Since I'm still a novice spinner and just got a drum carder I took home a "small" bag to play around with when we picked up Noodle last week.
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| 6 7/8 ounces of raw Tibetan Mastiff Fur |
The staple length is about 2 inches and it's quite soft. It should be fun to spin but first I wanted to card it.
I cleaned up the carder and fed the raw Golden Tibetan Mastiff fiber into the carder.
I filled up the carder and then tried to peal the batt off the drum.
Right now those of you that have used a carder before are telling me that rolling is much easier than pulling...
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| The first two batts. I bet you can tell which was pulled and which was rolled. |
I've only carded about half of it so far.
These batts have been through the carder once and I am thinking about carding them again before I start spinning since some of the fibers are horizontal.
Anyway, my breeder has about 10 pounds of raw fiber in black or gold that she would like to have spun into yarn. If any of you FAF Fiberistas are interested in a commission, please let me know and I will put you in touch.
In the meantime, please head over to Wisdom Begins in Wonder to see what the other Fiberistas have been up to for Fiber Arts Friday.
Ooh, I'm eager to see how this yarn turns out! I've got an Old English Sheepdog; I need to get around to spinning up some of her fur this year. Love that golden color, for sure!
ReplyDeleteYeah for pet hair fiber arts. See I'm not the only one working pet fuzz for others.
ReplyDeleteI'm always thankful that I don't have dogs that shed. I'd be crazy with cleaning my furniture all of the time.
ReplyDeleteI always run my batts through the drum carder 2-3 times depending on the fiber. Yes, I could run it through once and all would be good but upon great advice from Beth at the Spinning Loft, I am taking the extra time which creates more of a "top" to spin.
Can't wait to see your new yarn.
Happy Fiber Arts Friday!
Can't wait to see how it looks spun up.
ReplyDeleteJust a hint, I have Suri alpacas and when I drum card I use a bamboo like placemant (that I bought at the dollar store) to Roll my batt off the drum carder.
It makes a nice tidy batt and keeps the fly away down to a minimum.
Happy Fiber Arts Friday!
Holy cow - that's a lotta dog hair! How long has she been saving it?
ReplyDeleteNice to see your new drum carder in action. Thanks also for posting those photos and info - for a person like me who's never spun or carded, it's a great learning experience.
@Melissa - that's a great tip. My nose was getting tickly with all the flyaways.
ReplyDelete@VdV - she's had Tibetan Mastiffs for a few years and currently has about 6 adults.
There are 4 or 5 puppies left if anyone "needs" one. ;-)
@WWG - the dogs are outside, so no shedding in the house. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy nose is itchy twitchy just looking at that fiber! It looks lovely soft, though :-)
ReplyDeleteWhoa, that's a lot of dog fiber. I knew a woman that had Alaskan Husky fiber spun into yarn. I really didn't care for the hand of it but it did make a nice pillow cover momento for the dog owner. Good luck with your new project. How is the hand on the Tibetan fiber? Happy Fiber Arts Friday Kathryn!
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