Yarn Along - Popcorn Pee Pee Pants

One of the fun things about "the Tour" is how the "race" follows the actual Tour de France race. We take rest days when the cyclists do and on the "mountain days" we pick something extra challenging to do or try.  This year I decided to try to spin some sock yarn.

It hit me earlier this year that PPPP (Popcorn Pee Pee Pants) is 11 (!).  How on earth did that happen? If you don't already know, PPPP is the lamb on the bookmarks we hand out at festivals and include when we ship online orders. I looked back and found this recount.  How funny :-).

Like most all of our fleeces, she's kind of a mess.  

Like all most of our fleeces, she cleans up quite nicely.

PP is a Border Cheviot.  Border Cheviots have a down (the area, not like feathers) type fleece - very medium in length and softness.  At 11, she's not as soft as she once was.  Well, maybe pretty close to the same softness, but now getting more hair and kemp fibers mixed in.  

The combs did an exceptional job pulling all that and any hay chaff...out and if you put your hand on top of this pile and gently push down, it feels exactly like if you let dish washing detergent foam way up and pushed down on that. 

Miss B was over and she worked on a scarf she is making from some yarn she picked up at the Yarn Swap.  

And Yarn Swappers will recognize these socks as well.  She's making the rest of us look bad been busy!

Tilly, always busy as well ;-).

Meanwhile back in the Wool House...  This is ridiculous.  Not so much the lack of dusting (that's normal), but the fact that my wheels all have so much dust and cobwebs to boot!  Sadly, also normal now it seems.  Ridiculous.

All cleaned up and oiled and happy to be spinning :-).

At first I thought I'd over spun and over plied my sample.  It's also spun pretty well worsted (combed top, all the fibers are same length and direction and smooth) and it didn't have any stretch or bounce left to it.  Didn't panic though and gave it a quick soak in some hot water and once it dried it was back to what I'd hoped for.

The yarn wraps at 18 wraps per inch and I knit this small sample on size 2 needles and got 6 1/2 stitches to the inch.  I like the thickness and I like that it's a 3 ply, which makes the yarn more round and cushy.  I'm not a thin sock person.  I think I'll continue the sample on with a size 1 needle just for curiosity.  And then to pick a pattern.  

I just finished the most recent No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book.  I'm all read up on that series. Hopefully he's writing another.  Any suggestions for something fun?

Oops, almost forgot to include this.  From near the end of The Woman Who Walked In Sunshine (No. 1 Ladies D. A.) "In this hot weather a sleep in the afternoon is always a good idea."  Yes ma'am! ;-)

Joining in with Ginny...