I've been busy with my spinning wheel in the past couple of weeks. I'm churning out yarn so fast I don't know how I'll keep up with knitting it!
First off, this one I call Zebra:
First off, this one I call Zebra:
Then a blend I made on my blender/drum carder from some yellow and red fibre I had kicking around, I call this one Firestar:
Next we have Peacock, this was the January colour way from Spunky Eclectic. This was my first attempt at fractal spinning.
Then an unknown fibre given to me by a member of the spinning guild:
These all need washing/setting before I measure the yardage and weight.
Then I washed a good portion of my BFLxRomney/Cotswold cross. This was very exciting and scary at the same time! It's incredible how quickly the dirt comes off and how white the fleece turns. It takes quite a while for the fleece to dry, I've figured that it is quicker if I take it out of the mesh bag that I use to wash it in, spreading it out to dry. The locks are so cute and curly - I feel like the sheep are distant kin to my curly-self - and I think it'll be a shame to drum card these curls so I might "spin from the lock" with this fleece.
I have a spin in on Saturday in Kamloops so I need to decide what I'm doing and prepare for my first spinning event which should be a lot of fun!
Last weekend, the kids and I went out to see my friends lambs. These lambs are Barbados blackbelly sheep. They were only a week or so old and very cute. Surprisingly sturdy on their feet. The mother's were a bit wary of us but we got to pet one. They are hair sheep and do not grow wool.
We also got to meet some Alpaca. They were very curious and even lined up to meet us! They were actually taller than I expected, I was looking them right in the eye. I thought the kids would be scared but they weren't and wanted to pet them. The Alpaca were having none of that, they were too shy to be touched.
'I' was very brave and even tried to feed one with some grass. I was a bit worried he might take her fingers off though!
The kids had a great time and learned a lot about animal husbandry and animals at the same time. All this and we didn't even have to go more than 3 minutes away from home!
Drop spindling while fun turns out not to be as fun as spinning on a wheel (IMHO). I had been coveting a spinning wheel all year and decided to purchase one for Christmas and join the local spinning group (Ponderosa Spinners and Weavers).
I decided on a Lendrum wheel after seeing Jacey Boggs use hers in her new DVD Textured Spinning. I got the plying head/bobbin and the fast flyer as a set with the double treadle wheel. The wheel came with 3 extra bobbins on a lazy kate, in addition to the bobbin included on the regular flyer.
It has gotten quite a bit of use in the less than 3 weeks it's been here. First off, some undyed Knitpicks roving. 2 plied. Bulky weight.
Next, some aqua blue dyed Corriedale, 2 plied, also bulky weight. I got about 150 yards total from 4oz.
This was an experiment in combining colours. Corriedale roving in golden brown and a cornflower blue. Both spun as singles then 2 plied together. Weight is Bulky again. I got 260 yards out of the two 4oz rovings.
I'm still working on getting something thinner than bulky. It seems to fluff up some when it takes a bath to set the twist.
Now I'm dreaming of buying a fleece in the Spring (shearing season) as purchasing roving off Etsy is proving to be expensive (I can spin/ply 4oz roving per weekend!).
So much so that I have started my 2nd yarn, using a bat of Purple People Eater (purple is my favorite color). My plan is to spin this yarn as thin as I can and try to create something in a sport or dk weight, for shawl knitting (lace weight would be too ambitious).
I have to say I never thought I'd become a spinner but I have to say it is both enjoyable and relaxing,and has a useful output. I can see myself easily creating far more handspun yarn than I'll ever have time to knit, so knitter friends you may be getting some handspun sometime soon!
