Socks and Locks in a Box!

What a busy and productive week this has been!  I spent a great afternoon at Yarn Tree Studio (LYS) with some wonderful people.  I was able to finish spinning the first bobbin of the red/blue sock yarn that I have pictured below. 




I taught one of our group members how to spindle 2 weeks ago and she is already making a cowl with her very first hand spun yarn!  I'm so proud of her.  Pictures to follow!  I am hoping in June to be able to spend more time teaching others to spindle.  It's a great way to be introduced to hand spun yarn without the expense of a spinning wheel. 




As far as my latest projects go, I've been busy making sneaker socks for summer.  One pair is completed and one is in progress.  They are such a quick knit since I don't have to do a long cuff!  Now if I just had a shorter foot it would be even quicker!

And I am currently spinning up some red alpaca/wool blend with blue/purple/teal Vegan Wool blended in to add strength.  I was asked today what made the wool vegan and I told her that the sheep were vegetarians!  She believed that for a minute and then had that odd look on her face as she realized sheep ARE vegetarians!  Ok, Vegan Wool is really nylon.

This should be a very pretty yarn when I ply the blended colors to the dark red and I am very excited to finish this, wash it to set the twist and knit the next pair of socks!  There is nothing better than a pair of hand knit socks!  I'll post pictures when I finish these.




And then I have had fun with a Jacob and an unknown fleece I got this week.  I have flicked open several of the locks to prep them for spinning.  They are all oriented tip end (and butt end) together.  I then tied them with ribbon into little clouds that are ready for me to take out on the porch where I can sit and spin them while enjoying our beautiful Spring! The box has 50g of fleece. The Jacob is a beautiful fleece with it's tricolor very tight locks and tight crimp.  The white fleece is very lofty and soft.  It was not labeled when given to me so I am not sure what it is.  I did do a test spin and it spins very well into a fine yarn. I think that the Jacob spun along with the white fleece should make a very interesting yarn.

 I love these "Locks in a Box"

\\

Tonight I dyed some silk into a luscious deep purple to blend with some alpaca that I have.  It's still in the microwave oven cooling so I will rinse and lay it outside on the screen to dry in the morning.  I plan to do a 50/25/25 silk/alpaca/wool blend.  More pictures coming!

Next time I will be including pictures of the finished Hitchhiker that I completed this past week,  

Off to knitting.  Still have an hour of evening left!

Shearing Day

I had the best day yesterday at Paca Pastures in Youngsville, NC.  I had been out to Deb's farm before and SO enjoyed her animals (and the fiber I had purchased!). 

It was a perfect day.   The day was all about shearing the last 10 of her 77 flock.  I learned so much as she explained each step from the type of shears used to how to do the shearing.  The table she used to lay the Alpaca on was certainly a saver for the back!   

Of course, to heighten my experience, as I was positioning to take the best picture I could, this beauty named Corvette decided she had had enough and spat a huge wad at me covering me from head to hips with grass and acidic juices!  How did I know about the acid juices?  Because she timed it perfectly as I gave a big smile!  Need I say more?    .... I know....   ewwwwwww

Into the farmhouse I went to try to clean up as best as possible so I could enjoy the next couple hours.

And the clincher is.  I now own her fleece!!  :)  Sweet revenge!  Someday I will spin it into a nice fine fingering yarn and wear her around my shoulders smiling as I think about the experience!

Project Updates

I spent the afternoon at the Yarn Tree Studio today.  I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon than with good friends, lot's of yarn and great conversation!  I spun one bobbin of the Gulf Coast fiber and knit a few rows on the Hitchhiker. 

This week I spent a little more time researching the Gulf Coast Sheep breed and discovered there are estimated to be only 2000 of these sheep world wide!  The fiber spins up extremely light and fluffy.  It is a little less soft than I would like with a micron count in the high 20's hitting into 30.  I made a shawlette out of a former batch of roving that I purchased from someone in my local Guild.  It is very pretty (warm) and SO light!  

I was hoping buying and processing the raw fleece would result in a little softer product.  I can say, however, that I did not strip it of all of it's lanolin and I am enjoying how easily it spins!  This pound I have will be spun worsted and I want to do a hand painted long gradual color change dyeing to make a cable scarf pattern I have had for awhile. 

I have just ordered 2 more fleeces.  Shearing is in a couple weeks and I will look forward to working with this.

So, here are a few projects I have finished the past couple weeks. 

 This was 12 ounces of worsted weight fine Merino that was a special order from a customer visiting from Canada who came into the Studio a couple weeks ago.  The colors were amazing and it was a fun spin.

This was a quick knit for my Niece's new baby due May 11th.  Yes, it's a boy!

Since I had enough yarn left after making myself a couple pairs of socks I made these for my new nephew!  I love the way they came out and how I was able to match the yarn so that they look alike.

Tomorrow?  More carding!  I'm waiting for my picker to come before working on the Shetland fleece!  

Off to work on the Hitchhiker!

Ready for Knit-along

I've been working on some light brown alpaca/wool mix.  It has a wonderful heathery look.  I took this in natural light but it really is not doing justice to the fiber.  Finally I have 800 yards finished bulky (7-8 wpi).  My sister and I are planning a knit-along with plans to do the Arrowhead Poncho http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/arrowhead-poncho .  We should have them finished for next fall.  I'm just hoping we will get some cooler weather next year so that I can enjoy some of my scarves, cowls, mittens and this poncho. 

I love the way the yarn turned out.  It is SO soft.  Tomorrow I will finish washing the 4 hanks and store it away until we start our project.

Meanwhile, I started the Hitchhiker Shawlette yesterday.  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hitchhiker  I am using Ella Rae Merino Lace out of my stash.  It is an easy knit and I love the clean decisive lines.   It's a great "take with" project. 

And...I finished carding the rest of the Gulf Coast fleece.  I ended up with 18.5 ounces out of the 2 pounds.  There was more waste than I anticipated, or maybe it was not a full 2 pounds when I received it.  Usually I lose about 25% through waste when processing a raw fleece.  At any rate, it is very lofty and I spun a bobbin full (long draw) while at Spinning Group this afternoon.  I don't have a project in mind for this yet, but anticipate I will have around 400-500 yards plyed.

So, I think this was a productive day!  I even managed to clean out litter boxes, vacuum and do laundry!  Too many days the chores seem to be pushed aside in favor of some current project! 

Carding Day

Today was spent carding some very nice Gulf Coast fleece that I washed up earlier this week.  I scoured it lightly to leave a good deal of lanolin on it.  I just enjoy spinning with the fiber not feeling dry.  This fleece has just the right amount and I am looking forward to sitting down with it tomorrow and doing some spinning on the Lendrum. 

I took 2 passes through the carder and it was beautiful!  I'll let the pictures tell the story! 

Then I did a little of the Shetland #2 fleece from my niece's flock of two!!  This one was much cleaner than the first one and is quite a bit darker.  Although it is still gray, it has a lot of black in it and it carded up 3 or 4 shades darker than #1 fleece did.  It still has enough lanolin in it to keep it feeling soft and supple.  The staple length is an incredible 6 inches and a little more on many of the locks!  It was a pleasure to card! 

Dolly was sheared just 3 weeks ago and a week later had this darling little girl lamb!  Looking forward to her fleece next year!  Now the flock has three!! 

More carding to do tomorrow!  And then off to Spinning Group in the afternoon!

The Joy and Stink of Skirting!

In the end we see the reality of the finished product; the beginning is merely a dream.

This has been my belief in my love of life for many years now.  Being able to share that through my love of fiber arts brings me a joy and peace in this world of chaos and stress.  I hope that I can inspire others to grow through experience, to not be afraid to try new things and to reach out to learn from one another.

I look forward to sharing my continuing path through my intention of creations or through those incidental or accidental wonders that sometimes happen. 

So, with that being said...  

I was so lucky to receive 2 wonderful boxes of unskirted Shetland fleece a couple weeks ago.  My niece lives in upstate NY and had her 2 Shetlands sheared, her first experience with this.  So, of course I volunteered to skirt, wash, pick, card, spin and knit!  Well, when the boxes arrived I was beginning to wonder if I was out of my mind offering to skirt! 

My house quickly smelled like, well, let's not go there.  I moved the fleeces to the garage and spread them onto a screen balanced on the back of my car.  Since we are deep into pollen season, gracing everything in sight with bright yellow pollen, I had to do this inside.  

Spreading it out to be able to identify the britch from the neck from the belly was a challenge since it was so mushed together from shipping.  But, after a bit of work the birds were getting a large bag of pickings for their spring nests!

The remaining fleece went into the house for it's wash.  Using Dawn and good hot water I soaked the fleece for 30 minutes.  I didn't want to remove all of the lanolin so only used a small amount of Dawn (10 squirts for my sink sized bucket).  

After 2 hot water rinses (no agitation. mind you!) I placed the fleece on old beach towels, rolled them up and pressed them to get the extra water out.  Then off to the screen to dry!  

And here were a couple of the locks!   It is so easy to see the double coat of the Shetland.  The white undercoat is SO soft. 

This will be wonderful to spin despite the hours of prep that it took.   I have asked my niece to please, please, please COAT the sheep to help keep it cleaner.  Hoping next years fleece won't be as much work!

Off to the wheel!