every day. I had finished the blue green in summer. And now I have the red-purple finished and washed. I’m now working on the blue batts. I really enjoy spinning this fiber and I’m thinking about a blanket for the bed.
04-02-2024
Finished plying the blue and now I’m spinning the orange.
05-27-2024
Finished with this project--from washing to finished yarn.
Total yardage (approximate):
Orange: 411 yards
Blue-green: 288 yards
Blue: 420 yards (this is much thinner than the others)
Red-purple: 232 yards (plus a 30 yard emergency skein of chain ply)
Blue-purple: 200 yards
1551 yards + 30 yards emergency skein.
Total weight: 829 g (29 oz) of fiber made into 813 g (28.5 oz) of yarn.
05-27-2024
Finished with this project--from washing to finished yarn.
Total yardage (approximate):
Orange: 411 yards
Blue-green: 288 yards
Blue: 420 yards (this is much thinner than the others)
Red-purple: 232 yards (plus a 30 yard emergency skein of chain ply)
Blue-purple: 200 yards
1551 yards + 30 yards emergency skein.
Total weight: 829 g (29 oz) of fiber made into 813 g (28.5 oz) of yarn.
Handspun
