Recently Finished Projects

Thought I would post photos of my recently completed projects. The first photos are of the Russian neck warmer . My first attempt at knitting Orenburg lace. It is now on its way to surprise a friend.  :)

This photo is of the felted flower bowl with the bottom in it. The bottom is made of plastic canvas with a layer of cotton batting and covered with cotton fabric. It was then glued and sewn in place. It did give the bowl the stability needed while retaining the softness of the felted wool. This bowl will soon be on its way to my mother. She is a seamstress and I thought this would be perfect for holding small things like thread, needles, and scissors.

What's On The Wheel....

.......currently on the wheel is a hand dyed Rambouillet top. I bought 2 oz. just to give it a try.

So far I'm enjoying the spin. It likes to be spun from the end....not from the fold (which is my preference). It was hard trying to make sure the spots of green in the top came through in the photo.

Just off the wheel is a merino/ organic polwarth/firestar/silk blend. Liked the color so bought a 2 oz, batt. Was not my favorite spin though. The fiber was grabby in places. The firestar was in random bunches throughout the batt. Not real enjoyable. The finished yarn is very pretty though. Ended up with 430 yards of a 2-ply lace weight. I'm hoping it will be more fun to knit than it was to spin. 

My First.....And Last CVM Experience

CVM -California Variegated Mutant......this is supposed to be a very relaxing fiber to spin with a staple length of 3-5".....and I was looking forward to spinning it. What a huge disappointment!!! The pencil roving I received not only looked but felt just like dryer lint. There was no staple length. It was like a semi- felted rope of second cuts mixed with dryer lint. And it was not soft by any stretch of the imagination.

Drafting and spinning was simply not going to happen. I didn't want to waste the fiber so I simply spun it as is...then plyed it to give a bit of strength.....ending up with 144 yds. of a very squishy ( but coarse) 2- ply bulky weight yarn. Now to figure out what to do with it. Will I ever spin CVM again? Probably not.

Felted Flower Bowl

This was yesterday's project. It was a fun, fast knit that will make a great gift for my mother for Mother's Day. I used left over yarn. The blue was an Aran weight......the white was doubled so it was about the same weight as the blue. I used a size 10 1/2 needle. Knitted it up, popped it in the wash, and let it go. Felted beautifully! Used a Pyrex mixing bowl turned upside down to shape it on. It sat overnight and was dry this morning. I'm thinking about making a bottom for the inside to give the bowl a bit of stability. It's a bit floppy when you pick it up. Other than that it is ready for gift giving. I think my mother will love it. :)

The pattern itself was easy to work with. A friend of mine was kind enough to bring it to my attention. My only "beef" with the pattern is this small phrase included with the copyright information.... "....do not re-knit for profit". While I understand that designers do not want to see their patterns out there for sale with someone else's name on it, this is crossing the line. Period. No one has the right to tell someone else what they can or cannot do with something made from a pattern....whether the pattern was purchased or free. The only thing copyrighted is the words, photos, charts, drawings, schematics, and anything else that is on the pages of a pattern. It does not extend to the finished pieces made by who ever uses the pattern. As a designer I understand this. Makes perfect sense to me. If I don't want someone doing whatever they please with the finished item then the pattern shouldn't be out there for public use. Simple as that. I've said my peace. For anyone reading this I would really appreciate not being slammed with a ton of negative mail and/or comments. This is only my opinion. I know not everyone will agree with it....and that is fine. Just think how boring our world would be to live in if everyone thought the same......

Shearing Day (photo intense)

Normally my shearer only does the camelids. I prefer shearing the sheep myself. Since I am still recovering from foot surgery (and my hubby has a very full work /school schedule) that just wasn't possible this year. So my shearer was kind enough to shear my sheep as well. I was hoping to get photos of everyone before and after their "haircuts" but that didn't happen. Turns out all available hands were needed so shearing would be done by dark.....which it wasn't. Headlamps were needed for the very last sheep.

The camelids were all sheared stretched out on a tarp. Fairly easy on the animal and very safe for the shearer. My hubby trimmed toenails while the shearer did his thing. My youngest was out and she was talking to each camelid as they were shorn. Helped calm them down and lower their stress levels. My job was to bag/label each fleece and clean the tarp between animals.

My oldest showed up as we were getting ready to shear the sheep. These were done inside the catch pen (which has been waiting for me to be back on my feet so it can be cleaned). I had never seen sheep sheared like this before. It was a rather unique approach. The shearer said this way was easy on the back. The sheep were all very cooperative and shearing went quickly.

We did gets lots of very beautiful fleeces this year. The Huacaya alpacas had incredible blankets! Large with nice length and lovely crimp. The blankets were so large that seconds and thirds weren't saved. The blankets from my two white suri alpacas were small but heavy. It will be interesting to see how much they weigh.

Don't believe everything you read.......

...........because it may not always be true. For example, I received a batch of wool back from the mill last week. The tag with it said gray. I kept looking at the fiber thinking " that's not gray. Looks brown to me." But the tag said gray. So I went with what the tag said all the time wondering what the brown fleeces I had sent in was going to look like when they finally came back from the mill. Got my answer yesterday. They look exactly like the 'gray' fleeces I had sent in! Apparently someone at the mill cannot tell the difference between brown and gray Shetland fleeces.....and I shouldn't believe everything I read, especially when it leaves me feeling perplexed and wondering if I had messed up somehow. Kinda took a bit of the joy out of getting fiber back from the mill though.

The gray fleeces I had sent in some time ago arrived back home yesterday in the form of some very lovely LIGHT GRAY roving. The Shetland was courtesy of my girls Carrie, Sophie, and Oreo. It was blended with a gray Huacaya Alpaca blanket. It's lovely to spin and so incredibly soft.

Fresh from the Mill!!

It arrived!! My fiber finally arrived.....and it is absolutely lovely!! I had sent in a couple of my gray Shetland fleeces (Carrie, Oreo, Sophie) and had it blended with a gray alpaca blanket that I had purchased. The resulting fiber is a lovely warm brownish- gray with some subtle color variation within. It's very soft and spins like a dream. It practically drafts itself! It's so pretty that I simply had to give it a try.

I spun up a handful on one of my akha spindles. Sheer perfection!! A little about the spindle itself. It weighs about 13 grams and measures 8 1/2" from tip to end.The shaft is poplar (with some unique markings).......the whorl is basswood.....the tip is silver. It's been hand rubbed with a combination of bees wax and orange oil. Really brought out the color and grain of the basswood.

The tip is something new I've been playing with. Wasn't real sure how it would work with it being blunt. I kept thinking that the blunt tip would create too much friction and slow the spindle down. Was I wrong. Spins like a little Tasmanian devil! Gives it just enough weight to sustain the spin a bit longer but not too much to where it slows the spin down. Makes for a perfect little spindle.

Now for the shameless plug for my etsy shop: the new akha spindle and fiber will be available for purchase next week.

UPDATE: turns out that this roving is the result of the brown fleeces I had sent in some time ago. The Shetland is compliments of Willow (light morrit), Gracie (fawn), and Angus (fawn katmoget) . It was blended with a chocolate brown Suri Alpaca blanket. You can read all about my mistake in my post "Don't believe everything you read...."