Spinning Update

It's been a while since I've done a spinning update. Life has slowed down a bit now that shearing (sheep only) is finished. I still have a few fleeces that need to be skirted and gone over.....but that will have to wait until better weather. We are still getting frost!!

Pictured is one of my latest hand-spun skeins. This is a blend of Shetland/red llama/soy silk. It spun up to be about a worsted weight yarn. The Shetland is from my horned ewe, Willow. It is actually her britch skirtings from one year. The britch skirtings were so clean that I just couldn't bear to toss it.....and since her fleece was sold (as it is every year) it allowed me to enjoy a little bit of her lovely fiber. I chose to blend it with some red llama (to bring out the red in Willow's natural color....moorit) and blended in a bit of soy silk for added strength (wasn't sure what I was going to do with the finished yarn). The end result was a lovely brown yarn that, while not the softest, isn't itchy either. I love the various shades within the yarn and am thinking it will make up into a beautiful knitted/fulled teddy bear. A jointed one.....just for me. 

This isn't the only spinning I've done lately. I have decided that I would like to make a couple of knitted/fulled rugs and have started spinning for that. I'm using mill end roving that I purchased from The Sheep Shed Studio quite some time ago. It's a wool/mohair blend so it should make wonderful rugs that wear well. I've already spun up a pound of brown/black/white roving into a bulky weight yarn. And I finished plying a pound of black/gray/white singles. This, too, ended up being a bulky weight yarn. I just need to set the twist on it. Currently on the wheel is a white/gray/black roving. I have a pound of this as well. The finished yarn will be paired with the black/gray/white yarn since it will be much lighter in color (more white than black.....whereas the already finished yarn is more black than white). As for the brown/black/white yarn.....I have a pound of light brown/white roving that I will eventually spin up into a bulky weight yarn which will be paired with it. I will be sure to take pictures of the finished yarn. I know it probably sounds a bit confusing right now with the various colors of the different rovings I'm working with.   

I'm using my Ashford Country Spinner to spin all this up. With its large bobbin (2 lb. capacity) I'm able to spin the entire pound into singles at one time (and ply it, too). I end up with one very large skein.....which makes me happy.  No worrying about wondering if I have all the skeins together. I have a two yard niddy noddy that I wind the plyed yarn on for setting the twist......and a jumbo ball winder for when I'm ready to use these large skeins.