Fluff Finale

Voila! I have finished and photographed all of the samples I am going to be using for my demo. It has been such a fun learning experience.

Top Row : Poodle Puppy/Silk, Sheltie/Taupe Corriedale
Bottom Row: Bearded Collie mix/Grey Corriedale, Pomeranian/Natural Black Rambouillet

Poodle Puppy/Alpaca

These samples have certainly improved the quality of my spinning. I learned how not to let the fiber or habit dictate how my finished yarns will look. I naturally spin moderately low twist yarns; I like soft cushiness in my finished work. So if I leave my hands to work on automatic pilot, that's what I will get. Unfortunately, dog fluff needs more twist even when blended with a medium wool or it will be nearly as fuzzy as fun fur. Over the course of this project, I had to learn how to adjust my spinning to get the effect I was aiming for. There were some "failures"; it took me a few tries to get the Husky/alpaca to spin. And in the end, I was only mostly successful with it, but the fault may lie more with the short cria alpaca than the Husky. Which is why it ended up as the FELTED tote. LOL

The Pomeranian/Rambouillet was probably the most successful of the squares, although the Sheltie blend was fun to work with too. I am glad I have the whole Rambo fleece as I think it may now end up blended with newf and knit into a jacket for next fall. My queue is way too full for squeezing that in now.

I am officially signing off for the week and I will have TONS to post when I get back from Camp.

Have a safe and splendiferous Labor Day Weekend!

More Dog Fluff Stuff

Okay, I spent TOO much of today getting the dogs groomed and ready for Camp, so I didn't get the sample squares photographed. I know I promised, but I can only do so much. To pacify you all, here is my second favorite sample piece.

Filigree Scarf

Pattern: Fabulous Filigree Scarf in One Skein Wonders edited by Judith Durant
Yarn: Handspun Rough Collie/Cream Romney Blend
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 6

You can see the amount of color change in the Collie fiber... I didn't honestly notice it so much until it was knitted up. The color is a little more subtle in person, but my digital camera either shot it plain cream or this, so there you go. It is just a nice scarf, it looks like it might be a shawlish size in the photo and the book, but it is more like collar size. It will look nice crossed under my coat this winter.

Dog Fluff Stuff

We leave for Camp on Saturday, so I am down to the wire on the Dog Fluff Stuff. The maiden voyage of my spinning dog fluff demo is scheduled for Tuesday -- wish me luck!. I have more demos lined up for later this fall so all the work putting together the handouts and samples will be put to good use.

The final push to finish knitting has been rather consuming of late. I will have some more to show you tomorrow, but here is is bulk of the finished samples... I know I shouldn't have favorites but this container really knocks my socks off...

Felted Container

Pattern: Adapted from Felted Gift Bag in One Skein Wonders
Yarn: Handspun Anatolian Shepherd/White Corriedale and Bearded Collie/Grey Corriedale
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 9

Fingerless Mitts

Pattern: Dashing from Knitty
Yarn: Handspun Golden Retreiver / Merino blend
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 7

Felted Tote

Pattern:Adapted from Fulled Lopi Tote by Hello Yarn
Yarn: Handspun Siberian Husky/Varigated Gray Alpaca
Needles: KnitPicks Options size 10.5

I have a couple more things to photograph and a Pomeranian/Rambo blend to knit up still.

Summer Slacker

I admit it. It's summertime and the living is easy. It's not that I haven't been working on all sorts of fibery goodness, I just haven't wanted to be sitting in my office typing about it... LOL Between the heat, the garden, the dogs and the social nature of summers in Maine, I just haven't been disciplined enough. I am trying to change that, but I wouldn't count my chickens if I were you.

When I am feeling trapped indoors in the A/C blasting, I like to spin. There has been lots of spinning completed lately. Here is some beautiful yarn from what I can only say was the UGLIEST roving man has ever created... Burnt orange, day-glo orange, navy blue and taupe, it was another ebay purchase -- deceptively photographed and given the classy name - SeaShells... I don't know about where you live, but here in Maine... seashells are never day-glo orange. Spinning it was a lark -- I was curious just how ugly the yarn would be. As you can see, it isn't ugly at all, quite the opposite in fact. It reminds me of Fall between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Seashells are nowhere to be found but Autumnal Splendor might have kept me from believing it was ugly for all these months. I am still shocked at where the burgundy came from, it just magically appeared while I was spinning.





It's a 2-ply DK weight, medium wool spun using a modified long draw from a now unknown ebay seller.

My second yarn to show you is a different story. This is the mohair/wool blend roving from Friends Folly Farm I got at the Fiber Frolic. I loved the roving. It was one of those rovings I would pull out of the stash and fondle for no reason. I still loved it after I spun it up and plied it, but then it went into it's bubble bath to set the twist and the water quickly turned a dark blood red and then over the next few minutes the water turned a rusty brown. I am going to guess I lost about 30% of the color saturation. It is still very pretty, if a little pale. My disappointment is probably coloring my opinion a bit overmuch (ooh look a pun!) Take a look...





It's a 2-ply sport weight, 50/50 mohair and wool spun using a modified long draw from Friends Folly Farm.

UFO Review

As I am still without a working wheel and without any FO to show... I thought I'd review my current UFO

1) Tahoe Cardigan -- The pieces are all knitted, I just have to seam, buttonband and block. The sleeves took forever as I reworked them to be more tapered as I don't like bell-ish sleeves. Luckily, I only had to reknit it once. I also chose not to do a contrasting trim... You will see soon.

2) Live Dangerously, Don't Swatch Hat -- I love this pattern. I am using the red, white & newf yarn to make a simple textured hat. I should have something to show soon as I just have the i-cord edging to do.

3) Eunny's Print-O'-the-Wave Stole -- I have to admit that I got scared by the lace and gently backed away from this one... Summer is such a perfect time for lace that I will surely get back to it soon. Really. I think this one is less than 10% complete.

4) Kimono Shawl from Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle -- I am 66% finished with this one... There's no excuse. I thought I was going to run out of yarn so I put it aside until I acquired the additional skeins, but by the time I did my enthusiasm had moved on to other things. %sigh% You can see a photo of DynamiteKnits version here.

I also own the yarn for about 6 pairs of socks not yet started, but promised to folks already. I also have a long overdue vest I promised someone more than a year ago. This is in addition to all the spinning I have committed to and getting ready to teach Spinning Dog Fuzz, which involves spinning and knitting samples of 10+ breeds blended with wool, alpaca or silk.

There are not enough hours in the day.

%sigh%

Did I mention that the Maine Fiber Frolic is next weekend... I will inevitably pick up three or four new projects. I am hoping not, but I can already hear the siren song of the fleece tent.

Broken Leg

Rosemary has a broken leg. My spinning wheel, a Kromski Minstrel, is named Rosemary after Rosemary Clooney. (Think the "Minstrel Number" from White Christmas...) Anyway, the aforementioned big puppy sent my wheel @$$ over tea kettle and she broke one of her footmen. %sigh%. The good folks at Halcyon Yarn have assured me that I would have my part in less than a week, but I am still sad as can be as production on the Samoyed/Alpaca yarn has halted.

But in other news, I borrowed Kerri's Louet and spun a blend of 50% Newfoundland/25% Red Wool/25% White Wool... It is a wild mix. I was poking around in the stash looking for something interesting to blend with the newf fuzz and came up with some 1 oz balls of wool that came with one of my spindles. I just weighed it out and carded it together. Little thought was given to how blended it was; I just threw it on the handcards in roughly even proportions of wool to newf fuzz. The result is a DK weight 2/ply for a total of about 200 yards... See...

I've just got to come up with a project for it. I am thinking that a simple roll brim hat might be just the ticket to show off the heathery goodness...

Fuzzy Magic

I have been asked to give a demonstration of Spinning Dog Fur at Camp this year and I have managed to collect undercoat fluff from 5 or 6 breeds other than Newfs to use as samples. Thank you again to the Spin-List/Spin-Sales folks who volunteered the samples. I have been having a ball working my way thru them.

Dog fur is a lot like angora... lots of halo, very fluffy and so fine that it is a little fragile. Alone it needs to be spun so fine and tight that you end up taking alot of the silkiness and softness away. I have found that if it is blended with something else, it makes a much superior yarn. I typically blend it on my hand cards at a ratio of about 50/50. Most often I like a soft, crimpy lamb's wool, but alpaca and silk make a good pairing as well. This is Sheltie mixed with some fawn Corriedale lamb fleece I had in my stash. I think it turned out pretty well... if I do say so myself. It's a 2-ply DK weight.



The next breed I have chosen to work with is Samoyed which I blended with some white alpaca roving... It is like spinning clouds. It is so fine and fluffy that it ended up in my nose and mouth and EVERYWHERE in the family room.



Here it is on the wheel... I was aiming for something that would end up as a sport weight 2 ply, but it's probably going to end up more like fingering weight unless I make it a 3 ply. One of these days I will be more in command of how thick I spin. In any case, I think it will make a really nice lacy scarf...



I am hoping to get it plied and ready to knit this weekend. I'll post more when I do.

More Tales of the Downy Fleece

I was a busy bee this weekend. I spun up a skein of the cute rolags. And, I finally got my self together to show you the condition of the original fleece after it was washed anyway...



There is a little grass/hay but it's the stuff that just falls out as you process it. That I can handle. There is the issue of the staining,but it just blends up into those cute rolags and yarn...



The final skein is somewhere between a DK and a heavy fingering weight two-ply. I think it will make superb socks... My workhorse wheel is a Kromski Minstrel, but I plied this on Kerri's Louet to see how I liked working with the GIANT bobbins. I have to say that the jury is still out. I will use it again to see how it goes. The twist is a little uneven; I had trouble getting the right balance in tension, but I am guessing that is a user error rather than anything having to do with the wheel.

If Life gives you lemons...

I bought a fleece on ebay... I know... I know... I shouldn't do that unless I am really sure I know what I am getting... but it was cheap and I was weak. I have a wool addiction... I can't help it. It is a down-type fleece from a shearer who takes the best of the fleeces he shears (saving them from the trash where most meat sheep fleeces end up) and sells them on ebay...

Anyway, when it came it was a dirty, gooey, yolky mess, but at least it wasn't full of VM. So I soaked it overnight and then washed it with dishsoap and rinsed it 3-4 times. I use regular hot water... not scalding, I need asbestos fingers, hot like many folks do. I don't want to strip all of the lanolin from the fleeces I process. I just like the way it feels that way.

I managed to get all the dirt out of it, but the yolk had stained the wool. It seemed that the fleece was not worth further effort, but I figured I should card some up into rolags, just to see what I get... Will wonders ever cease--it turned out to be absolutely the nicest yellow cream color and the rolags are the cutest things I have ever seen... Did I mention I am a wool addict... Take a look for yourself...

I am pleased as punch. It is remarkably soft. My guess is that it is nearly next to skin soft, but I haven't done the bra test yet. I am looking forward to spinning and knitting with it. I just can't decide what it wants to be... Ideas? One day soon, I will post about the actual spinning. LOL.