Well. Let me put it this way. I thought I would never find a fiber I didn’t enjoy working with. This last week, I was proven wrong.
Flax on the Wheel
Of all the (few) fiber kinds I’ve worked with in my (short) spinning life, this is the only one that has failed to inspire me on the wheel. The stuff feels like dental floss, for crying out loud. Not to mention it makes my fingers feel funny.
Now, I’m not saying it’s the worst fiber ever, and I love the idea of spinning fibers right out of a plant, but I’m glad I only ordered four ounces. It drafts in a very different way from wool, and it’s going to take a ton of twist. And I mean a ton. Right now it has just as much twist as I normally give wool, but it won’t double back on itself at all! Maybe I spun it too thin. Anyway, I’ve reeled the little bit I spun off the wheel so it can dry, then I guess I’ll run it back through with way more twist, and carry on from there.
Continue Reading »
Alright. First the good news. I finished carding the fall fleece and now have almost a whole basket full of rolags.
Colors Galore
I still need to weigh it and see how much fiber I actually ended up with. The colors are just beautiful. It was very fun to pick which colors to pair with what in each rolag. Toward the end it got a little tough because I would run out of enough similar tones to keep things uniform, so some less distinct rolags ended up in there, but that’s okay. I got some really pretty blended colors out of it. I’m so excited to see how they spin up! If it turns out nice, I might do some other versions of it.
However, I am putting off starting on them for awhile. We’re going on a trip in a little over a week, and I’m going to try to finish two fiber-related things before we go, in order to have them on the trip. (Because car rides get really long if you don’t have something to do with your hands, and wedging the spinning wheel into the backseat of the van is not an option.)
Continue Reading »
While it’s not exactly a “New Year’s Resolution,” I sat down awhile back and tried to come up with a list of ten fibers I’d like to try this year. They are . . .
- Cotton
- Flax
- Corn (Yes, they have corn roving. They have bamboo too—what did you expect?)
- Bamboo (see reverse of above)
- Ramie (Read about it here)
- Soysilk
- Mohair (the fuzzyness)
- Angora Rabbit
- And two “Wild Cards.” You never know. I might discover something very interesting!
Continue Reading »
Not one, but two fiber-related boxes came today! One from Paradise Fibers, the other from Earth Guild. I’m set on fiber for the rest of . . . the winter?
Filled to Overflowing
Continue Reading »
