Lace weight Alpaca

What can I say? I realize that it's because Susie has been spinning for a lot more time than I have but I'm still rather jealous when she seems to effortlessly whip out MILES of lace weight yarn while I'm still making "rope". (Actually my spinning isn't THAT bad but compared to hers it's rather pathetic!) This black Alpaca was purchased from the Greencastle Indiana festival last year and Susie has been spinning it very fine and plans to knit it into a lace shawl.....for HERSELF! We will be heading north to Greencastle again in just a few weeks and I've already made connections with several of our vendors who are already holding fleeces for us. If I can figure out the camera, I will take it with us and get some shots of the festival and those breeders who keep us up to our armpits in fleece. (Last year I came home with 10 fleeces and an assortment of other fibers that I just couldn't pass up!)

THE hat and mittens

Here are the hat and mitten set that Susie did for our friends Christmas gift. I wish I could have gotten better shots of these that showed more detail but being new to the digital camera, I'm not too proud to say I have LOTS to learn! (To be honest, I miss my 35mm camera.....IT took great pictures!)

Our first dyeing!

This was our first try at dyeing and it turned out rather well, if I do say so myself (and I do!). Susie had spun the yarn from some of our huge stash of Finn fleece and after doing the math on brewing up the dye bath, we started! Since this was MY first time ever dyeing, I found the whole process very interesting and couldn't wait to do more! After we dyed this yarn, Susie was asked to do a hat and mittens for a friend of ours to be used as a Christmas gift for his wife. He requested a light pink so we were able to do a SECOND dyeing project right on the heels of the first. The dying on these went very well and after spinning, dyeing, and knitting them into the finished items, they were well received.....especially since we were in the middle of some VERY cold weather at the time. SO MUCH FOR GLOBAL WARMING!

We FINALLY have our own!!!!

After getting the wool combing book through inter library loan for about a dozen times, we finally found someone with a copy and now OWN it ourselves! I have been wearing out our Louet double row mini combs processing a number of fleeces and have been really wanting to make our own English combs so having Peter Teals book at hand for reference is a God send! I've also located a local supplier for stainless steel welding rod to be used for the tines so hopefully in the not too distant future, I will be able to actually START making a set of these lethal looking instruments. Now the big decision will be what wood to use for the combs themselves. I have some nice flame Birch left from a kniddy knoddy I made for Susie so I may use that....otherwise it will be some old growth Cherry salvaged from a barn one of the neighbors tore down to use for firewood! (Don't get me started on THAT topic!) Right now I'm finishing us a couple of dizs made from an old coconut we've had for years. This is the first time I have ever worked with coconut and I'm rather amazed at how this looks as it nears being finished.