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...."