Monday, January 18, 2010

Upgrading the Wheel

During the spinning of the Tarhgee Silk blend, my spinning wheel broke. The little plastic piece that attached the foot peddle to the piece that goes to the crank snapped apart.
They don't sell this plastic stuff at the hardware store. I called around and found that Weaving Works carries all the Ashford pieces I would need including the little plastic piece. However, I didn't leave there spending only $1.35 for the plastic---oh no, I had to go and order the Ashford Joy Sliding Hook Flyer.

Looks like the Joy is getting an upgrade.






Sunday, January 10, 2010

Working with Tarhgee

I've been spinning the Tarhgee and my first 2-ply skein is done. Since I have so much (a whole fleece) of the Tarhgee, I dyed some of the locks yellow and blended it with silk. I haven't started spinning that yet so I don't know how it will look. The white silk really mellowed out the bright yellow, so the little hand carded puffs look like the color of baby chicks.







Sunday, January 3, 2010

St. Distaff's Day Acquisitions

Yesterday was the St. Distaff's Day spin-in hosted by the NwRSA. They had many vendors and I spent all my cash on fiber, raffle tickets, and a Fricke flick carder. I bought 1 lb of Blue Face Leicester top, 4 oz of mohair, 3 oz of silk, and 4 oz of hemp. I had never seen hemp for sale so I took the opportunity to get some. I promptly came home and blended some of the silk with Tarhgee that I had dyed gun metal blue. It added so much shine that it looked synthetic! I met Jo Fricke and liked her flick carder so much that I bought one even though I already own an Ashford flick carder. I didn't know the Fricke's live here in Washington, but they do. They are up in Granite Falls.

I finished another skein of my dyed roving.