Back to Regular Programming...For Now

Before I say anything else, let me introduce you to my new DRUM CARDER! Yes! It's a full size Fricke 205 drum carder to go along with my Fricke wheel. The Fricke line of drum carders has since been purchased by Otto Strauch but this one is still a beauty! I picked her up today from Betty, a Raveller who was driving down to San Diego from Central California (saved me on shipping), and we had a wonderful hour spent talking about - what else? Fiber!

I haven't given him a name yet, but at lease I know it's a male. I did end up destashing my Petite and it's en route to New Jersey as we speak.


I also started dyeing again today. I started with two 4-ounce braids which I kettle-dyed and then added in some tussah silk noils to the dye pot to exhaust the rest of the dye. I was pretty pleased with the result, considering that I'm scared to death of mixing or blending my colors. This time I told myself that it wasn't rocket science and no life depended on it. It's simply called 'creativity'...


End result? Not bad at all. Guess this is something I'll be doing more often.

Then Leo came home and said that we should go out to dinner (it's my birthday after all), and after deciding on some T-bone steak, he ended up with sushi. So here's my 'full' plate before I attacked it.

Back In The Spin of Things

So I'm back in the spinning groove and loving it. Last week, Nancy gave me some Brown Sheep superwash roving in turquoise, beige and black. 

I had originally carded them into stripes but after throwing in some of the rest of the mismatched fiber into the drum carder after my striped carding session and spinning the batt, I found tha I liked the blended look so much more. Blending the three colors again and again on my carder gave the batt a heathered look and the end result looks wonderful. I managed to get 230 yards out of 4 ounces which isn't bad. I still can't see how spinners can get 400+ yards with the same 4 ounces...


I was planning to use this yarn to knit socks with, but probably will reserve it for something else instead since it's not as tightly plied as I would have liked. Somehow my plying skills have slackened a bit...

Besides spinning on my wheels, I've also picked up my handmade drop spindle and started spinning some of my own hand dyed roving as well. This one is for the the Rav Spindlers' April challenge called "Celebrate". 

Now I don't really need a challenge to get spinning but it seemed a good reason to pick up a drop spindle and give it a few spins...and then a few more.   I ended up spinning on the drop spindle till midnight, all the time wondering why the hell I was bothering with drop spindling when I was surrounded by three wheels.   But what the heck, right? Somehow I like drop spindling as much as I like spinning on my wheels.

The "Celebrate" challenge yarn is being spun from one of my first attempts at space-dyeing 4 oz rovings in my crock pot. I'm a pretty slow dyer these days since I'm using the crockpot method but right now, it's just the way I like it.  I called this colorway "Rosie" because I'm just running out of names.  

This one was dyed using what I call the "dry-powder" method.  I layer fiber, dye powder, fiber, dye and so on, and then pour hot water over it all to cover.  I then add the vinegar by pouring it along the sides.  I then dye for about 90 minutes or till the water runs clear.  You never quite know what you'll end up with and I like that unpredictability.

Talking about unpredictability, this one came out too yellow when I really wanted a greater concentration of lilac so I over-dyed it with more lilac and kelly green - but instead it's come out totally dark green. I do like it though - the color immediately game me its name - "Eden" (picture to come!).

An Invitation

If you're on Ravelry, check out this new group for fans of all the hardworking sheep at Homestead Wool and Gift Farm! You can visit the group here and join in. Sandy will be posting the latest updates on the sheep's offerings and members can share thoughts, ideas and their latest creations as well!

Yesterday, on my drive home, I saw this:

Isn't it beautiful? People stood by the side of the road and in front of their homes as I admire the rainbow and even though I did take some pretty cool pics on my camera phone, I had to run into the house to take this picture with my regular camera.

Today I twittered away for a few minutes with HollyEQQ, VelmalikeVelvet and Jazzturtle. We talked about drum carders after I twittered about trading in my Strauch Petite for a Louet Coarse. HollyEQQ inspired me to throw caution to the wind (and yet still keep in mind the tenets of drum carding) and start getting the carder to do real work. And here's what I came up with!

This was my first one. A truly crazy batt. I just threw in a bag full of random fibers from Homestead Wool and Gift Farm, some of my hand-dyed cotswold locks and a few threads and this one is ready to spin up the crazy!