Spinning Xinhai Revolution

I've done it!  I've spun up the last of the full braids of fibre from a previous supplier and I have to say it feels good.  I know it sounds stupid and I could have just sold all of the fibre off and got rid of it ages ago but for the most part the fibre isn't the problem, it is the memories of the conversations about it and her and her best mates attitude towards anyone who had a different opinion to them.  I don't have any such memories with this fibre as I had long since left the club and the group chat when this fibre was produced and, likewise, I don't have any such memories attached to the 37 small clumps of "blend ingredients" that I have in my stash that range from 1g to 22g as they were just instant purchases and not something that was discussed.

This fibre is called Xinhai Revolution and I bought it from another spinner when they were selling off some of their fibre stash and I liked the colour combination along with the texture.  I have no idea about the inspiration for the colour but I do know that the Xinhai Revolution took place in 1911 and overthrew the last Imperial dynasty of China and led to the establishment of the Republic of China.

I knew that because of the texture in this one that I would not be able to spin it too finely so I spun it over-the-fold to help make it thicker/bulkier but without it being too dense and heavy, using the loft of the fibres in a positive way to achieve this.  I just plied the two singles together and done this for each of the braids.

Both skeins have spun up to 12 wpi - sport weight for a combined total of 206g/627m and the fibre content is 50% Corriedale, 25% Bamboo, 20% South American, 5% Viscose Tweed Nepps.

I've been to a Wool Show

Back in October I saw an advert on either Facebook or Instagram, can't remember which, for a Christmas Wool Show that was being held local to me in December with 85 stalls/Vendors.  I immediately wanted to go, especially as it is specifically related to Wool and not just all kinds of crafts.  I checked my husband's work roster and discovered that he would be working that weekend and it's not his thing anyway.  He would probably take an interest and look at some stuff but he would get bored after a while so I asked my two kids if they wanted to go, both said yes, so I pre-booked the tickets and got them cheaper than "on the door on the day".

The event was held at The National Conference Centre, just outside of Birmingham, over the weekend of 14th and 15th December.  We've been today, Saturday 14th December.

I had one thing in mind that I definitely wanted to look for and I told my kids that if they saw anything they wanted (within reason) that I would get it for them as part of their Christmas gifts because right now we haven't got them much because they've not really told us what they would like.  I say kids but they are 21 years old and nearly 18 years old and both heavily into creating art and doing wool crafts, but not spinning.

The thing that I had in mind that I definitely wanted was a braid of Turquoise Merino fibre for a specific spinning project.  I could have ordered this online from where I usually get most of my fibres from but because we were coming to this show I thought I'd wait and see.  The first stall that we came to had exactly what I was looking for and so I bought a braid of Turquoise Merino.  Any purchases after this were just kind of spur of the moment or "yeah, actually I could do with some of that".

As we were walking around we were chatting to some of the vendors a few small purchases were made with a couple of them for things like stitch markers that my kids wanted and a set of coloured metal crochet hooks so that I can teach my eldest to crochet at some point in 2025, my youngest already has some crochet skills and projects under their belt and they will continue to learn over time.  My eldest also chose a skein of yarn that I paid for and then she saw some more yarns that she liked at another stall and insisted on getting those herself.

I did do some more shopping for myself though.  I got a couple of braids of fibre from one vendor, which have turned out to be from World of Wool, as they do sell their products to other shops etc and they are Aurora Borealis by Sarah Jane and then Taurus from the Constellation range.

I also fell in love with some fibre art batts from Barn2YarnShop who put these together themselves.  I don't usually buy my fibre in batts so this will be fairly new to me but I have bought one before, years and years ago.  I will re-figure it out when I decide to spin it and open it all out.  I bought 3 because I instantly fell in love with the first one, loved the second and the third but noticed that they could kind of represent Santa doing his deliveries - clean to start, getting a little mucky and then really dirty by the end of the night.  Their names are Mrs Claus, Noel and New Year.  I could easily have bought some of the other batts they had too cos they were just so beautiful.

(c) Barn2YarnShop

(c) Barn2YarnShop

(c) Barn2YarnShop

What I might do with these 3 is to spin them so as to make yarns that could be used on one big project, almost like a long gradient type of thing, maybe even taking a little from each to make "linking yarns" to ease the transition from one to the next.  It's just a thought at the moment as I haven't undone them to see how each might work up.

My final purchase of the day were two skeins of solid dyed Shetland from A Little Bit Sheepish and purchased purely because I loved the depth and shade of colour and I could do with some plain dyed wool in my stash that isn't Merino.

 

I really enjoyed my day out browsing, chatting and shopping.  I might do it again one day.

Spinning up "Boat Race" from March 2020

Not letting the grass grow under my feet I am straight on with the next braid of fibre which is from the fibre club back in March 2020.  It is called Boat Race and is 70% Merino, 30% Viscose and is lots of shades of blues and a bit of green, watery colours, but it is put together in such a way that is near impossible to pull all the colours out separately.  I could have perhaps managed to pull a few colours out but I would need really good natural light to do that and at this time of year that just isn't really available so I have had to try to keep the different colours as visible as possible in a different way.

What I actually did was to split it in half and then I just spun from the end without any pre-drafting, as that would encourage the colours to blend, and I tried to follow the strips of colour as it entered the draft zone, so if some dark blue entered the draft zone I would try to follow the thin strip of dark blue fibres for several inches and then latch on to another shade and follow that.  My intention was to make as variegated a yarn as I could and not to allow the colours to blend too much.  I'm not sure I actually managed to achieve that but I tried.

It has spun up to sport weight and there is 100g/300m.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 20

The Cycling: Stage 20 is 133km of a mountain route that starts in Belford and ends in Le Markstein-Fellering.

The Daily Challenge: Share something that you are immensely proud of.  It could be your achievements so far this tour or something completely unrelated.  Time to blow your own trumpet.

Suggested Fibre: Leo

What I did

I made a start on something that I am proud of and also it is something I created especially for tomorrow and the celebration of the Yellow Jersey.  There is enough of this to take more than one day to spin.

There is about 130g of fibre in this blend so I spun the first 65g, the first single and then made a start on the second single.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 19

The Cycling: Stage 19 is 173km of a flat route that starts in Moans-en-Montagne and ends in Poligny, France.

The Daily Challenge: Little and large.  Using a versatile fibre, spin the thickest yarn you are able to and then the finest.  You'll be surprised at the difference.

Suggested Fibre: Wensleydale

What I did

I spun up the rest of the Worth Melting For fibre and I now have two skeins of the same, slightly barberpoled, pale blue sparkly yarn.  I also have a small skein that is made up of the left-overs from each spin

The finished yarns are 94% Merino / 6% Stellina, fingering weight and the first skein is 397m/97g, the second skein is 372m/102g and the little skein is 24m/5g .

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 18

The Cycling: Stage 18 is 186km of a hilly route that starts in Moutiers and ends in Bourg-en-Bresse, France.

The Daily Challenge: Pick something cool coloured and/or shimmery to work with.

Suggested Fibre: Worth Melting For

What I did

I continued with what I started spinning yesterday, which is Worth Melting For from WoW Fairytale Range and it is made up of 5 other fibres: 20% each of Merino in colours Spearmint, Sky, Lightning, Dream and then 20% of another fibre called Glitter, in the White/Silver colourway, which itself is 70% white Merino / 30% Silver Stellina.  Overall this fibre is 94% Merino / 6% Stellina.

Today I spun up another 50g and plied it with yesterdays spin.  I then made a start on the second skein.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 17

The Cycling: Stage 17 is 166km of a mountain route that starts in Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc and ends in Courchevel, France.

The Daily Challenge: Spin outside your comfort zone; you can do this physically, or with fibres you've not used before.

Suggested Fibre: Fawn UK Alpaca

What I did

Actually, I have spun pure Alpaca before but I don't want to do today's challenge.  I know what tomorrow's challenge is and its about a specific braid of fibre, Worth Melting For from WoW Fairytale range, which I have 200g of, so I will be making an early start on that instead.

The fibre braids were bought at different times.  The first one I bought in 2019 and the second one was part of the 2021 Advent Calendar.  There is a slight difference between the two so rather than have two skeins that will be like having two different dye lots of yarn I will split each braid into two and swap one of the lengths so both skeins will be made of 50% of each braid.

I pre-drafted the fibre, this is just 50g.

I only got 50g spun today so will need to play catch-up as much as I can tomorrow..

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 16

The Cycling: Stage 16 is 22km of an individual time trial route that starts in Passy and ends in Combloux.

The Daily Challenge: Time to be timed!  You've got two minutes to spin as many metres as possible. Go, go, go!

Suggested Fibre: Own choice

What I did

I'm not doing today's challenge.  I've done this before and got myself into a mess

I am going to tackle another of the older braids in my stash, another of the monthly subscription fibres I used to have.  It is called Humboldt.

This is a straight forward 2ply spin so I split the braid into two and pre-drafted before spinning it.

The finished yarn is 45% South American Wool, 25% Merino, 25% Llama, 5% Viscose Nepps, sport weight and 278m/100g.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 15

The Cycling: Stage 15 is 180km of a mountain route that starts in Lets Gets les Portes du Soleil and ends in Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc.

The Daily Challenge: Take a picture of something you've spun so far, from the highest point you can find (but stay safe)

Suggested Fibre: Mont Blanc

What I did

Well, I did do the photography challenge, or should I say Hubby did it for me.  I arranged everything I've spun so far on a towel on the patio table (it had been raining and the table was a bit wet) and hubby leant out of an upstairs window and took the photograph for me.  I scooped up the skeins using the towel just as it started raining again.

As for the spinning?  Hmmm the only thing I have that is remotely height related, and this a really tenuous link, is called "Moon Bloom".  It is from John Arbon Textiles and from their range called "Devonia" which is 50% Exmoor Blueface, 30% Bluefaced Leicester, 20% Wensleydale.  Exmoor Blueface is the result of crossing an Exmoor Horn with a Bluefaced Leicester.  

I expected this one to spin up in all shades of blue but I'm very pleasantly surprised by the look of the single that I've spun so far.

The colour looks pretty even and not variegated as I expected it to spin.  It's a little confusing to me given the number of shades and colours in the braid.  It's lovely to spin though and I do have a couple more braids from the Devonia range in different colours.

The finished yarn is 50% Exmoor Blueface, 30% Bluefaced Leicester, 20% Wensleydale, fingering weight and 319m/100g.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 14

The Cycling: Stage 14 is 152km of a mountain route that starts in Annemasse and ends in Morzine les Portes du Soleil.

The Daily Challenge: You can't beat the joy that a sunny day brings so spin something that makes you happy!

Suggested Fibre: Anything you like!

What I did

I plied the singles that I spun yesterday.

The finished yarn is 50% Merino, 25% Rambouillet, 25% Baby Camel, fingering weight and 379m/102g.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 13

The Cycling: Stage 13 is 138km of a mountain route that starts in Chatillon-sur-Chalaronne and ends in Grand Colombier.

The Daily Challenge: Spin a French breed.  We've selected Rambouillet but you could pick something like Ouessant if you have access to it.

Suggested Fibre: Rambouillet

What I did

I do have both of the fibres mentioned in pure form but those are earmarked for something else so I have searched through my stash of fibre braids and found one that contains 25% Rambouillet, with the added bonus of that it is also one of the older braids in the stash so that's a win, win combination.

This is called Singapore Sling, it's 50% Merino Wool, 25% Rambouillet Wool & 25% Baby Camel and it was one of the monthly subscription braids that I used to have.

I pre-drafted the fibre and have spun both singles today.  Completely forgot to take any photos of it being spun but here it is in the basket waiting to be spun.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Day 10 - Rest

The Cycling: Today is a rest day.  There is no cycling today.

The Daily Challenge: Use today to catch up, get ahead or just chill.

Suggested Fibre: No recommendation

What I did

Because I have looked ahead at the upcoming challenges I have been able to plan my spinning from day 1.  I haven't always managed to finish on time to be able to do the next days challenge but I have done a lot of the challenges so far.  I know what tomorrows challenge is so today I will be starting on the National Trust braid that I wanted to spin a couple of days ago. It is one of the monthly subscription fibres that I used to have.  It is 50% Merino, 37.5% Bluefaced Leicester and 12.5% Swaledale.  I will be doing another Fibonacci spin, although the colours are more blended in this braid than the first time I tried this style of spinning.

Because of the Swaledale element, there is quite a lot of kemp fibres in this and I've been picking it out as much as possible when preparing this for spinning.  My lengths for this one is 21cm, 42cm, 63cm, 105cm and 168cm.

Top: the lengths of fibre as per Fibonacci sequence
Bottom: one of the lengths split into 3 colour bundles ready for spinning

So, because of how blended this fibre braid is compared to the first one that I did a Fibonacci Spin with, I was only to separate out 3 distinct colours but I'm still happy with that.

It took me so long to sort this one out that I ran out of time for today to be able to finish spinning the single in readiness for the chain ply (navajo ply) tomorrow.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 8

The Cycling: Stage 8 is 201km of a hilly route that starts Libourne and ends in Limoges, France.

The Daily Challenge: As Limoges has some shiny and sparkly history, it seems only fitting to have a sparkly challenge,  Add a bit of shimmer or sparkle to your spin, or be very daring and spin only sparkle!

Suggested Fibre: Angelina Fibre or Rainbow Trilobal Nylon

What I did

I have a number of sparkly and shimmery braids of fibre and I have chose to use one called Glitzy in shade Ruby.

This was a straight forward 2ply spin and I split the braid in half and spun each as single and then plied them.  

The finished yarn is 70% Merino / 30% Trilobal Nylon, Light Fingering weight and 314m/100g.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 7

The Cycling: Stage 7 is 170km of a flat route that starts in Mont-de-Marsan and ends in Bordeaux, France.

The Daily Challenge: There's one every year - spin something watery, blue or water inspired! We've designed Midouze to help you float along with this one!

Suggested Fibre: Midouze

What I did

I was planning to spin a blue fibre I have that is called Boat Race but I haven't finished yesterday's spin yet so I will continue with that.  It is a kind of blue-green, although leaning more towards green than blue, and kind of looks a little bit watery anyway.

The finished yarn is 50% Romney, 25% Linen, 25% Silk, Light Fingering weight and is 430m/100g.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 6

The Cycling: Stage 6 is 145km of a mountain route that starts in Tarbes and ends in Cauterets-Cambasque both in the Pyrenees, France.

The Daily Challenge: All change! Take your spinning outside and enjoy playing with a fibre in a different location.

Suggested Fibre: Merino/Flax/Tussah

What I did

I was going to try and sit in the back garden and try spinning out there but the weather was not playing nicely today.

I picked out a Romney, Silk & Linen blend from 2019 and the previous supplier.  When I undone the plaited braid it naturally split down the middle of the entire length of the braid.  I pre-drafted it and spun it quite finely.  For the second single I started from the other end of the braid so as not to have the colours pool too much. 

I didn't get around to finishing the spinning today and will finish it tomorrow.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 5

The Cycling: Stage 5 is 165km of a mountain route that starts in Pau and ends in Laruns, both in the Pyrenees, France.

The Daily Challenge: We're all about texture today!  Grab something that feels different to your main fibre and give it a blend.  Extra points if it is something you haven't blended before! 

Suggested Fibre: Railway Grey Tweed

What I did

I don't have any of the suggested fibre but I do have a textured braid called "Taste the Rainbow by Damo, it's one of the WoW Team Blends 2022 and is 100% Tweed Wool

I split this into two equal amounts and spun it over the fold and then plied the singles together.

I wasn't too sure about whether I liked the single that was being spun, I think it could have been better, nicer, it certainly looked prettier in the braid than as a single.  I wasn't the only team member who was using this particular fibre for today's challenge and we've come to the conclusion that it is probably prettier and nicer either plied with a plain white or add more white fibre at the drafting and spinning the single stage.

The finished yarn is 100% Tweed wood, double knit weight and is 173m/100g.  It's not the softest or the prettiest yarn in the world but its a bit nicer now that its plied, compared to how it looked on the bobbin as a single.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 4

The Cycling: Stage 4 is 182km of a flat route that starts in Dax and ends in Nogaro, both in Southwestern France.

The Daily Challenge: Use a furry friend as inspiration for this spin.  If you don't have a furry friend, a feathery, scaly or human one will do, too!

Suggested Fibre: Anything Shetland (a tenuous link to our Shetland Sheepdog)

What I did

I was going to spin up some fibre I have called National Trust for today's challenge, as I have been to quite a few of their properties with family, but seeing as I haven't yet finished yesterday's spin I had better crack on with that.  I have finished spinning the second single and plied both together.

The finished yarn is 80% Merino / 20% Ramie, light fingering weight and 554m/102g. I love the hint of green with the teal colour.

Tour de France/Tour de Fleece 2023 Stage 3

The Cycling: Stage 3 is 185km of a flat route that starts in Amorebieta-Etxano in Basque Country, Northern Spain and ends in Bayonne, Southwestern France.

The Daily Challenge: Draft with the opposite hand to the one you normally use.  See if this changes your yarn and report your findings.

Suggested Fibre: Virgo

What I did

I didn't even want to tackle the challenge today so I have just picked a braid of fibre from my stash to spin.  Where possible I am going to be spinning up the oldest fibre braids from my stash, as that makes the most logical sense to me.

I have picked one of the monthly subscription fibres that I used to get from a previous supplier that I used to buy from.  It is called Renoir and it is 80% Merino, 20% Ramie.

I split this fibre in half and started spinning.  It wanted to be spun finely so I let it be spun the way it wanted to be and I ran out of time because the first 50g took me well over 5 hours to spin. I need to finish spinning the second single and ply them tomorrow.

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.

Making a blend using the Olive Green Jacob wool

I have finally found the time to decide on and sort out all the ingredients I need to make a blend using the olive green Jacob wool that I combed back in November last year.  For this blend, I have chosen to use an amount of white wool of unknown specific breed that I got in a "waste" bag a couple of years ago.

A = 3g of unknown superfine white wool
B = 6g of Silk Noil in Ivy
C = 19g of Tussah Silk in Powder
D = 39g of unknown fine white wool
E = 11g of 23 micron Merino in Olive
F = 13 of Hemp in Cyclamen
G = 22g of unknown medium coarse white wool
H = 5g of unknown fine off-white wool
I = 60g of 23 micro Merino in Coral
J = 24g of unknown cellulose based white fibre
K = 6g of Silk Noil in Olive Green
L = 5g of Trilobal Nylon in Olive Green
M = 242g of Jacob Wool in Olive Green

There are also a couple of small samples of wool that I got when buying fibre for the British Breeds Project.  I didn't take any photos of them but they are all natural white and are; 3g of North Country Mule, 3g of Beltex and 6g of Milennium Bleu.  These samples, along with the unknown white wools in the photo above totalled 81g and I decided to blend these together first on my blending hackle to even out the fibre types and remove any really short fibres.  What I was left with weighed 62g of mixed white wool.

I split all of the fibre into 4 equal amounts of everything which totalled about 112g per lot and then each of those was split into two, one for lot for each ply of a 2ply yarn plus the blending hackle can only handle around 50g-60g of fibre at any one time.  See the photo top right of the weighing out and the photo bottom left of one bundle.  I only put everything through the hackle once as I did not want it to be too well blended together.  The photo bottom right shows one of the 50g or so of blended fibre that will make up a single ply of a 2 ply skein together with my inspiration for the colour combination, which is an amount of fabric strips and ribbon that has been tied and twisted together to make a kind of twine and was made by my youngest not too long ago.  I'm not sure what they intend to use it for but its far too stiff and over-twisted to knit with it but very pretty.

I did loose a little bit of fibre during the blending process but not a great deal.  448g went through the hackle and 421g came out in the blends, so each skein will be about 105g.  The final fibre content is: 54% Jacob Wool, 16% 23 micron Merino Wool, 14% mixed white wools, 5.5% Cellulose, 4% Tussah Silk, 3% Hemp, 2.5% Silk Noil, 1% Trilobal Nylon.

Hopefully it won't be too long before I get around to spinning this but it's doubtful that it will anytime in July as that is taken up with the TdF and I have some more preparation to do between now and then.