Fiber

It’s Done! It’s Done! & Spring is almost here!!

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Afghan Done! (click on picture for larger image)

 

 .I finished my grand-daughter’s  afghan!!  It was taken from the Triple Chevron Lace shawl pattern at knitting on the net and adjusted to be an afghan.  She is pretty happy as you can see from the picture.  She was glad to finally have it after waiting for about a year :P.  She said it was very soft and way cool :).

She spent the day with me today because she was out of school and I wasn’t working today.  We walked about 1/2 mile to go to McDonalds for lunch (because my car is too scary to drive :P).  We also baked chocolate chip cookies.  Yummy :).  She helped me move my sewing machine and sewing table into the spare bedroom since my son decided to stay close to where his daughter is (he lives on the other side of the state from me).  So I now have my sewing/craft room, still have stuff to do to make it a functional room tho, but the important stuff is in there :).

I will now work on finishing spinning that hand dyed superwash merino roving, that had been calling to me and I’ve had to give the cold shoulder to until I finished the afghan.  Now I won’t ignore it anymore :).   There is a pattern for some slippers I’d like to knit up for my youngest grand-children, but I have to wait until I get the yarn for it.  I need acrylic yarn for them.  My daughter doesn’t appreciate specialized care for their things, because she works full time and says she doesn’t have the time to fuss over hand washing things they will abuse anyway :P.

Oh Yeah, I know it isn’t really spring yet, but it’s March and we have been in the 40’s here this week and I’m soooooo happy!!! So to me it is SPRING!!  Makes me want to go out and start a garden :).

Roc Day Take 2 & Llama is Finished & tada ….. the Cowboys Rocked the Eagles again!

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Roc Day Take 2

Roc Day Take 2

Well, it was decided that since the weather ruined our official Roc Day celebration that we would reschedule our spinning celebration to yesterday.  I know it’s not really Roc Day, but fun was had by all!!  These are the wheels that were there, I took these while we were busy with our pot luck lunch :).  The spinner below on the right (and owner of the local spinning shop, R. Rabbits Fiber Studio ,) is enjoying her unoffical Roc Day spinning.  😉  

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Roc Day Take 2

It's Llama Yarn!!

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The Llama is FINISHED!!  That is what I did at our Roc Day, finished spinning the 2nd spool and plyed and skeined off.  I washed it and hung it to dry yesterday afternoon and used my new swift and ball winder this morning to make a center pull ball from one of them.  I will wind the other skein and my son will have the Llama yarn he has been patiently (ummmm) waiting for. 🙂  

Next Project

As you can see I’ve already started my next project.  I really wanted to spin the Suri Alpaca, but I have a gift project to finish first, then I can spin that Suri. 🙂  This is the Merino Superwash that I dyed with the Wilton purple cake decorating color.  The last time I used it I got beautiful shades of lavender and light purple.  This time it was light purple, lavender and light blue.  Gorgeous colors, but they are so unpredictable, great if you want the excitment of a mystery color, tho’ be prepared to be surprised at the finished colors. 🙂  But before I spin any more of this I need to finish knitting my grand daughter’s blanket.  She has been plenty patient and I need to get it done :). 

Ok, YES!!! The Cowboys beat the Eagles again (played them three times this year and beat them all three times and the Eagles are no slouches!!)  They not only won their division the week before last when they beat the Eagles, but this week’s win against the Eagles won a wild card slot for the playoffs.  Now this Sunday they play the Vikings, that should be an interesting match up.  I’ll be recording that to watch on Monday night :P.  The Cowboys have finally started to work together as a team and what a year they’ve had!!! 🙂  Now they just need to work on those penalties! 😛

Suri Alpaca

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click on picture for larger image

click on picture for larger image

 

 About 2 weeks ago I received a 1 oz sample of Suri Alpaca.  I have not had the pleasure of handling or spinning Suri Alpaca.  The fiber is very silky and drapey as compared to Huacaya Alpaca that has more spring or crimp, both are very soft.  I need to finish the Llama that I have on the wheel so that I can try this out.  I love new fiber experiences. 🙂  I appologize for not putting this picture up sooner, my life has been a zoo for the last couple of weeks.  I put Ann’s card on the fiber so you can see where this lovely fiber came from or you can click here to go to her website.

 

click on picture for larger image

click on picture for larger image

 

 I have also finished a fleece tied blanket for my grand daughter Leena.  Her birthday was a few days after mine and things and time got away from me.  This was a little bit larger project than I anticiapated (probably because I had not done one before ;P).  But it’s finished and it looks very nice.  The color on the underneath side matches the bow tie on the teddy bears.

 

 

I have throughly enjoyed the wonderful 60’s that we’ve had here yesterday and today.  It is like an early spring and so very wonderful.  I will try to hold onto the wamth and sunshine during the upcoming cold winter that is sure to come soon.  But then spring will be just around the corner. 🙂

Spinning the Llama

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click on picture for larger image

click on picture for larger image

 

This is the chocolate Llama roving that my son bought for me to spin for him.  It is turning out a beautiful  heathered brown. 

People have said on my spinning list that the Alpaca and Llama are dirty fibers to spin, wonderful but dirty (because they roll in the dirt), and I thought how bad can they be?  Well, this was professionally processed and it still has some dirt.  I can’t even imagine trying to spin the unprocessed fiber.  Still I’m sure it would be worth it, because it’s soft and this one is a breeze to spin.  It will get another washing after the yarn is plyed and skeined and I’m betting there will be dirty water. 

I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to spin it thick enough as I’m use to spinning sport weight to baby weight yarn and my son wanted worsted weight, but it seems to like being worsted weight so I’m happy :).

Are You Ready for Some FOOTBALL?

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Dallas Cowboys!!!

Dallas Cowboys!!!

 

 Woohoo!!! Pre-season football has started!!!  Dallas plays their first game this coming Friday night.  Since I babysit for 3 of my grand children on Friday nights, I’ll be training my 3 year old grand daughter to be a football fan, (don’t tell her dad I will teach her to root for the Dallas Cowboys, he’s a Bears fan)! 😛  The oldest one (11 years old) isn’t interested, waited to long to indoctrinate her :P, and the youngest (1 year old) will be in bed by then ;P.  So it’s Mady and me watching the Cowboys on Friday night :).

**UPDATE**  Oh goodness, I missed Dallas’s first game which was on 8-13, where they lost to my 2nd favorite team, the Oakland Raiders.  I can’t believe I missed their first game, sigh. 

 

click on picture for larger image

click on picture for larger image

 
 
I’m spinning the baby Alpaca (called a Cria) roving, that I bought at a fiber festival in TN last year, on my Ashford Traveler.  This roving is sooooo soft, I can hardly wait to handle the yarn and knit it into a capelet.  I’m not sure if  the 6 ounces I have will be enough to do a shawl, I’ll see what the yardage is after I have finished spinning it all, it should be a heavy baby weight or light sport weight.  If I think I have enough, I might do a shawl instead.  The jury is out on what I really want tho. 🙂   I have plenty of time yet to make a decision.
 
 
 
Hand dyed superwash merion roving

Hand dyed superwash merino roving

 
This is some of the white superwash merino that I bought some time back.  I dyed it with Wilton icing dye.  I used the purple, and it broke into different shades of light purple, lavender and light blue.  It’s actually a little bit more pastel than it looks in the picture, quite pretty.  The last time I used the Wilton purple it was just different shades of purple and lavender.  You just never know what you are going to get with the Wilton dyes, but they are fun to play with.  This should be interesting to spin. 🙂
 

Hand Crafted Soap

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CD Spindles

CD Spindles

 

 

I decided to, as a fun project for the Activity Day Girls in my ward, to teach them to spin using a spindle.  I bought these from one of the vendors on my spinning list who makes and sells them.  The Activity Day Girls range from 8 to 11 years old and I thought this would be a fun activity.   I am sure the girls will enjoy them. 🙂  Hopefully I am training new spinners for the future :P.

 

Custom Soap

Custom Soap

 

It was time to reorder my smell good soap (one of the luxuries I decided I needed :P)  and I have to say that  Autumnoak  makes the most wonderful soap!!  She will even custom make soap for you.  She  loves what she does does and it shows!  I love her Sandalwood & Rose and the Lilac & Lavender soaps .  What wonderful smells and the soaps lather so nicely.  I also love the way the soap lasts and doesn’t dwindle away quickly.  You will have to go check out her etsy store and see all the wonderful soap smells she has for sell :). 

 

Punta/Wenslydale Wool & Mohair rovings

Punta/Wenslydale Wool & Mohair rovings

 

She also sells roving and I bought some of this wonderful Punta and Wenslydale Wool roving (the beautiful blue and white roving).  She also sent some very lovely Mohair roving for me to play with, I have never spun or handled any Mohair before and it is an interesting texture.  I am excited to see what the yarn will look and feel like when I spin it.

If you spin you should check out the very nice rovings she lists on her etsy site.  She is wonderful to do business with.

Spinning Fiber

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click on picture for a larger image

click on picture for a larger image

 

This is some very soft fiber.  The content is Alpaca, baby Alpaca, Silk, Merino, Cormo and glitz from Twisted Sheep Fabulous Fibers on etsy.  It is very pretty and should spin up into a beautiful yarn.  As soon as I get finished with the green and red that I am spinning together, I plan on spinning this new fiber.  I really will finish the Christmas yarn (red and green), hehe, I just have not had time to sit down and spin, too much going on in my life, but I need to make the time to do it because I miss spinning.  With the weather still nice I should do that for 30 min or so when I get home from work to relax, before it gets to hot to spin out on my balcony. 🙂