Advent Calendar 2024 Day 24 - Family Tree

I have heard about Stick Man and I vaguely remember watching it with my kids quite a few years ago.  They had quite a few Julia Donaldson books.  All the information can be found in the first photo and if you click on the photo you can zoom in if you need to.

The design on this packet is a winter forest scene and Stick Man does run through the forest in winter so this time it does actually match.  Yay!

I have undone the tightly wrapped little bundles and made them into braids to take any pressures off the fibres and also so that I can see the colours properly and feel the texture too.  Oooh, this one is very fine, flyaway and luxurious.  I will need to pair this with something really special or buy some more of this one.

Spinning the 12 Days of Advent 2019

Spurred on by my recent spinning of the previous years' 12 Days of Advent set of fibres I decided to tackle this one which was produced the year after and was the last one that I purchased from that particular supplier before I parted custom with her.  It seems that I didn't make such detailed notes about the different options available that year on my stash page for this fibre but my chosen pack was called "Frost Fair" and the inspiration for the colours is the picture below.  Having said that I have discovered that I did, however, write a blog post about the options available back in the day and that can be found here.

The main braid is 60% 18.5 micron Merino, 20% Yak, 20% Tussah Silk and the 11 x 20g smaller packets are all 14.5 micron Merino, which is also known as Ultrafine Merino.  The original post that I wrote showing all of the fibres in my pack after I opened them can be found here. Apparently, according to the notes that I took from the supplier at the time, the colours are all on a theme but I haven't managed to work out what that "theme" is yet.  Answers on a postcard to...

This time I started with the main braid first and I spun this over-the-fold and chain plied due to the short Yak fibres and to try and keep colours together as much as I could.  It's lovely and soft and spun up to sport weight 102g/293m.

I spun all of the 14.5 micron merino fibre bumps in the same way, over-the-fold and chain plied.  I did have a few problems along the way with it breaking on me during the ply and this was due to it being underspun in parts.  I'm not a fan of such fine Merino, or at least not the stuff from this supplier, the fibres were very short in parts which didn't help in keeping the yarn in one piece.  Personally I prefer something with much more body and more hardwearing.

So this...

became this

All of the Merino spun up to sport weight.  At some point in the future I will figure out what I will make with it but I doubt that I will use all of the smaller merino bumps together in one project.  I'm glad it is all spun up now though because about half way through it began to feel like a tedious chore but I was determined to push on through and complete it.

Spinning the pink-burgundy-green braid of merino

This is the third and final braid of the Merino Trio of fibres that I have been spinning.  It's been a few months since I finished the second braid as I have been busy with other projects and preparing for the Tour de Fleece which is about to start but at the same time I am desperate to finish spinning the trio before I spin the Tour fibre.

For the third time, I split the fibre along its entire length, pre-drafted and spun both singles from the same end.

The photos above show it in the process of being spun and then both spun singles side by side on their bobbins.  I don't like pink but this has a good amount of very dark, almost purple in it so I am cool with it at this stage, its tolerable to me.

This one also spun up as a Light Fingering weight yarn, although the skein is a little heavier at 108g I still got 522m from it.  The three skeins together are very pretty but I will be using them individually.

Spinning the Burgundy-blue-green-white braid of merino

Following straight on with the next braid of fibre from the trio pack, this is the middle braid of the three.

I done the same to this braid as I did the first, and that is to split it down the entire length, pre-draft and spin both singles starting from the same end of the fibre.

I'm trying really hard to spin this better than the first braid.  I'm sorry that these photos aren't the best, the clearest, I am a poor spinner, knitter and crocheter who is currently using an Huawei phone, need I say more?  Maybe I should keep my proper camera to hand for W.I.P photos, but then that makes it difficult/time consuming to upload them to Instagram.  Hmmmm, maybe one day I will be able to afford a decent phone, in my dreams.

This one also measures to be of Light Fingering weight thickness but this time I got a little more on the meterage out of it.  Its 103g/562m.  I am thinking that I might not use the braids together in the same project but to use them in separate projects.

Spinning the Blue-green-white braid of Merino

Back in November 2018 I bought myself a trio pack of 14.5 micron Merino fibre.  I have finally now started to spin this pack of fibre.

I am starting with the fibre braid on the left hand side.

I split the fibre in half down the entire length, see the middle photo, and pre-drafted it into my specially adapted basket.  I done the same thing for the second half, spinning from the same end for both singles.  Because of how it was dyed the colours didn't match up all that often, if you look closely at the fibre braid you can see that there are "splodges" of colour that don't go all the way through the thickness of the braid.

The photo above just shows the spun singles at different times during the spinning process and is not necessarily a photo of each single, I can't actually remember if the photos were taken of the same bobbin or if they are photos of each of the bobbins.

The finished yarn is really really soft and squishy.  It's not my best spinning as I've not spun anything in the last 8 months or so and therefore I am a little out of practice.  There is about 470m in this 105g skein and its measuring at about a Light Fingering weight yarn.

Advent Calendar Day 23

We're almost done with the Advent Calendar, Day 23 and it's another white one 14.5 micron Ultra Fine Merino, I'm scared to breathe on it in case it felts.  The festive saying is "All I want for Christmas" and I'm not sure if they mean "All I want for Christmas is you" or "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth".