A Case for Values!

Last weekend I went to the Minnesota Federation of Weavers annual get together. It was a lot of fun, including a winery tour(and wine drinking), the Rune Museum, and classes. I took a class in blending on a drum carder. The task I set for myself was developing values using complementary colors. Orange was m base color. I modified it using deep purple and lavender. Fun;-)

WOOL MARKET RETURNS

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 23, 10-4

SO MUCH WOOLY GOODNESS!

Round Robin Red...red studies

I have begun spinning some of the reds. The 3 dyes spun and plied in various iterations so far are Wash Fast Watermelon, Wash Fast Paprika, and Sabraset Deep Red. They were plied 2 ply of each combo and 3 ply of the lot. I also used, part of the time, my new Ashford sliding hook flier and a stretchy drive band. Felt like a whole new wheel...in a good way. Mechanically smooth.

The combat yarn project continues...this time with additions of silk and alpaca and natural cutch dyed wool. the fiber was blended on a hackle, making a wonderful, smooth prep. The radical single was plied with a fine commercial mohair I picked up in NYC this spring. It adds a wonderful halo.

Stay tuned. The gallery show for these yarns will be in December.

Angora testing

I dyed a small bag of free angora jet black and am now blending it with various fibers. The grey is alpaca at 67% and angora at 33%. Great halo.
The halo is less pronounced here. This was a random carding of angora and wool. Still fuzzy, but not quite what I was looking for.

Rare fibers from International Fleece

I ordered in from International Fleeces, 3oz each of rare wools and wools I had never tried. I am roughly halfway through the box and am falling in love with all kinds of sheep all over again.Cheviot, Gotland, Finnwool and Finnish Humbug top the list so far! The Gotland is such a pleasure to handle, but handle it carefully! Hot, sweaty hands felt it, even if you do not clutch the fibers! I tend to have a very relaxed fiber hand and it still happened.

Oh, and Anne's Rambouillet! My friend Anne came over to try out the Patrick Green Carder and a tiny batt of her toasty Rambouillet stayed behind! Of course I had to spin it...Id never spun Rambouillet before;-)