Woolly Cuteness

I grew up on a farm and always wished for sheep. Instead we had stinky, wool-less cows and pigs. Today I found these lamb pictures and almost died from the cuteness. I hope the good people over at Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm and Hudson Valley Fiber Farm don’t mind us slurping these adorable pictures of their new lambs—I just couldn’t resist!

This little guy just seems to have so much personality.

Animal affection is sooooo sweet.

They even wear sweaters to keep warm! (Look closely below—they are camouflaged).

Head on over and look at their photos for more cuteness. While you are there, you can also drool over their beautiful yarns, which come in lovely rich colors.

Knitting Travels: Brier Run Alpaca Farm

Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada

My parents and I drove through the fog and melting snow to visit Brier Run Alpaca Farm this morning.

The owners, Heather Blanchard and Norris McAuslan, opened the store for us and then gave us a tour of the processing facilities.

The store includes many kinds of yarn and roving, most of them made from a single alpaca and named after that animal (i.e. McDermot, Glen Fiddich, Tukie). Some are blended with silk for extra softness. Heather and Norris currently sell hand-knit products on their website, but soon they’ll be opening an online store for their yarn as well.

They also sell roving and raw fibre for spinning. It was fun to manhandle the bumps to compare the color and softness of each alpaca.

In the processing plant, their friendly cat showed us this wonderfully soft roving from one of the cria (baby alpacas)—it felt like air.

Later this will be spun into yarn in their machines:

They also spin lower-grade alpaca fibres around a twine core to make yarn that will be woven into rugs:

Or batting for alpaca duvets:

The alpacas were hiding out from the rain and mud, so we only got to see a few of the 75 or so that live on their farm:

Thanks to Heather and Norris for the tour! I can’t wait to get some of this yarn on my needles. Oh, and did I mention that I really really really want an alpaca of my own??? Look how cute they are!!!

Wheel!

This week, for my first anniversary gift, I received an Ashford Traveller spinning wheel.

*glowing with happiness*

I tried out all sorts of wheels at Gate City Fibers in Greensboro--the Ladybug, a Louet Victoria, the Ashford Kiwi, Ashford Traditional. The Traveller was by far the winner in the categories of (1) prettiness, (2) smoothness of treadle, and (3) compactness.

We saved money by purchasing the wheel unfinished and unassembled. I recommend this actually, especially to beginning spinners. When I opened the box and put every piece of the wheel on the table for finishing, I really learned about each individual piece of the wheel, and what each part does.

Even though it looked like a big old mess.



Then, the husband put it together for me, while I supervised. The conversation was often funny.
Me: That's the maiden.
Mike: Seriously?
Me: And that's the lazy kate.
Mike: Don't we already have one of those?



And then the wheel was finished.


While Mike built the wheel, I was unraveling some thrift store sweaters. My goal with the wheel has never been to make yarn from scratch--although I'm sure I'll do that too (especially for lace-weight yarns). Instead, I want to make yarn from recycled sweaters, by plying it with raw fiber I process at my home. I'll post some pictures of my results, soon.

Bordello Scarf FO: On Knitting with Homemade Yarn

Here's a recent FO, a scarf made with yarn I plied and dyed after reclaiming it from two thrift store sweaters. The pattern is "Noro Silk Garden Scarf" by Karen Baumer at Angel Yarns. It's a short-row multi-directional scarf that shows off the Noro striping. Since the "Bordello" yarn that I made is striped, I decided to try it out with this pattern. Here's the yarn:


And here's how the scarf turned out:


I think it looks great. But more importantly, there was a strangely powerful satisfaction that came from knitting with yarn I'd made. When I worked on this one in public, and someone inquired about it (because hey, knitting just screams, "Come talk to me, strangers." Why? Why is this?), it felt great to say that I made the yarn.

Plus, the scarf is actually butch enough for my husband to wear.

Quant FO and New Yarns

I plied and dyed a bunch of wool and alpaca--the yarn I started spinning in an earlier post. Mostly I'm experimenting with color--Kool-Aid and food coloring. I'm scared of non-edible dyes. And I'm having the most fun making up names.

Here's PryalSpun 50-50, color "Bordello." I'm thinking sexy armwarmers for this:


Color "Fireworks":


Color "Easter Egg" that has now been made into Quant:


Another view, on my head: