Hand Spun

Hand Spun
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Saturday, January 22, 2011

Adventures with Fiber

I've been having some awesome adventures with fiber!! I spun up some straight alpaca week before last and did my first 3-ply yarn. It looked awesome but I wanted something a little different. Here it is right after spinning it up.
Here's what it looks like now. :)
I now have 11 oz of mulberry colored alpaca 3-ply yarn. I dyed for the first time on Thursday night. I LOVE the fun of dyeing. I'm ready to try dyeing roving or batt now so I can spin it. I'm sure it will have a completely different look. On with the adventure!
Earlier this last week, I got another spinning wheel. :) My Ashford Traditional sold to a student at our local university and she's very excited to have it. In its place, I have a new travel wheel. I chose the Kromski Sonata. It's maiden spinning voyage was with grey and white alpaca. I spun a very nice single with it and I couldn't be happier with the wheel. Here's the single.
My intention with this single is to ply it with angora single for a 50/50 alpaca/angora blend. Today, Daisy my Blue Fronted Amazon and I spun up some angora single. I'll admit that Daisy's main job was to try and snatch the hand carders from me as I prepped the fiber. But she sang and chatted a bit too and I was quite entertained while spinning. Here's the angora from my rabbit named Licorice. I'm amazed by the depth of color of her fur. It's softer than butter too!
I used hand cards to align the fibers and then spun a straight angora single on my Majacraft Rose wheel.
Here's the video on YouTube.
Sorry about the jammies guys but I wasn't in dress-up mode today. I just wanted to play with fiber and relax with my birds. Even my hubby stayed in his man-cave for most of the day.
I might ply tonight after I put the birds to bed.
WEDNESDAY was craft night with the girls. We met at Carrie's house and I got to see her whole flock which was wonderful! Nicole and Susie are doing scarves, Carrie and I are working on shawls. Pretty funny huh? We didn't even plan that. ;)
Carrie started a group for us on Ravelry.com called "Birds of  a Feather Stitch Together".  It's pretty exciting to have our own group on Ravelry. We also decided as a group that we're going to start doing some things for charity. More on that as it develops. I'll post pics of everyone's projects when I get them transferred from my phone.
So that is my "Adventures with Fiber" story. I am taking a short break from fiber fun to blog this and then it's back to my knitting or spinning. I'm letting the birds stay up past their usual bedtime tonight and they're all pretty happy. My canary is actually singing at 8pm. :) I really needed this type of relaxation after the week I've had. There's just something so rejuvenating about spinning. I spun and listened to David Phelps and Celtic Hymns while Daisy kept me company. Here's Daisy coming in for a close-up.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for showing the video,I always wondered if I was doing it right.I use my drumcarder now since my hands & wrists are weak.I was always carding holes in my shirts too!
    That angora looks so soft,I have been tempted to get a rabbit.
    I`ve never 3 plied yarn yet,your work looks so beautiful!
    Daisy is happily taking it all in too!Stay warm today!hugs,phylliso

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  2. Thanks Phyllis! :) I have a drum carder as well but the angora doesn't like to come off the drum once I get it on. So I went back to basics. I'm thinking of getting an angora goat like you have. :) Daisy is my spinning buddy. I've been considering using her soft down feathers as a yarn additive. Not sure about that though....

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  3. What fantastic yarn and I love the angora!

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