May 2011 wrap-up

A lot of spinning this month, both fiber prep and actual spinning. Very little knitting to speak of.

On/Off My Spindles:

Finished spinning all the Black Perendale (it's actually brown) and plied one sample skein for the Challenge. I saved plying the rest for the 5k Stash Dash.

Finished flicking and carding the pound of Montadale, and flicking and combing the thirteen ounces of Clun Forest. Both were pre-washed fleece I got from Katrina's Wool World on etsy.

Finished spinning and plying my first sock yarn. It's a hand combed blend of Friesian and Border Leicester spun worsted. Not as soft as commercial sock yarns are, but I think it might hold up okay. I have three skeins of finished yarn at about 14wpi, say a heavy fingering weight. I'm liking it very much.

Did a good bit of fleece washing this month. Washed Cormo sample and almost felted it (boy that stuff is delicate!). Washed Dorset Horn sample and flicked all. Also washed 1 lb of Shetland, and 4oz each of California Red, Texel and Tunis. I processed enough of the last three to make sample skeins for the WBC. Started washing the 9 1/2 pounds of Clun Forest (2 fleeces) I got this month.

Speaking of raw fleece to wash, I also bought a 6 1/2 pound Black Perendale fleece, a 4 pound Cotswold/Shetland fleece, and a 2 1/2 pound Finn/Dorset/Targhee cross fleece, as well as almost 3 pounds of washed Cormo fleece.

Flicked a bit of the washed Cormo fleece. I just love Cormo. It's sooooo soft. Nom nom nom.... I think I like it better than Merino.

On My Needles:

I'm participating in the Knit Girllls 5k Stash Dash which started on May 27th and ends in early Aug, so my WIPs are all included. Spinning counts too so I don't think I'll have too much trouble reaching the 5k yardage goal. If nothing else, it's incentive to get rid of old UFOs and languishing WIPs of which I have waaaay too many.

In addition to all the socks I have in progress (yes, I cast on several new pairs, I can't help it I have chronic startitis), I started the Summer Mystery Shawlette which is a fairly easy pattern by Wendy Johnson. I'm using my handspun yarn in the Little Fish colorway (shades of blue with a wee touch of green) that I finished in last year's Tour de Fleece. It was one of my first spinning attempts so is a bit thick and thin, but not too bad. It's nice to be using my own handspun.