highlandheffalump

YOP14 Week 3/52 – a busy crafty week

Fibre Prep

On our spinning interest call I used my hackle to blend two colours of merino with some pink bamboo and a few white sparkles.  Then I did black Suri alpaca with sari silk, it’s a bit patchy because sari silk is so short and suri alpaca so long.

The alpaca fibre had been washed twice but was still filthy.  Those alpacas sure love to roll in dust baths!

Knitting

I prepped 4 project bags by printing patterns and caking the yarns to make the following projects:

  • Nightshift (my 2nd)
  • Emotional Support Chicken
  • Lake Reed hat (my 3rd)
  • Leg Warmers
Accessories

I’ve started the Leg Warmers pattern by Jane Richmond. The yarn is Isle of Auskerry yarn made with North Ronaldsay breed wool. I bought it when we visited Orkney (same yarn as my Gansey Afghan but hand-dyed by someone on Orkney). The pattern is 2×2 rib for ages so quite mindless.

Jumpers/cardigans

On Thursday I finished my third Quick Sand cardigan. I’m much happier with the modifications I’ve made. It’s still drying so I’ll post about it once it’s dry and I can take some photos.

Spinning

To be honest actual TDF spinning has taken a little bit of a back seat. I had the third instalment of my breed study to publish and labels to write for them all. Plus I’ve now set quite a few of them and they are still drying.

Bottom left starts alphabetical order, top right ends with Zwartbles

I did still do some spinning though. On Tuesday evening I grabbed a bag of fibre from one of the drawers before heading to my local spinning group. Unsure what the fibre was, I knew it was incredibly soft. I finished it on Wednesday during the TDF team zoom call.

I then found the fibre listed in my Ravelry stash! It was a custom blend from World of Wool’s 2019 monthly fibre club, called Bee-you-tiful. It’s superfine merino in raven and sunset, Jonquil tussah silk and black baby alpaca. Unfortunately the black and yellow have given it a kind of icky greenish.  I must have felted some of it, as this is 63g, 130m, 2 ply.

I also made a start on my Coastal Colours 50% alpaca/50% silk. It’s barely started so no photo yet.

Other News

It was my husband’s birthday this week so we had a delicious meal out at Coul House Hotel.  They allow dogs but it’s fine dining so perfect for a real treat.

That’s it for this week. I won’t be publishing a post next Sunday as I’m going to be away at a music festival from Thursday to Sunday. My phone has almost no signal there and before I go I need to make sure all my camping gear and clothes are clean and ready and need to buy a few bits and then pack. I need to repair my camping chair bag and I am supposed to be making some bunting for the tent; if I manage to do that then I’ll share in a couple of weeks.

This is a Year of Projects post. Officially the Group is in its 14th year, but this is my 7th year participating. If you would like to find more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry, as you’d be very welcome to join us.

Year 14 list.

13 comments

  1. I went to an Alpaca farm a few years ago. Those are not the cleanest animals. But their ‘fur’ is a delight to touch and bury your fingers into. It amazed me at the difference each animals coat felt. Some were so soft and bouncy and others were a bit course and very tangled. I like your pink fiber at the top of the page. They look like little rosettes. You have done so much spinning in the past years, I am surprised you have any fiber left to spin! You have some wonderful projects bagged up for future projects. Your outing, next week, sounds like a good time. Enjoy!

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  2. The music festival sounds like fun. Hope the weather co-operates. Agree, the pink fiber is a beautiful shade. That’s too bad that the black and yellow made a woodsy green. Have fun with the Emotional Support Chicken. I can see knitting one of those in my future too.

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  3. My son has an alpaca farm and they definitely like to roll in the dirt!!! Makes skirting them so much fun!! My son skirts the fleeces and sends them off to a fiber mill to process into yarn. He keeps a little bit of spinning fiber but most of it goes into yarn.

    So many breed study samples!!!

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  4. Liz, I’ve wondered several times as I’ve read these posts about your breed study if fleece is clean when you get it. Now I know! Or, is it ever cleaned before you get it.

    The Coul House looks like an amazing restaurant (and hotel). I hope you have a fantastic time at the music festival this weekend!

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    • The samples of fleece were from other Guild members and some unwashed and some only partially washed. I won the Black Cheviot in a raffle and it was absolutely filthy. Not greasy with lanolin, dark brown dirty water wash after wash. A lot of the breeds was bought as commercially cleaned and combed top though so not too many I had to wash.

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  6. I hope you are having a great time at the festival. I am in awe of your breed study and the legwarmers look great.

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