Catching Up

It's been a while since I've checked in. I have been busy with all kinds of fiber related projects. I finished knitting the Cold Mountain shawl, but since it's not blocked yet, I have not photographed it to share with you. During that long and tedious project, I made this scarf as a "side project". It was a mindless project that kept my hands busy and I used it as a "break" form the lace shawl.
I started with some BFL roving and spaced dyed it. Then I spun singles and I left it as a single. That's right. It's my first attempt of making a single (non-plied) yarn. And I really liked it. Below is my daughter's friend Maddie who modeled for me on the fly.
Recently I finished spinning all of the Jacob fleece. Some is combed and some is carded. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet...maybe a blanket of natural colored yarns.

Washing Fleece

While I was down in Salem, Oregon, at the Northwest Regional Spinner's conference, I purchased this Shetland fleece. "Finian" produced 5 1/2 lbs on his 2nd sheering, according Terry from Windy Valley Fiber Arts who sold me the fleece. This was a super stinky fleece. I decided to wash it in the top-loader washing machine. Since the fleece was so big, I wash it in two different sections. I ran hot water into the washing machine, soaked the fleece for several hours using Dawn as the cleaning agent, then I spun out the water. No agitation was used, of course. Then I ran some warm water in, soaked it again, and spun out the water again. I must say that it's still a wee bit stinky, but I 'm not willing to mess with it any more. I dried it out on the picnic table on a nice warm day.

Woolly Rug - Take Two

In my quest for a thick woolly rug design, I have made a second attempt. This time I wove 6 rows of Cotswold locks then 3 rows of Shetland yarn. The warp is black cotton rug warp set at 10 e.p.i. The rows with thick locks made the warp all wonky and crooked, then the yarn rows straightened out the warp--sort of re-setting it to be even again. This is a very heavy rug.
My first rug is on the right. I used thin locks and more yarn. For second rug, on the left, I used big lumps of wool to make it thick and squishy.
Oh Cold Mountain, you are so much work. I will finish you someday.

More Yarn Made of Scraps

This time I went for the purple shades---and a drum carder, which I like using much more than hand cards. The lavender wool on the tray is Targhee. There's some lavender mohair there too. The wine-colored wool is Columbia. Not shown in this photo is the little bits of wine-colored mohair that was carded in.
It was fun to spin up my wild batt.

Handcarding scraps

My storage spaces are overflowing with fiber. Several whole fleece are stored in plastic bags. Lumps of dyed locks are stashed away in paper bags. My dyed roving mishaps are shoved into the bottom of bins. I need to spin some of this stuff or pass it on to someone who will. I've started with a little project of blending scraps. Here I have some dyed Targhee, dyed mohair locks, and some scraps of merino roving. I carded them together to make a nice fluffy lump of spin-able fiber. Hand carding in NOT MY THING, but these fibers will not pass through the drum carder well. So it's hand carding or nothing. I'm looking forward to the Northwest Regional Spinner's conference in Salem because I'm taking a class on hand carding. I'd like some more instruction---I'd like to learn to enjoy it.

SUNday

This weekend our family stayed on Whidbey Island. Many thanks to my In-laws who rented a beach house.
I got to spin outside in the sun. We all got a little pink in the cheeks by the end of the day.
Sunglasses were necessary.
The finished product: 4oz of merino, hand dyed by me, spun into a 2-ply.

Spinning my dyed roving

I've been spinning like crazy. Here's a few yarns that I have made...