SC Mini Vacation

Ah, spring in South Carolina. I had a chance to spend a day there recently just before attending a fiber event at Lake Junaluska, NC. I had previously purchased, and been delighted with, Coopworth fleeces from Ann at Cedaredge Farm. I went to visit, choose one more fleece, and see the wooly ones. Aren't the shepherd and lamb lovely? These sheep are what I imagine sheep should look like - the quintessential wooly ones.

Ann has been shearing twice a year, which gives a nice staple without it being waaaay long. She skirts heavily for the hand spinner, and these are some of the cleanest fleeces I've ever cleaned and carded. And it spins like a dream. Here's some of Rosemary's spring clip drying outside on this gorgeous spring day in Tennessee.

In addition to visiting Cedaredge Farm, I made a side trip and purchased this:

Now where could I have gone and why would this interest me?

Fiber Central

Hello, Fiber Central here.


Oh, and just what I needed - another fiber hobby! Though Holly assures me it's a great stash buster. I can sort of see that possibility. This little warp took 1.5 balls of the yarn. Granted it's small yardage yarn. But using up 3-4 balls of stash isn't too shabby. I'll be very interested to see how much yarn this really uses. I have to say it's been fun, and now I have a whole new learning curve.


I give you my Ashford Knitter's Loom, first project in process.





Now, how about some yummy, clean fiber?



Here's some alpaca; lovely fawn, so soft, and pretty chaffy. The jury is out on this until I try combing in addition to carding, and spinning some of it.















And here we have some sumptuous, lock washed Coopworth staples from Cedaredge Farm in South Carolina. I want this stuff for socks. If I'm lucky this is the first stage of next year's "Sock It To Me" party.















And finally, something wonderful from our local shepherd, Martha. This is a small portion of Pretty Face's fleece. She has a fine wool and a fairly long staple. I washed the fleece in my washer, but was able to pull many distinct staples for flicking and then carding. It's spinning up very nicely, too!

Pesky Fiber Stuff!

Fiber stuff is soooo sneaky! It sits quietly in the store. It looks inviting. If given half a chance it will follow you home. And THEN, once there, it keeps drawing attention to itself, making noise and not leaving you alone. The Ashford Traveller spinning wheel has been like that. And now this, this.... Louet drum carder!



And it's not just equipment. Fleece is the same way. This New Zealand Romney from The Yarn Circle, for example. It knows it hooked me and that I'd have to have more!



And of course, once you're reading all about spinning, and you run across something that says "Perendale is an excellent fleece for beginners," you must run to the internet and find some. Perendale lamb, lovely, not very greasy, and just begging me to wash and spin it.



Noise, that's all I've had from this pesky spinning equipment and fiber, ever since that spinning bug bit me. Sigh.... soon I will give in to the pests.

But right now I'm knitting my hat for the Yarn Harlot's Represent book launch in New York. I leave in the morning and I'll be back late on Friday. Just in time to turn things around at home and head out for another fun filled week at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

Easily Amused

I've had an exciting evening! I watched Disney's "Almost Angels", listening to the Vienna Boys' Choir, while producing this ethereal white cloud:

It's white New Zealand Romney, and before I started, it looked like this (pardon the poor close-up; my camera just doesn't do them well):

Now, it was pretty darned nice to start with (before I washed it, it was a beautiful golden color - LOTS of lanolin), but I was worried about those tips. But just some light flicking with a flick carder, and poof - gone! And without further processing, I could start spinning the stuff in the box. Listening to angelic voices and watching the transforming of the fleece - my idea of a rockin' Friday night! (Martha at The Yarn Circle still has some of this gorgeous white Romney - see the side bar for a link to the store if you want some for yourself.)

And spinning the stuff! I can't wait. It'll be thrilling.

Noel Thurner (from the Viking Spinner workshop) says there must be some fiber DNA somewhere in the genetic makeup of people like us. I think she must be right.

BC and I have been suffering this week. The cold materialized and since I usually give one about a week, I have a couple more days to go. It's better, but still with me. And BC is still recovering from her surgery, poor baby. And to add insult to injury, Terry growled and hissed at her for the first two days she was home. That's over with, thank goodness, but BC still isn't her active self, and her feet are obviously causing her discomfort. It hurts me to see her walk, which she isn't doing much. I HATE, HATE, HATE that I had to do that to her. It'll be fine soon, but in the meantime, I'm suffering with her.