Sunday, April 28, 2013

My Birthday gifts from me to me.

This year's birthday gifts from me to me are two spindles by Phil Powell of Custom Wood Designs. The Birds-eye Maple weighs 21 grams and the Holly weighs 18 grams. Love them both. The fiber is from World of Wool. It is botany Lap Waste that I have blended on my Richard Duncan drum carder. I added some Firestar to the greens and silver Angelina to the purple. Just a wee bit of shine. I have only been spinning with support spindles for about a year. Drop spindles for a few years and 30+ years on wheels.Wonder why it took me so long to discover support spindles? Loving them.


Birds-Eye Maple
                                                                                           
Holly

Saturday, April 27, 2013

I won a Twindle!

I won!

On Earth Day I won a support spindle from Bristlecone Artisan Heirlooms. This is a Twindle. It is called Birch Tree. See the lovely green focal? See the wood burning that made it look like a Birch Tree? This spindle makes me very happy.

 Two very talented people create these magical tools. Here are some photos of  the * unavailing*.

The packaging is special. 
There is always candy and a fiber sample.
Can't wait to sample.
 The spindle is fast and the fiber is lovely.
Finished sample fiber. What will be next? Maybe some cotton...........or silk.........

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Playing with blending colors and making batts.

I ordered 500 grams  (17.637 ounces) of Botany Lap Waste from World of Wool. No choices of what is in the bag. (colors, blends or amounts) Mostly Merino and Merino blends. There was one lot of Tussah silk too.  Here is my surprise. Click on any photo to make it larger.
I then proceeded to play with my drum carder, blending colors.
Some 2 ply samples to see how the combinations look.

This is the blend of the red and white in the first photo blended with white angora rabbit. 



 This is the 500 gram lot. Blended fibers and some samples and skeins. The pink is what is being spun in the previous photo. 122 yards of 2 ply. The lovely gray called out for some silver Angelina. Can't wait to spin that lot!
I decided to blend some Angelina into the lavender and purple. Silver in the lavender and copper into the purple. I hope you can see the sparkle of the Angelina in the photos. I tried not to be too heavy handed with it so it will be subtle in the yarn. I like making batts on the carder. Storage I think is better if the batts are rolled into balls. Sometimes I pull the batt off of the carder through a diz to make a long strip of roving. Those are stored as little nests.  
I am sure this will not be my only order from World of Wool. I will be playing with my own farm raised fiber too. So much fun.