Weekend projects

Here a few photos of the projects I have been working on.

The one I have been wanting to spend more time on is the Wensleydale roving I bought from a contact I made in Texas. While there, I wanted to visit a LYS (local yarn shop) or spinning shop, but couldn't find any doing google searches. I ended up searching Ravelry instead only to find that there are no shops nearby in Cypress. I tried meeting up with one of the Ravelry contacts to look at her hand dyed rovings, but it didn't happen. So I bought the roving, based on sight only. Those of you that don't buy fiber don't realize, fiber fanatics, like me, prefer to grope (feel) the fiber before buying it. Fiber is a sensory addiction - touch, smell, color, and hordeing. Those are my senses anyway. I don't have 50 pounds of wool laying around for nothing, ya know. lol

Back to the Wensleydale... This stuff threw me for a loop. I was breaking and tearing it when I was trying to draft it, didn't like the texture, and kept throwing my hands in the air in frustration. What do you do when this happens? STOP. Just like spinning and the wheel gets away from you...STOP. Stop and re-evaluate the situation.

So I stopped. And I emailed the seller, droolingoveryarn, for assistance. Bless her, she delivered. I love it when the seller, instructor, or any contact honors "service after the sale". It goes a long way in my book. She explained to me how it was different than the fiber I was used to, how to draft it, spin it, and wants me to follow up with her with how I am doing. I am a visual learner, so with that information, I searched Youtube and found a video showing how to draft Wensleydale roving as well.

Why is this type of fiber so different?

1. The staple length. Staple length, simplied, is the length of the fiber. I have been working with fiber with a staple length of 3-4 inches. Wensleydale staple length is 7 - 17 inches!! Huge difference.
2. The texture. The texture is courser, but it also has a wonderful luster to it. When I became used to it, I really liked the texture and the sheen.

There are other differences, but those are the ones I am familiar with at this time. I haven't spun with it yet. Click on the photo to see a much larger photo of the Wensleydale. You can see the texture and luster!

The other project I haven't been able to get to yet is the roving I sent to Zeilingers for processing. If you remember, I sent it to them because I couldn't get the VM (vegetative matter; hay, dirt, grass) out of the locks and I didn't want to throw the wool away. It was a beautiful dark brown when spun, and I had plans for it already for a knitting project. Wow! They worked a miracle with it! I have 3 lbs of clean roving to dive into now.

With summer finally arriving I want to spend my time outdoors. Sometimes, I can't combine my fiber prep hobby with being outdoors, but usually I can. I set up my spinning wheel on the deck, listen to podcasts (knit picks with kelley petkun is my current favorite), sort wool with or without the homemade rack, and now, I am transitioning to washing my wool outside. With all the fleece I am having to scour (wash), I was becoming concerned about using my washer and having all that lanolin in my pipes, drainfield or septic.

Okay, nuff writing about my projects, they are sitting all around me as I type this on my back deck. I am itching to get my fingers into the fiber! I will upload the photos, add the links, for this entry and get back to it.