Junior

Tonight I pulled out the llama roving from "Junior" that I bought at Kid 'n Ewe last year and started spinning it.


The roving itself was thick. It naturally wanted to separate into 4 pieces of roving.


It's also very "rustic." This shot against the light lets you see all the little bits of vegetation in this piece of roving. It's tempting to try to pick out every piece as I spin it, but that would take forever. Instead I'm trying to leave it in and make spin a rougher yarn instead.


This is what I finished tonight. (You can see my pink leader.) This yarn definitely has more "grip" than the alpaca I'm working on. It makes the whole spinning process take longer.


Speaking of the alpaca, I've managed to spin all of it into singles. I need to get the other bobbin of alpaca from Mom's house so I can ply them. Until then, it can look nifty on my Lazy Kate in a corner of my house that's actually organized.

Back on the Wheel

Before Christmas I started spinning this Alpaca. Half of the roving I bought is on a bobbin on Mom's wheel. Today, I finally got out my wheel and started spinning the other half.

The wheel is still a little wonky. I made some adjustments to the mother of all, but it still makes some noise that my Mom's wheel doesn't.

I'm using a strand of purple Patons Classic Merino Wool as a leader. I wonder if I should have chosen a lighter color. I don't think it will matter

This single may not be as nice as the first one, but at least I'm doing it. As you can see from the picture, I'm having to store the wheel next to a bookshelf. I move it to the living in the middle of a "high traffic zone" to actually spin.

I may breeze through the rest in the next day or two, and start working on the rest of my fiber by the end of the week.

Spinning Alpaca

I wanted to post a lot more pictures tonight, but my camera cable is MIA. So you'll have to settle for a few photos from a week ago.


Last Friday I spent the night at my parents so I could spin the Alpaca fiber I bought at Kid 'n Ewe. It sort of exploded when I opened the bag.



It took me a little bit of time to get my rhythm. The alpaca doesn't have much grip. I'm used to doing lots of pre-drafting. I hardly did any with this roving. In fact, I quit tearing it in half like I usually do.



Here's the yarn part way through the bobbin. I'm spinning it pretty fine. It broke in a few places, but it's going pretty good.



And here's where I was by the time I left on Saturday. I made it about halfway through the fiber. (Mom and Dad have this little bitty postal scale keyring, so I can estimate the weight of what's left.) It's a good place to change bobbins, since I'm planning on plying it. (And then dying it with Kool Aid.) The problem right now is that Mom's other bobbins are full of her own spinning. We'll have to see who gets their single off the bobbin first.

Which Swatch?

I haven't been doing much for Swatching Sunday recently, but I have been doing a steady stream of swatching in the last couple of weeks.

Last Wednesday I swatched for the Kiri shawl. I need your help deciding what needle size to use.

Keep in mind, I swatched two different parts of the shawl (not smart, I know. I'm not sure what I was thinking.) But it's close enough to get a sense of how the yarn knits up.

Here are the swatches pinned for blocking (US Size 2 on top and US Size 4 on the bottom):



Here are the swatches after they have been unpinned and thrown around a little. The edges are curling some, but the blocking seems to hold up OK. (US Size 2 on top and US Size 4 on the bottom):

The yarn I'm using here is Mystic Alpaca from Peru4less. I got the yarn on eBay ages ago, and the vendor seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth. There is some debate about the yarn's fiber content. After talking it over with the other knitters at Bluebonnet, we think it is a blend of alpaca and acrylic.

I think the Peru4less would be appropriate for a shawl, but I do have another option:
This is the Skacel Merino Lace that I bought at the Yarn Barn in San Antonio. I could scrap the Peru4less altogether and start fresh with this. It's true laceweight, and I'm sure of the fiber content.

I'm looking for opinions, so please vote. And vote soon. I want to cast this on to knit on my trip to California.

Yarn (Store) Pr0n: Old Oaks Ranch

This is the third part in a three part series on the Meetup group's San Antonio Yarn Crawl. (It's about time, I know.)

Our final stop was Old Oaks Ranch in Wimberley. In addition to yarn for knitting and crochet, they have supplies and classes on weaving, spinning, dying and other fiber arts.

We arrived in the middle of spinning class. Fortunately, no one seemed to mind.

This is the spinning teacher, Carol Wyche, looking through some milk fiber roving. Yes, that's actually made from milk. (I'm not sure how.) According to the website, Carol does $25 private lessons. I think I'm going to sign up for one.

Here are some of the looms.

Here's a nice tapestry that they had on the wall.

I had to snap a picture of the angora bunny painting while I was at it.

Here's the gratuitous yarn shot. I don't thing it's in this picture, but they had Colinette Jitterbug, like the other two shops. And like at the other two shops, I didn't buy any.

I'm pretty sure the yarn on the second to bottom shelf is all Henry's Attic alpaca. That was tempting as well. Again, I was watching my budget.

I did buy a skein of this. Spun from their own alpacas (if I remember correctly.)

And they do have their own alpacas.

This is the new baby. (I couldn't get it to come any closer.)

However, this one wasn't shy. I had no problem getting him to come closer.

He (or she?) didn't mind smelling my hand, but didn't want to be pet.

Did I mention that they have a sculpture garden?

I made another friend.

You can see all my yarn crawl pictures here.

The Economics of Crafting

I will confess to being pretty much ignorant when it comes to economics, and pretty much out of the loop with current events since I quit journalism. Between these two, I'm really confused about Bush's economic stimulus package.

I do understand that changes to the economy, like an ecosystem, affect everyone. So this should help the economy. But it seems like a waste of money. Also, in high school economics we talked about the cyclical nature of the economy. Basically, shouldn't you just wait for the upturn? I guess you want to avoid something like the Great Depression. When does it really get that bad? When do people like me, without any type of investments (unless you count the 401k that I just started contributing to in January), really feel it?

But I confess, I'm looking forward to my $600.

However, there are a couple of solutions from some very reputable sources that I, as a crafter, can really get behind.

I've been gluing googly eyes to glass stones for craft shows for a while now. I've been successful, but expert economist Stephen Colbert has shown me that the real money is in googly eyed clams.

Also, the top journalists at The Onion have uncovered a story most of the mainstream media has missed: Congress To Raise Alpacas To Aid Struggling Economy. Check out what Orrin Hatch had to say.

"If we are truly committed and learn to spin our own fibers, we can cut out the middleman and sell socks, hats, and gloves directly to the American public," Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said. "People don't realize how much softer alpaca wool is because they've never had a chance to try it. Once they do, though—let's just say this war could be paid for in no time."

Holy crap, Orrin Hatch said something I agree with!

To stimulate your own economy, check out the contest at Tami Knits, and tell them Large Marge Sally Comes Unraveled sent you.