Goldenrod

Yesterday I was driving around the countryside gathering goldenrod. It grows everywhere and I have some in my backyard that is getting close to bloom. It will probably last a few weeks longer in this area. I luv some of the colours that come from natural dyes. I know this may not be true for some but for me...when I use my Ashford dyes....I find it can give the fibre a somewhat harsher feel after dyeing. I started by cutting only the yellow flowers into a huge pot and covered them with cold water. Then I brought the pot to a simmer and kept it there for about an hour. I let it cool overnight and strained it. I covered what was left in the pot with more cold water and am simmering it now. This will be added to what I already strained. I plan on dyeing white wool and will mordant it today with alum and let it cool overnight. This weekend I will dye the fibre. Have a lovely long weekend everyone!

Look What I Made!

Well I it has been alot of r-i-p-p-i-n-g and at least half the pygora will get dumped in the garbage BUT look what's left! The top pic shows the raw BC type pygora. It has a much shorter staple and a ton of kempy guard hair. I used my mini-combs to dehair (just combing really) the crap out of it and look what's left. A cloud of beauty and softness. For the rest (AB types with long staple) I used the big english combs. They worked great on it. I must tell you that my little fibre room is getting to the overflowing point and I am still awaiting my grey and dark alpaca fleeces. He he I'm giddy with anticipation....uh er maybe it's the fumes (stench) from the pygora in hot water.

The Pygora Blues

Today I received my 6 lbs of raw pygora fleece. I knew I would have alot of work to do with it but I wasn't expecting it to be matted all together in big pieces. I think it happened on the animal before it was sheared. I can see after washing some that it has a lovely shine and decent softness but I'm not sure how it will process. What a yukky smell goat has. I am eating a sandwich and all I can smell is goat. Bleck!

Washing Suri

Guess what I'm doing today? Yes it's washing fleece again. Must be boring for some...never for me. This time it's suri fleeces. I still have 3 more to sort and wash. This stuff is even worse than the huacaya to sort thru. I know my herb 'garden' looks like crap. The oregano has taken it over and so have the weeds! The white fleece in the pic is suri cria and the other 2 are different brown colours. As the fleece dries I will keep fluffing it up and picking thru it. Hopefully when it's all dry I can comb or card it easily. These are the times when one needs a good drum carder. I have ordered 6 lbs of assorted pygora (mostly the A and AB type) from a breeder here in Ontario. I don't know how much cleaning and sorting I will have to do with that. With any luck it will be sent out this week.

Midwest Moonlight Scarf

Finally some knitting! I have started the Midwest Moonlight scarf in my handspun navajo-plyed alpaca. It is for the breeder that gave me this fleece. ( I am sending you some of this Charlene in your package). It's a lovely medium fawn colour. I have knit this scarf before with some commercial dark green alpaca.

I finished 3 skeins of 2 ply fawn cria. It's lovely and soft. That will go into my handspun yarn collection.

I am trying to finish my husband's sweater in time for his November 19 birthday. I know that seems far enough away but I am not a fast knitter. I just have one sleeve to knit (which I have already started) and then comes the hard part...well hard for me anyway. Seaming the thing together. I have only knit a couple sweaters in my whole life but am trying to change that. I really want to knit myself that Flyingdales Cardigan in my own handspun...I will ...I will !!!

Working with Suri

Suri has got to be the most challenging fibre that I've worked with so far. I have tried using handcarders and various combs to deal with this unruly fibre. If I had a drumcarder I would try that but I don't unfortunately. Suri is usually too long to handcard and it's quite fine so the big combs don't work so great for me either. I have been using my minicombs.

I was recently given suri fleeces in 3 different browns and a couple whites including a cria fleece . The two in my pics are one years growth and they are the softest of the bunch. Suri fleece needs to be in good condition or it is almost unuseable. I personally don't spin really fine yarns because I prefer to knit my lace items with fingering weight yarns instead.

A few years ago I purchased some Cherry Tree Hill laceweight suri in Sugarmaple colourway and I have been knitting a lace shawl/scarf thingy. Hmmm....at the rate I'm going it might be finished in time for Winter 2010 Olympics!

New Books

I just received these 2 books the other day and I am inspired! I want to knit everything in them. A Fine Fleece has several patterns that use similar stitches to my AS Fisherman's Sweaters book.

In my pics there are 3 swatches with alpaca/bamboo blend. The small rustic looking grey skein is some white alpaca with black corriedale. I find black by itself won't show stitch definition very well but I really do luv the greys. The white alpaca softens the corriedale. There will be lots of sampling and blending to create the yarns for these new patterns.

I know Charlene was working on a beautiful cream coloured handspun alpaca sweater. It's a huge amount of time and effort but the rewards are something unique and truly lovely to wear.

A Good Oil

Wow it's hard to believe that August is here! I have been very happy with this cooler rainy weather. September and October are my favourite months of the year so I am looking forward to Autumn. The smells.....the incredible colours...apples...pumpkins...squash.....

A tip to share with my readers (I am not sure how many of you there are but I luv to get comments so we can share information). When I made shampoo bars I always added jojoba oil so I thought it would be a great conditioner for fleece too. I add about a teaspoon or less to that little spray bottle you see in my pics and then fill it with water. It works very well for me and I spray flyaway fibre on the combs or carders. It won't hurt the equipment. You will not feel it on your fibre unless you use too much. It is possible to have the fibres stick abit if you do use too much do to jojoba actually being a waxy substance and not really an oil. The lavender EO is optional...a few drops makes it smell pretty :)

I had just a small amount of an espresso coloured cria fleece (see pics) so I combed and spun that up. It was shiney and soft. Both yarns in the pics are 2 ply. Three skeins are from Brandy and the dark one is the cria fleece. There are so many different browns and fawn colours of alpaca that one would never tire of it. They all blend beautifully together and with other fibres such as bamboo or silk.

I am expecting some pygora samples end of this week or early next week and I will share those with you.