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Green sock yarn
hi all,

A friend who likes green (and occasionally blue) expressed an interest in socks, so this has inspired a spinning project. I dyed some of my nice new stash of Southdown/Texel cross, and used up some commercially dyed blue merino, and the last bit of my BFL. Result is thin but bouncy :)

( pics under cut )

Things I learned Today
1) If an alpaca breeder is selling his babies' fleeces, chances are pretty good that:
a) he only sheared them to clean them up
b) he sheared them himself to save money
c) they are therefore full of VM and second cuts

2) VM will not fall out of an alpaca fleece if you drum card it.

3) If you have a fleece like the above, you can get a fair amount of mileage out of feeding it through the carder a bit at a time, stopping after each addition to pick out crap.

Current Mood: annoyed

Happy 4th of July!
Happy 4th of July to everyone in the US (and outside -- as others have pointed out, there's no reason this can't be a good day for everyone!); thought I'd share a summer yarn project, my red, white and blue yarn!

( Pics and info under the cut! )

hey spinners, rabbit question
crossposted a bit after having no luck... sorry this isn't about spinning, but I know a lot of you have fiber pets.

I currently have 3 angora rabbits: 2 French, one German. I've sheared (with scissors) my German's coat for the summer, and I'm wavering over what to do with my French. I usually pluck them, and prefer to do so. Their enclosure is quite cool and has 3 fans, so they aren't in danger from the heat. However, I'd like them to be more comfortable and am considering cutting their fur as well. I've never done this, except to my German.

The reason I'm writing is that I'm concerned about the undercoats*! I'm not too worried about harvesting one coat with multi-lengths, but I'm worried that the next coat will grow in short. It seems to me that if I'm cutting the Frenches' fur, I will cut the long coat that would be ready to shed out sooner, and also the short undercoat that would grow into the next long coat. If I cut that coat, won't it start shedding out at a shorter length? I've tried researching this online, but I am at a loss. I don't want to ruin two coats for spinning--the first being the one with two lengths, the second being shorter than desired.

*for those unfamiliar with angoras, please note that the 'undercoat' is the next long coat growing in, unlike the undercoat of a dog or other animal, which does not grow out into a long coat.

( some pictures of my German for you )

Current Mood: curious

some new projects, plus getting family members to spin!
hi all,

Some pics of newly finished projects; also, the results of teaching a few family members to spin :)

( pics under the cut )

Spinning milk fiber

Anybody have any experience with spinning milk fiber? Though I've found a lot on milk's qualities, I've found little so far about spinning it. Any advice?

Pet hair as fiber?
I know that at least one person here has mentioned using dog hair for spinning (golden retriever, I think?), an option that is not open to me since the dog in the house is a short-haired Chihuahua who is slowly starting to go bald. Cat hair is also not an option - Japanese Bobtail/Egyptian Mau mix. The only long-haired animal in the house is a Silkie guinea pig (picture can be seen here, about halfway down).

Given the size of your average adult guinea pig, it would definitely take a long time to collect enough hair to even try spinning as part of a blend. But I'm wondering if it would be worth it, just to see what would happen. If anyone's tried this before, I'd love to know what the experiment produced (if anything).

Current Mood: curious

wow!
So my landlord (who is also a good friend) had an aunt who died a couple months back, and this last weekend he went out to NYC to clean out her apartment, and do all that unpleasant/nostalgic/cathartic stuff that you do when someone dies. Apparently she was a big spinner and knitter. There was a lot of yarn that they gave to the local good will, but he called me up and asked if I was interested in a box of fiber that the good will didn't want.
Well of course I was interested. So he sent it to me. I got it today.

Woah! I have never inherited a box of random fiber before. There are yards and yards of thick, felty roving. And then bags and bags of samples of stuff. There are a couple 3 oz bags of what I think is silk. There's stuff that's labeled Angora, Cashmere, Merino, other stuff that I haven't ever heard of.

He also said that she had two spinning wheels, but the smaller was spoken for, and the bigger was too big to bring back. Which would have been double amazing, but this bag of fiber has certainly got me stoked enough to last a long while.

There are also a few singles that she spun but didn't do anything with. And one small skein. And something that she started needle-felting, but didn't finish. And a little purple bootie filled with rocks.

I'm one of those people who's of the opinion that spinning is strong magic. It was wild going through her stuff, and finding her singles at the bottom. I'm thinking I'll need to make some singles with the wool and ply them with her singles, and knit them up into something for my landlord.

But first I'm gonna need to get these clumsy fingers ready to work with something other than silly merino tops from the LYS.

It's amazing. I had to share my boon.

Current Mood: enthralled

Not enough spinning...
So this week I have started totally redeveloping my site in anticipation of a relaunch in July and the addition of new products, and more stuff!

Yikes. Far too much computer time, far too little spinning.

And my jaw hurts from getting my wisdom teeth out. The most exciting thing is that I will be adding a studio section. Yes, creation by me! Hand dyed top and roving, fleece, and handspun yarn.

My Knitter's Looms from Ashford come this week -- one as a floor model for the business, one for stock. I am looking forward to weaving something up for show and tell. If only there were more hours in the day, and I could do everything -- website work, dye, spin, weave...and care for my family, myself and my day job. Le sigh.

Pretty dyed fleece behind cut:
( Rambouillet )

Current Mood: chipper

Looking for a spinning shop
...in Portland, Oregon. A friend of mine is interested in learning to spin, and I am looking for recommendations for a spinning shop where she can find spindles, fiber and hopefully expertise.

Anyone have a favorite shop to suggest?

Sheep...Baaa!

Yesterday we went to Lamb's Down Park Festival at the Canadian Sheep Grower's Cooperative. Watched a sheep shearing, and got a fleece. Mmmmm...yummy, lanoliny fleece. Can't wait to scour it and spin it up!

Met with a very nice gentleman from Ontario Sheep Farmers Association. Nice people, and I hope to help the local sheep community through my business. In Ontario (or elsewhere?) Need a fleece? Give me a shout, and I'll try to get you the breed you are looking for. This might be better organized next year than this year...

As a younger spinner (i.e. 34 ish), it struck me that we need to get out and spin in public more. Spinning is NOT a dying art (well, it is a dyeing art, as evidenced by the two hours I spent dyeing this morning...) and there are many of us who will carry on the craft .

Spinning and weaving week is in October. www.weavespindye.org/pages/ I encourage everyone to do something radical, like spin in public that week!

One more cute pic:

Current Mood: happy

Yummy bamboo blend
I promised pictures of some bamboo/wool/mohair blend that I spun up last week...and got distracted. Finally got the pictures downloaded from the camera et voila! Here is the top, and then after I spun it up. I enjoyed spinning this. Fiber blends are always fun as the fibers all draft at slightly different rates. My after picture isn't great -- at least I spin better than I shoot!

Current Mood: happy

Latest project - overdyed sparkley Southdown/Texel
hi all,

The other week I posted a pic of some undyed yarn I made, with purple sparkles in it, as part of a project with a friend.....

( click here for projecty goodness )

Spinning other things...
Quick questions.

Has anyone here spun something other than wool/fleece? Like dog fur (or other canine fur)? How many ounces do you generally need to get a good amount? Is it easy to mix in with other fiber to draw it out (say I only have a few ounces, but need a lot of ounces, so I mix in the canine fur with some sheep wool)?

hello! new to group

Hi all! I am new to the handspinning community on LJ and thought I would poke my head in to say 'Hello" from Ottawa, Canada. Tonight I am going to spin up some Bamboo/Wool/Mohair blend and will post pics tomorrow.

A few chunkier than usual projects
Some more pics of recent projects, for your viewing pleasure!

2 lots of yarn from batts by Loop on etsy (been meaning to spin these for aaages..), destined to become hats for relatives.
Also some undyed yarn, made from a Southdown/Texel fleece a friend got for me. Cards and spins up lovely, feels a little like Corriedale but quite short fibres. I intend to spin up enough for the friend to make a knitted garment, having helped dye it first.

( pics under the cut )

Recent spinning projects
A few recent spinning projects!
Still working through the big stash of BFL I dyed up a while back..

( pics under the cut )

Drum Carder Redux
Hi everyone-

Several months ago, I posted here about buying a drum carder as a Channukah present, except I never ended up getting one (my present ended up turning into rent money, and although paying rent is shiny, it doesn't really help with the spinning other than in the abstract sense of my wheel needing a place to live...)

Anyways, I'm graduating, and my parents want to give me a graduation present, which will actually be a drum carder and not rent. Whereas earlier I had a limit of $350, now it's at $500. Maybe a bit more if I pay the difference out of pocket.

I'm thinking of getting the Ashford, or possibly the Strauch petite. I will definitely be carding a lot of Alpaca, not sure what else. (So I would probably get the fine or extra fine cloth.) I want something on the smaller size, since although we have a workbench in the basement, it will be shared with other crafters. (I'm living in a crafty house of awesome!) It doesn't need to be tiny, but I'm not getting a massive industrial-sized drum carder.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Update: I ended up going with the Strauch Petite (with brush attachment) which I ordered yesterday and should be here sometime late this week early next week.

Spinning silk top
I've been practicing spinning Tussah silk top for laceweight, and have run into one snag, as it were: the tiniest bit of moisture in the hand holding the fiber makes it stick to my hand. I solved that problem with a latex glove on that hand, so the fiber is now drafting as nicely as could be.

However . . . latex gloves smell disgusting. :(

Is there an alternative keep-the-fiber-from-sticking solution that doesn't smell so bad?

Thanks.

I'm totally new to spinning. TOTALLY new. I bought my spinning wheel this week (on Tuesday). It's my combination Mother's Day and wedding anniversary gift. It makes me JOYFUL! I went to the Spinning Loft in Howell, MI and tried a bunch of wheels. The owner of the store is darling, very helpful. She even gave me a little lesson so I could walk out the door without being totally clueless! I wanted a Majacraft Rose, but the hubby decided that was out of the budget. So I ended up with a Kromski Sonata, and I quite like it. I can't help but think, "it's so darn pretty!"

As for actually spinning, I'm hoping I just need more practice and that I'm not doing anything straight up horribly wrong. Drafting is tricky, I have a really hard time pulling out even amounts of fiber, so my yarn is all slubby? (I think that's the term I heard!) o_O I also tend to treadle too quickly and overtwist the crap out of things, but I'm getting better at not doing THAT all the time.

I'm impatient to get better at spinning, but at the same time, I am having fun practicing. I wish I wasn't such a perfectionist about crafty things, it makes being an utter n00b very difficult. Really glad I found this community! I looooove looking at all the beautiful things that the members have spun (and then knitted or croched up).

Here's a pic of my first yarn.
( First Yarn )