Tour de Fleece Day 9 - Man, I need a Rest

Well this weekend of spinning has kicked my butt. I have definitely worked hard and did more than I ever thought I could!!. I started working on the Black Forest Cake yarn on Day 6. I pushed my self to get all the singles spun so I could ply it this weekend. I thought the plying would be fairly easy, but it took forever. I think all in all I stood and plyed for about 4 hours straight. And I got it all plyed onto 1 spindle.



Abby Franquemont posted how you can really cram up your spindles if you need to. Well I can verify that. This is 9 inched long. and about 10 inches around!



Once I skeined it out I figured about 200 yards of sport weight (10 WPI). I read of a technique where you run the singles over an hook on your ceiling and then down to your spindle. This helps to tension the singles.
Here I am showing you how I put my spindles into a shoe box with holes on each end so that the spindles can unwind the yarn.


Note here I am playing the singles together. See how the yarn goes from the spindles in the box to the ceiling hook and then down to the spindle.


This makes it amazingly easy to keep the singles from twisting on themselves and getting tangled!!!

Crochet and Knit Giveaway

I love the idea that Brianna and Marly had about a centralized blog to post giveaways. I'm joining in.
Giveaway Item(s):




This is some of my early handspun yarn (Corridale, of course). It is a heavy worsted weight (to slightly bulky). It is a 2 ply yarn that is spun fairly tightly. I did it on a hand spindle, not a wheel. There is about 150 yards total - 75 to 100 yds in each (1 skein, 1 ball). In addition, I am included some left over Classic Elite Miracle yarn (did I mention this yarn is soft as butter.) There is only about 25 yds of the Miracle, but I thought it would be a nice edging for something knit with his handspun.


How the winner will be chosen: www.random.org/integers/

Giveaway Begins: May 9, 2008 Time: As soon as I get this post up.

Giveaway Ends: May 25,2008 8:00 PM

Winner will be notified by: May 27, 2008 - via e-mail & post on my blog. I will also attempt to comment on your blog

Rules: No duplicate entries/comments. No spamming. Giveaway is open to everyone. Winner MUST respond within five days, otherwise they forfeit their winnings, and a new winner will be announced. This giveaway is restricted to US participants only. I'm just not sure how the shipping would work out if I had to send it overseas.

How to Enter: Leave me a comment about your spinning experiences. Do you use a drop spindle or wheel. What got you into it? Do you like it better than knitting? How do you fit it into your knitting time.

I'm asking these questions because I spun this yarn on a drop spindle, and plyed it on my drop spindle. I liked doing very much but I haven't really gone back to it. I'm not sure why. I wouldn't say it was hard or even awkward. It seemed to come very naturally to me. So I don't think that's it. I'm just curious if others have had this experience. I think I just like knitting so much that I'm just not ready to put it down for something else yet.

Also, I completed a hat in this yarn and I think it knits up well. It always helps me to see something knit with the yarn I am looking at. (Sorry, Hat not included in the Giveaway)


I did not use the Classic Elite in this hat. I used some other handspun in cream, but I did not have any left to include in this giveaway.

Happy Knitting