I’m privileged once again to have some alpaca fiber to process into yarn! It’s very exciting because it’s been over 5 years since I last had a whole fleece. I washed the chestnut alpaca fleece on Friday and have started carding it.
Doffing the battalpaca on a carding paddle carding the Alpaca fluffing the Alpaca for cardingThe chestnut alpaca fleece fits! Stuffing the Alpaca fleece into this zipper bag.
It took about 20 minutes to run up 2 batts rea
batts ready to spin batt off the carderfolded battrolled batt
I washed the dark brown alpaca fleece today. It took quite awhile because this particular creature had a penchant for rolling around in hay, straw, and cockle burrs! It’s not as fine as the chestnut, but will card up nicely.
Cockle burr in the washed fleece.This dark brown fleece took 3 racks to lay out for drying.
What are you waiting for? Get busy and do something!
Today was one of those damp dreary days without color. It’s on these days that I create my own colors and blends. I wanted to dye fiber,but I also wanted to be working in my studio. I love how these turned out and can’t wait to spin them into yarn!!
Red, Pink, and Burgundy batts waiting for their turn to be spun. The Art Batts Being SpunGreen, Gold, and Other Sparkling Fibers Ready for CardingThe Carding Process 1The Carding Process 2Ready to Doff and Twist Into Loose KnotsDoffing in Progress Eight Batt Knots Ready to Spin!!
What are you making/ creating??
For those who don’t follow me on Instagram or Twitter, here’s a photo of my beautiful dog.
Once in a while, I accept requests for custom created work that requires matching previous work. This isn’t work I normally do because it’s more time consuming than smaller custom requests and a lot of times when more yarn has to be purchased, it can be difficult to match the original colors.
An ordinary custom request is when a customer requests a pair of socks, a hat, mittens, etc. that’s knit to size and color preferences, but gives me the freedom of design options. I knit these colorwork Halloween fingerless mittens and sold them in my Etsy shop.
The customer that purchased these mittens asked me to create a four foot long scarf to match them. The following photos are the progress of this scarf!
You’ll notice in the next two photos that I opted to knit the pattern I created in reverse, instead of placing the first half of the scarf onto waste yarn to be grafted onto the other half when it’s all finished. I’ve never liked that kind of scarf construction as it’s not as they make it look and quite frankly, I stink at grafting.
The following slideshow is of the seaming process. I knit a thin wool backing for this scarf to keep it wide and showy. I used sewing clips instead of pins because they’re absolutely wonderful for holding knit pieces, squishy cloth, and slippery cloth, etc. for hand sewing.
It’s been steam pressed and is ready to ship! I’ve officially finished my customer’s OOAK scarf!!! Here are the photos of the scarf on the dressmaking form.
Get busy and make something!! Do it just because….
A customer contacted me on Etsy and asked me to design a pair of men’s size 13 EEE feather socks. I usually ask for 1/2 payment when I’m commissioned to design and/or custom create items. I do this because sometimes people forget about things like that, especially if it takes awhile to get it completed.
So, the next pictures feature the custom designed, hand knit feather socks. They were knit with hand spun yarn I created using natural black Icelandic fleece from Copia Cove and Cornflower blue Suffolk fleece from the Ahrens’ family farm.
I’ve included the links for Copia Cove because they breed and raise outstanding Icelandic Sheep and their fleece is a dream to spin! Icelandic wool makes very strong and warm socks!
***Note: I’m a customer of Copia Cove’s wool products. I’m merely sharing my source(s) so you can buy your own delicious wool.***
*(I’m reblogging the following post from opusanglicanum because I also love hats and I love how she remade this hat with her own card woven band. TLD)
Those of you who’ve met me will know I like hats, because it’s kind of obvious. I’ve always been this way. When my mum was marrying my stepdad she asked what I wanted to wear, and…