So, as you may know, there has been a big competition across the pond where men in funny outfits kill themselves on two wheeled contraptions. It’s called the Tour de France.

Anyway, while those crazy people are doing their thing over there, we fiber people do our own crazy thing over here, the “Tour de Fleece.” It tends to be pretty free-form though some people get together for specific challenges and such. Last year my own TdF was more organized.

This year my main goals were to spin every day, even if only a tiny bit, and make progress on some standing projects.

In those generalized goals, I succeeded. One of my specific goals I didn’t make, I wanted to finish spinning the handprepped romney/mohair batts into sock yarn, a project that’s been kind of hanging over me for a long time. Oh well. I did get a lot done.

For one thing, right at the beginning of it I flew down to North Carolina for a family thing. I managed to keep up my spinning at least a yard or two every day, and got a lot of spinning done in the airports. On the plane I started a basic beanie hat with my own handspun.

The hat

And the handspun. Abby Franquemont batts. These are going to be weft for a woven twill weave scarf I’m working on.

Both spun up on my lovely Spindlewood top whorl.

Once I got back, I finished sleying the reed on the loom for the scarf project. I’ll post more photos of the weaving project progress start to finish once I get a few more steps along.

I also spun some cobweb weight from cormo handprepped by the Tsocktsarina.

Spinning it on my newest spindle, a zebrawood spindle called a Tiger by… Cascade bought from Spunky Eclectic as my one purchase at MA Sheep and Wool. Love it. Spins great, especially things like silk for superfine stuff.

Then, right near the end of the Tour, the first of my new roving came back from the mill. Very exciting. Domestic Perendale and Polwarth. Since I’m going to be putting some of the Perendale up in my next shop update, I thought I should spin some myself since it’s a new fiber to me. So I grabbed my Bosworth Midi spun some up longdraw and plied it, washed it, fulled it, and dried it. 3-ply on the left, 2-ply on the right.

3-ply close up

2-ply close up

It’s an interesting fiber. Spun this way it’s a fairly prickly fiber but makes a much softer yarn than you expect. So I went all the way and knit it up, washed it and blocked it. Well, as much as you can block a 1.5″ squarish.

And a closeup. You can see it’s got more luster than your average downs wool. It comes from the Romney in the bloodline. It’s VERY springy and lofty with a big halo. It’s not super soft, about what non-specified “wool” sweaters usually are. So good for anything a mid-level romney would be good for, sweaters, hats, mittens, heavy-duty socks, outerwear, etc.

And that’s about it for my TdF. Other than keeping Gnomespun running, and expanding things slightly and examining a few new possible paths.

TdF 2010

And now, back to the dye pots. Perendale and Polwarth roving. A couple new things coming up!

Until the next time!

~The Gnome

Shop link, for RSS convenience

Hallo! Sorry for the delay, lots of stuff going on. Computers dying, trips for family stuff, etc.

And so, I’m updating the shop in the middle of a thunderstorm. Whee! I can’t see much but blinding rain outside of the window.

Anyway, plenty of neat stuff in this update, but the biggest thing is Exmoor Horn. This is a threatened English breed. The entire population of this lovely downs wool lives in a 12.5km radius! It’s very soft and lustrous for a downs type wool. As sleek as a nice shetland and shinier. I’m thinking it would make a GREAT fiber for anything where you want both softness and the downs durability/spring. Socks, mittens, sweaters, etc. I didn’t want to sell it, but figured you guys deserved a shot at it. If people like it as much as I think they will, I’ll see about getting more.

Oh, and some more BFL/Silk…

So! The new fiber:

We have, in order… Rambouillet, BFL/Silk, Dorset, Wensleydale, and Exmoor Horn.

Colorways, in order are…

Rambouillet

A Tiger in the Shadows: In the gathered shadows of the forest, danger lurks. Unbridled power, stalks the shadows on silent paws, claws unfurled, and you… are prey.

Summer Garden: Balloon flower and bee balm bloom in the warm summer sun. Hummingbirds flit back and forth in the scarlet monarda while bumblebees buzz and light in the purple balloons…

Trumpet Vine: Delicate flowers dance to the beat of the hummingbird’s wing, trumpeting out the glory of the warm summer sun as they reach for the sky!

BFL/SILK

The Nightingale and the Rose: For the literary, something by Oscar Wilde. A drop of heartsblood, for true-love to turn a rose red…

The Tiger Stalks: Through the trees the tiger stalks, paws soft and silent, claws retracted until it scents its prey nearby…

Dorset

The Tide Turns: As the tide turns the waves roll back out, rushing back in a froth over the stones and sand, leaving tide pools stranded behind, mirrors into other worlds of impossible creatures.

Bryophyta: Warm rich muted greens carpet the floor of the forest, creeping up and hanging from the trees in this primordial wood.

Lapidary Wheel: Water flows on the wheel, washing the dust away for a wet polish to the shimmering gem clutched tightly in practiced and wrinkled fingers. Lifted to the light it shimmers and sparkles, perfectly faceted…

Dianthus at Dusk: Dusk falls and the scent of the dianthus flowers fills the yard, green leaves barely poking out from between the pinked petals as a tiger swallowtails drink their last nectar before evening falls…

Wensleydale

Soft Heart of the Fire: Brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows flicker and dance in the heart of the fire, where the heat is highest and the spirit of living things is released as energy to warm our souls…

Exmoor Horn

Deepest Wine: A deep and heady brew, rich with flavor and tannin, aged in the finest casks in the depths of the keep. It reeks of the halls of power where kings treat and lords walk…

Singing in the Rain: I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain! What a glorious feeling, I’m happy again. I’m laughing at clouds, so dark up above. The sun’s in my heart, I’m ready for love!

Spanish Shawl: Like a shawl in the breeze it glides across the reef, brilliant colors warning others of the nematocysts filling it’s shimmering fronds… This is a colorway I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.

California Dreamin’: All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey, I’ve been for a walk, on a winter’s day…

Annnnnd that’s all for this update folks. Coming up soon, a little more polwarth, some dorset, suffolk, and you’ll have to see what else! I also hope to have more bloggy blog up soon.

~The Gnome

Shop is here

A mess of new fibers, and some new colors I haven’t done before!

We have (in order from top left to bottom right): Rambouillet, Grey Norwegian, BFL/Silk, Polwarth, Romney, and Shetland!

I have to admit I did not want to give up the rambo or the bfl/silk. The Rambo is a PLEASURE to spin and draft, so lofty! And the BFL/Silk… really what needs to be said? It’s an amazing well prepped open top and the subtle heathering and incredible luster? ZOMG.

If you’re interested, get over there quickly, I already got an order while I was in the midst of updating!

Colorways: Among the Roses, Bejeweled, Light Through the Leaves, Oil Slick, Merlot and Chartreuse, Forest Shadows, Amethyst Fractures, Hardwood, Heavy Rain, Playing with Fire, Through the Leaves, Deep Sea, After the Rain, Swamp Thing, Flowers in the Mist, As Fall Ends, Through a Rain Drenched Window, Gold Road, and Veronica.

Oh, this is all my Polwarth, Shetland, and Grey Norwegian for the moment. I hope to have more Polwarth coming in later (domestic roving!) but it will be quite a while yet.

That’s all for now!

~The Gnome

A few weeks ago, Mom went off to a scientific conference (yay! It was a very cool one) and Dad and I started a major house project.

Many years ago, someone took out a supporting wall in our house. Bad plan. (I know, I can hear you saying, “Whyyyy?” and I don’t know why they did it). The person before us got a massive barn beam and put it in to try to hold up the house. Unfortunately, despite being a massive beam, it’s a 15 foot span and the beam was not large enough. Over the years, it sagged significantly.

So, the first step was to prop it up so we could work.

That was the easy part. Next we had to get the old beam down. 15 feet, about a 10×10 inch beam. Yipe. That’s a lot of weight. So, we decided to take it down in sections.

Which meant cutting a 10×10 beam…

Until the first piece came down (dramatically).

We figure each piece weighed somewhere around 80+ lbs. Which isn’t THAT much except when it’s falling on your head! Second piece (which tried really hard to crush us) followed by the end post.

Next up the third piece, leaving the middle and the right end.

And then the last pieces came down. Yay for a big hole in the ceiling!

So now to put up the new beam. This was fun to plan and perform. Remember, it’s a 15 foot span. And the 10×10 beam didn’t hold it. So we had to put in a bigger beam. In order to do that we made a multipiece beam. 15 foot long 2×12’s, made of a reconstituted wood pressed wood of some sort (similar to plywod, but even stronger and heavier), seven of them next to eachother. They were then bolted together to form one MASSIVE beam. Each one weighed… somewhere around 125 lbs, and had to be eked and edged into position then lifted up and onto the end posts.

Oh! I forgot, before we could get the new beam in, we had to jack up the ceiling some more to get it up high enough to put the new beam in. And flatter (not perfectly flat, it’s still a hundred plus year old house).

But we finally did it.

Next, the scary part… take out the supporting braces. And hope the house (and plaster ceiling) doesn’t fall on our heads…

HURRAY!

Unfortunately, it still wasn’t quite done. We had to make it look pretty, or at least almost pretty.

Drywall and then joint compound. We finished the joint compound around 2 in the morning the night before Mom came home.

We still need to drywall the ceiling, sand down the bumps and put on a bit more compound, then eventually we’ll paint it and redo the walls of the livingroom etc.

Big project. Rewarding though. It’s needed doing since before I was born, but the actual doing is hard to figure out and coordinate.

Back to the dye pots. Polwarth, a bit of Finn, and then… dunno maybe more BFL/Sillk, maybe some merino/angora…

That’s all for now!

~The Gnome

Shetland fiber, a bit of Cheviot, and Phouka yarn!

As always the shop is here

More blogging soon. Things are a bit hectic here as suppliers and such are changing.

~The Gnome