Tag Archives: roving

My Dad Accidentally Bought A Fiber Club

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Ya’ll…my dad is so cute. He called me the other day and said “I keep getting your Christmas presents in the mail!”. So on a recent visit I took a look at what was coming in the mail. He didn’t realize he had purchased a fiber club subscription for my gift!

The February club is 100% cheviot and a DEEP violet color. This looks amazing and 1,000% sure it will let off dye when I wash it, lol. The March club is set of wonderful pinks and purples and is a polworth and silk blend. This will be VERY soft.

I guess with all my fiber additions this week, I need to get spinning!! Happy Spinning!!

Fiber Destash Score

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Jude of Stranded Dyeworks recently destashed some of his personal stash in order to feel more incontrol of his stash and make sure these items are being used instead of stored. I stayed away for the first few days of the sale but I was weak when I noticed there was still fiber in the shop.

These are all new to me dyers and from top right around to the bottom they are:

  • Spotted Circus – 4 ounces and a blend of Alpaca and Nylon
  • Fondant Fibres – 4 ounces and a 80/20 blend of SW Merino and Nylon – this one is called Deep & Meaningful
  • Hipstrings – 4 ounces and a blend of Merino, Rambouillet and Nylon – this one is called The Unicorn in the Library

I have zero plans for this fiber. None of the fiber content really line up so I don’t see combining them. They will likely end up being spun with themselves and making cute one of skeins.

Happy Spinning!!

Fiber From The Flurry

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Since I can’t really knit right now, I decided to organize my Fiber Flurry purchases. Turns out, I bough all fiber!

On top, there is some merino and assorted fiber batt from HLA Fiber Mill. It’s just over 2 ounces and will make a cute skein in PB’s color scheme.

On the bottom left is 4.7 ounces of alpaca and firestar roving. IT’S SO SUPER SOFT! This was leftover It’s from Grey Meadows Alpaca farm and is the leftovers from their mill runs. I got a chance to chat with the owner and he was super fun.

Lastly, on the bottom right is a new to me sheep breed – Finn Sheep. I grabbed three ounces of the natural color dark brown. I will need to pull out my fiber/fleece source book in order to learn more about the breed. But these sheep are from the 14 Hand Ranch.

I think either the Finn or the pink batt will be the first on my wheel once my hand is back to normal! Happy Spinning!!

One Of Two Complete

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My blue BFL spinning has been progressing nicely. I have spun through the first four ounces and filled my first bobbin of this spin.

Because of the compacted nature of this fiber I have been having trouble keeping my singles thin and consistent. However, as my current spinning tack is to just let the fiber do what it wants see what kind of yarn I end up with. I am not currently spinning with the end product in mind.

Now I just need to pop open the second bag of this spin and get the second bobbin cooking! Happy Spinning!!

Fiber Clubs

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For Christmas the hubs got me a three month fiber club with WoolFiend. I have gotten two of three shipments. The first was a super fine micron merino in the Euphoria colorway (left)

The next month was a very appropriate spring colorway called “Waiting for Daffodils” in a 100% Romney blend.

I haven’t broken open either fiber packet and don’t have any designated spinning plans. For now I am loving watching what this dyer is doing with color. I may wait until the third installment shows up before I make plans.

Happy Spinning!!!

About Half Done

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My spinning mojo has been even lower than my knitting mojo. But I did manage to get the second set of colors spun of my Tequila Sunrise corriedale project.

The first bobbin on the left is all pure yellow and the bobbin on the right is the where the pink and yellows mixed and it is more orange. I figure I have spun roughly half the braid. A large portion of this braid is all pink.

I think my plan is to spin the pile in the top right first as it is the lighter pink and then spin the ball of darkest pink last. I would hope to teach myself how to andean ply so I can make a gradient of all this yarn. But that might necessitate more brain power and mojo than I can seem to muster right now. Time will tell!

Should I Attempt Two Ply?

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Happy Memorial Day to all! I hope everyone is safe and happy today.

I decided to start something new today. After finishing off some small handspun recently, I felt the itch to start a larger spinning project. Perhaps even one I would try to make as a 2-ply yarn?

This is 4 ounces of alpaca roving in kind of rusty oranges and browns. It’s a little compact from long term storage but I think it’s workable. I’m going to use my larger/heavier drop spindle and then perhaps my wheel to ply? I don’t care for the colors so it seems perfect to practice new things on because I won’t care if it gets messed up!

I split the roving in half by weight and then stripped the roving into smaller and thinner strips to pre-draft it and take some the compression out. I then wound that first half (lightly) into a ball and put in a project bag. I’m hoping that this improved fiber prep will help me make thinner yarn and more consistent yarn.

Disclaimer: I am NOT a knowledgeable spinner. I have no idea what I’m doing or what most things are called. I’m just amusing my self during social distancing by bumbling my way through some fiber.

Happy Spinning!!

Learning To Drop Spindle

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I might need to send Etsy a thank you after this self isolation period. I think I have been coping pretty well with not over eating or being overly sedentary but I have been kind of soothing my fears and anxiety with small business online shopping. I was disappointed about missing Knitting in the Heartland back in April whereI was supposed to take a drop spindle class. So I grabbed life by the bootstraps and ordered a drop spindle I knew nothing about on Etsy. When it got here, I just fired up YouTube and started watching lessons….

I watched about 40 minutes of tutorials and just got myself started. I pulled some mystery wool roving from my inherited spinning stash and go to learning. I am using the “park and draft” method of drop spindling on a top whorl spindle. I have no idea how many ounces my spindle is. It’s nice and heavy and seems to making yarn quite nicely.

Drafting has been a steep learning curve. I am working on a long draw method that focuses on getting a thin line of fiber without breaking it. I am still working on this skill. My wool was in roving form and I’m peeling off strips and spinning from those. The fiber is not the nicest but it’s working fine for this beginner.

My yarn is definitely thick and thin in nature. I’m working on not over twisting and getting consistent drafting. I’m not sure I’m succeeding but I am sure having fun! I have about an ounce of this mystery fiber so it shouldn’t take me that long to spin up. I’m really interested to see what comes our of this? I am definitely spinning a singles yarn as I have zero brain space to ply this small amount of fiber.

Happy Spinning!

Dryer Ball Experiment

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It was a lovely weekend here in Kansas and so I turned my 3 year tornado loose in the backyard to burn off all his little wonderful energy. I meanwhile wanted to try an experiment. I had been catching up on the backlog of the YarnHoarder YouTube podcast and recently watched her segment on dryer balls. I have had one in the past but I wasn’t impressed. Amber mentioned that she uses several at once and it cuts her drying time in half.

So my 36 week preggo body waddled to JoAnns and came home with some 100% wool to felt. I picked up three different weights to test out….roving, bulky, and worsted.

Jellybean even took play breaks to help me wind into balls!

I got them all wrapped up into balls and ensconced into pantyhose. Jellybean thought this part was HILARIOUS. I wasn’t very scientific about the size. I just split each skein into two balls as best I could tell. They totally didn’t turn out equal. Score one for eyeballing it!

Now I just need to wait for either a load of towels or jeans to pile up so I can pop these into the wash to get them felted!

Happy Crafting!