handcombing wool, day one

day 1 of tour de fleece 2009
170 grams combed total
134 grams sliver, 36 grams waste

Have to admit, kind of pales when I already see others' finished yarns and full bobbins :) I do enjoy seeing the brown overtake the grey of the half-colored fleece, though it's a little less in different lights and makes me realize I was right... I have too few grey colored fleeces in the stash.

Sarah aK: (a) teleknitter helped me on that one, recently...


"Florence," CVM from teleknitter yarn farms

No, I can't believe the crimp either :) Flo's already been washed up and stored waiting for inspiration to strike; she's actually half a fleece, around 2.2# raw and ishouldhaveweighedherscouredbutobviouslylessthanthat and even less once I'm done combing :)

Combing for the tour is going to be a good way for me not only to work on building up more muscle memory with the combs, but also to be able to track where I'm hitting re: waste fiber. Velveeta is a shortish stapled fleece, 3"... so I'll see more than if she were longer and less likely to get caught in the tines. She is also a lamb's fleece so I'm getting the lamb tips in with the waste as well, but 20% loss isn't too bad. I'd like to get it lower but I also admit I'm working more for speed than cleanliness with the deadline ahead.

I am also still deciding on how much to comb prior to spinning. Yvonne only calls for a little under 1300 yards over 13 ounces, and I'm pretty sure I read Julie say that she didn't use all of the 3rd skein when knitting her sample. I don't mind combing, and part of me thinks I should just get it all done so I don't have to go back and stop to comb if I run out while spinning... but another just wants to get in front of the wheel right about now.

We'll see :) Off to finish more prep before my day is thru :)