Name a fibre that can be spun. Go on, anything you can think of. Well, it was at Stretton Sugwas Village Hall yesterday thanks to Rugh and Allan Gough of Wingham wool. There was wool of all kinds, Merino, Sheltand (three kinds) Finn, Jacob, Gotland, all sorts. There was alpaca in at least fifteen shades, some natural, some dyed . There was a rainbow of dyed merino. Silk of every form and colour, from cocoons, tops of finest mulberry to tussah to Indian noil. Linen, jute, cotton in many stages of processing. Synthetics of the weirdest kind. There was soya bean fibre (looks like honey tussah silk and spins like it too) tencel which is a kind of cellulose and beautiful stuff, and there was milk protien fibre. I kid thee not. I took a sample but I haven't have time to spin it yet.
The day went so quickly what chatting to the members of Hereford Guild and cups of tea, lunch, a stroll around the churchyard and spinning up free samples , I was in a little spot of paradise.
After all my Christmas spinning is over, I want to make myself a grey wrap if possible so I wanted to try out specific fibres to get a nice thick, soft, lofty yarn. I had though about alpaca because fellow spinner, Birdie made herself a lovely scarf in cream alpaca and it looked very luxurious. But after trying the grey I thought it was slightly too hairy and not really that soft even if spun up quite thickly, and it shed worse than my cat. No. So tried a blend of wool, alpaca and silk which sounded promising and it was exactly the right texture but rather too expensive to buy enough to make a wrap so then at last I found a funny top of jacob wool that looked like an everton mint and it spun like butter. Sold.
What else did I get?
Lots of dyed merino, I needed some more cerise to finish off Aunty Heu's shawl and I bagged up some bits and bobs of bright merino to felt with Rose and sew on the new curtains for her room. I think I'l make a few flowers to embellish Mum's pressie too.
Some tussah silk to ply with the Welsh black and silk blend that I worked up last year and has been sitting in my attic waiting for when I can steel myself to weave once more. But then I thought, well its going to have a long wait so I may as well crochet it and use the stuff rather than wasting quite a pretty yarn.
And my frivolous purchase was a batt of wool and silk that I have no project in mind for - which is always fatal.But it was such a fab colour, a mix of pinks and lilacs in wool blended with white silk. It looks like turkish delight. I had a little go at spinning some up but the yarn did not do the cloudy loveliness of the batt any justice at all, so I thought that I would take it to the dry felting workshop that the guild is running next Saturday and see what it turns into. I have never tried dry felting and have no idea what the process is but I hope it will be suitable.
soooo pretty
I also bought some camel down to draft into a roving and ply with a really thin yarn to make something fancy. The colour of camel down is not appealing. If I was to be charitable I might call it toffee, but I'm not usually charitable when it comes to brown. However, the feel of the fibre is comparable to cashmere and it is half the price. And I thought once it is made up and some brightly coloured felt flowers are sewn on it will soon cheer up.
And that is about it really I picked up a lot of little scraps for sampling later so I can order more of the fibre in the future which is really the point of the day. But I didn't look at the felting machine and I didn't get a nostepinne (balling stick - cheaper by far than a balling machine) and I resisted the angelina fibres too. As it was I spent quite enough considering Christmas is only around the corner. Which reminds me, I must get on with V's ruby wool. To paraphrase Tom Jones "I think I better spin now". See ya.
The day went so quickly what chatting to the members of Hereford Guild and cups of tea, lunch, a stroll around the churchyard and spinning up free samples , I was in a little spot of paradise.
After all my Christmas spinning is over, I want to make myself a grey wrap if possible so I wanted to try out specific fibres to get a nice thick, soft, lofty yarn. I had though about alpaca because fellow spinner, Birdie made herself a lovely scarf in cream alpaca and it looked very luxurious. But after trying the grey I thought it was slightly too hairy and not really that soft even if spun up quite thickly, and it shed worse than my cat. No. So tried a blend of wool, alpaca and silk which sounded promising and it was exactly the right texture but rather too expensive to buy enough to make a wrap so then at last I found a funny top of jacob wool that looked like an everton mint and it spun like butter. Sold.
What else did I get?
Lots of dyed merino, I needed some more cerise to finish off Aunty Heu's shawl and I bagged up some bits and bobs of bright merino to felt with Rose and sew on the new curtains for her room. I think I'l make a few flowers to embellish Mum's pressie too.
Some tussah silk to ply with the Welsh black and silk blend that I worked up last year and has been sitting in my attic waiting for when I can steel myself to weave once more. But then I thought, well its going to have a long wait so I may as well crochet it and use the stuff rather than wasting quite a pretty yarn.
And my frivolous purchase was a batt of wool and silk that I have no project in mind for - which is always fatal.But it was such a fab colour, a mix of pinks and lilacs in wool blended with white silk. It looks like turkish delight. I had a little go at spinning some up but the yarn did not do the cloudy loveliness of the batt any justice at all, so I thought that I would take it to the dry felting workshop that the guild is running next Saturday and see what it turns into. I have never tried dry felting and have no idea what the process is but I hope it will be suitable.
soooo prettyI also bought some camel down to draft into a roving and ply with a really thin yarn to make something fancy. The colour of camel down is not appealing. If I was to be charitable I might call it toffee, but I'm not usually charitable when it comes to brown. However, the feel of the fibre is comparable to cashmere and it is half the price. And I thought once it is made up and some brightly coloured felt flowers are sewn on it will soon cheer up.
And that is about it really I picked up a lot of little scraps for sampling later so I can order more of the fibre in the future which is really the point of the day. But I didn't look at the felting machine and I didn't get a nostepinne (balling stick - cheaper by far than a balling machine) and I resisted the angelina fibres too. As it was I spent quite enough considering Christmas is only around the corner. Which reminds me, I must get on with V's ruby wool. To paraphrase Tom Jones "I think I better spin now". See ya.
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