Fiber Arts Friday: More Washing

Since I washed Ramen's fleece, I've washed a few more...

Nobu: 15-7/8 oz

Miles: 19-1/2 oz

Maggie:  21 7/8 oz

Wonton:  33 1/4 oz

I'm caught up with washing chiengora... for now.  ;-)

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Fiber Celebration, part 2

Like all good programs, things change soon after the plan is sanctioned.... I changed day jobs and am now travelling a lot.

This means I don't have much access to my wheel, so I'm not spinning as much and one of my Ledbetter spindles has been a travelling companion.

I want to be better at spindling anyway.  I have spindled since the change, but I've spindled zero in the last two weeks.

Although I have been using some of the transit time to study the Twined technique.

At the moment, my status is:

• 2 oz complete
• 1 7/8 oz in finished singles
• 6 1/2 oz remaining

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

With the new Day Job, I expect my blogging will revert to being sporadic.

Travelling

Some things I've seen while travelling recently.

small trunk space

airport telephone

robot

electric car charging

beautiful view

Fiber Arts Friday: Washing Chiengora

My process for washing Tibetan Mastiff is the same as for alpaca.

Starting with skirted fleece, I use lingerie bags, sink bins, fiber wash, a salad spinner, and a clothes line.

My preference is to use a low-sudsing fiber wash, but I ran out over the summer and started using a dog shampoo that I won in a raffle last year.

The dog shampoo is a bit too fragrant for my preference, but I'm happy it is low-sudsing.

Since we live in an arid climate, I try to be conservative about how much water I use.  Each change of water is just enough to cover the fleece and cool to lukewarm in temperature.

I soak each change for 15-20 minutes, or until I get back to check on it.

3-4 changes of water is usually sufficient to get the soap and dirt out.

Since I wash the yarn in the same fashion after spinning it, and again after completing the final object, I think the water below is clean enough.

If I have more fleece to wash, the I will add soap to the last change of the previous batch.

I spin the excess water using a salad spinner (marked for fiber use only).  Then hang the fleece to dry.  This goes a lot faster in the summer sun than it does inside in the winter.

Neither chiengora nor alpaca have lanolin, so scouring is not necessary.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Dog Show: Cheyenne Kennel Club, 2018

We participating in the Cheyenne Kennel Club Dog Show over Labor Day Weekend.

This is a much smaller show than Greeley was a couple of weeks ago.

Wilma was the only Tibetan Mastiff entered and I had the opportunity to be a Ring Steward for the first time.

We did more practice with having strangers go over Wilma as if they were a judge.  As well as practiced waiting our turn in the Group Ring.

Photo by: Cheryl Mechalke

Wilma found a Fred. :-)  He's a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog Puppy, just a couple of weeks younger than Wilma.  These two were fast friends.

She also got to play with her doggie buddies, Levi and Mo.  These guys have met before, so they went straight to wrestling.

I think her favorite part of the show was visiting with the information kids several times each day.  :-)

Ramen made a special appearance on the "Can You Guess the Breed?" poster.

Points if you know all of the breeds shown.  ;-)

I really enjoy this show.  It's extremely well run and very clean... and we were both very tired at the end of the weekend.

I hope you were able to do something fun too.

Fiber Arts Friday: Medium Brown Suri Yarn, Finished

This yarn was part of a package of local Suri given to me by a fellow alpaca breeder in the spring of 2016.

I started spinning it in July 2016, and finally finished it in June 2018.

It spent most of it's time resting.  ;-)

This yarn turned out much better than I expected.... it's always amazing what a bath does for fibers.

This is a 2-ply and will be part of a long-term project, yet to be revealed.

233 yards
2.25 oz
21 wpi

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!