Tour de Fleece: Stage 4

Yesterday (Stage 4) I finished spinning my green shetland singles and started plying them.  The plying goes fast, but there's still a lot to do!  I'm not sure if I'm putting in the right amount of plying twist.  I'm concerned that this yarn won't match the white yarn I intend to knit it with (which I think has not quite enough plying twist and is probably not really the same weight) but I guess I won't know until it's done and washed up!

The yarn is still shedding an alarming amount of dye.  I still have blue fingertips this morning, after washing several times since spinning last night.

Tour de Fleece: Stage 3

I spun for a little less than an hour yesterday (one episode of Star Trek Voyager, which is what we're currently working our way through on Netflix), and I spun probably 10-15 grams of combed top.  I'm pretty sure I'll finish the singles today.

Hydrangea MKAL Shawl

I have a loose intention to make lace shawls to give as gifts to the women in my family.I've seen several mystery knit-a-long patterns over the past year or so, and they looked like to much fun! At the beginning of the summer, I looked up several mystery shawls on Ravelry that were about to start, and chose the Hydrangea MKAL.

I started off almost a week behind because I was waiting for the yarn I ordered to arrive (and then it took forever to wind). After the third clue I caught up, but then I got behind again. As of this morning, all six clues are out but I'm only halfway through clue 4.

 I'm really enjoying knitting the shawl, even (especially!) because it's so different from the lace shawls I've knit before. l don't know yet who I'll give it to, but I can't wait to see the finished shawl!

Tour de Fleece: Stage 2

I did a bit of spinning after dinner yesterday - more than the first day of the Tour de Fleece, but not that much.  I'd guess about 20 grams of combed top.  I'm nearing the end of the green fiber.  I'll probably finish the singles today or tomorrow.  Meanwhile, I'm getting terribly behind on the mystery knit-a-long shawl I'm doing.

Tour de Fleece - Stage 1

Yesterday was the start of the Tour de France.  Stage 1 was a short 13.8km time trial. It was also the first day of the Tour de Fleece! Since it was the 4th of July and I had family plans, I only spun a tiny bit - about 5g of combed top.  (The bobbin is almost full because this is not a new spinning project.  I'm continuing to spin my hand-dyed shetland top from Yarn School at the Harveyville Project two years ago.)

Spinning, spinning

I did my usual Tuesday spinning on Wednesday this week (and I only did half as much as I have the past few weeks).  I'm getting excited for the beginning of the Tour de Fleece on Saturday!

Sailboat top

I made my niece (who is 21 months) this little top for summer.  It's the Geranium tunic from Made by Rae.  I cut the 18-24 months width but lengthened the bodice by 1/2" and cut the "skirt" about half an inch longer than the 3T length.  Then I put a tuck in the hem, which took out about 1.25" of length, so it can easily be lengthened as she grows.  My niece is tall and skinny.  I think it might even still fit her next spring and summer, so I hope the extra length in the tuck will come in handy.

The pattern directions say to zig-zag over the exposed edge of the flutter sleeve, but I decided to serge it with red thread instead - I don't have much confidence in my ability to zig-zag the edge of the fabric accurately.  I decided that as long as it was going to be visible it might as well be a design element (and luckily my serger was threaded with red thread when I got it, so red and white are the only colors of thread I have for it).  I think the red thread goes nicely with the sailboat fabric.