Shearing Season

I'm always trying to come up with something profound to say on this subject.  But the simple truth is, if you're just calling now because it's finally getting warm, you are going to wait.

photo taken by Johnny Robson

• May and June are high season around here for shearing.
• There is a shortage of good shearers.
• Most schedules have been set for months.

My schedule is generally firm and full by February.

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece 2014, part 4

It's the last Tour de Fleece post for this year.  I'm a little sad. :-(  I've had a whole lot of fun for the past several weeks and have had my most productive Tour ever.

Friday, July 25th

I received a surprise 1/4 ounce of raw cashmere in the mail a few days ago from an awesome shearing client.  I washed, picked, de-haired and carded it yesterday and spindled a bit today.  OMG, I love this stuff.  :-)

Also spun some of the silk from last week.

Saturday, July 26th

Only 5 minutes for spinning today.

Sunday, July 27th

One more eighth of silk.

I have 7/8 ounces to go.

Epilogue

I'm disappointed that I did not finish the green cotton.  But in reality, it will take 3 weeks of an hour each day to finish the singles. Then I have more cotton after this is finished that will be put together for an eventual weaving project.

I'm also a little disappointed that I did not finish the silk, but this was not on my To Do List at the start of this year's Tour.

I spun everything I put in the queue for this year's Tour de Fleece and some more.... I've never had such a productive year.  It's amazing how much one can do without having a Day Job to go to. ;-)

In the last few weeks, I've spun five total skeins and part of three others.

Romney Lamb + Alpaca (80/20):  3 7/8 ounces, 426 yards, staple ~3.5 inches
Charcoal Llama:  1 1/8 ounces, 99 yards, staple ~2.5 inches
Brown Llama:  1 1/8 ounces, 93 yards, staple ~3.5 inches
Llama + Bamboo:  2 ounces, 140 yards, staple ~3.75 inches
Homegrown Medium Silver-Grey Alpaca: 3 1/4 ounces, 172 yards, staple ~4 inches
Cinnamon Silk:  7/8 ounces, staple ~3 inches
Green Cotton:  1/2 ounce, staple ~0.5 inch
Cashmere:  1/4 ounces, staple ~1.5 inches

Which means I spun a total of 13 ounces and more than 930 yards... or just over a half-mile during the last few weeks.

top to bottom:
cotton, romney+alpaca, llama, llama, llama+bamboo,
alpaca, cotton, silk, cashmere

Because I think it's fun to see the different staples all together.... lined up in the order that I spun them.

As I mentioned above, the cotton is planned for an eventual weaving project.  The llama- and alpaca-based yarns are planned for a different eventual weaving project.

I have entered the 2-ply, home-grown, home-processed alpaca in the County Fair this week.  It will go into a knit hat once I spin another skein.

I've spun nearly every day since the Tour ended on Sunday, so hopefully I will be able to continue this momentum thru to next summer.

Happy Spinning and Happy Fiber Arts Friday.

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece 2014, part 1

I think the Tour de Fleece is perfectly timed during the year.... it has gotten hot enough that I don't want to knit too much and sitting in front of my wheel is much  more enjoyable when my feet and fingers are not cold.  ;-)

For those unfamiliar with the Tour de Fleece, it's a fiber spinning event hosted on Ravelry that coincides with the Tour de France.

It's a fun event each year.  Participants can join a team or spin individually.  The camaraderie is a lot of fun.  I have joined up with the Team of Wonder again and look forward to participating every year.

My goal for the last several years has been to spin at least a 1/2 inch each day the Tour rides.  I don't always succeed, but last year I spun one extra day.  :-)  Also since I'm on an Alpaca-Lovin' Team and raise a few of my own, I intend to spin at least some alpaca.

Of course my hope after every Tour de Fleece is to continue the spinning momentum I built throughout the entire year.  Some years are better than others.  Last year was not so good...  I still have the cotton on my wheel from last year's Tour.. Which had been on my wheel for quite a while before that.  So my goals include spinning more cotton.  ;-)

3/5 ounces natural green cotton

I also have some prepared llama, llama, llama+bamboo, and romney lamb+alpaca to spin.

As usual, I will post my daily progress in my weekly Fiber Arts Friday Post. If you want to see my (and the rest of the team's) real-time, actual, daily, progress then join us at the Team of Wonder on Ravelry. If not, I'll see you here next Friday. :-)

Saturday, July 5th

I started with the green cotton that has been on my wheel for 15 months.  The spinning bug actually bit me on Monday, June 30th... so I've been spinning this for the last several days.

I started with the 3.5 ounces remaining this morning, which means I've spun one ounce since last year's Tour de Fleece... most of it in the last few days.

Before:

But after a week of spinning cotton, I was feeling bored with it today. 30 minutes later and a negligible amount according to my scale, I still have 3.5 ounces to go.  sigh.

After:

I was anxious to spin the Romney Lamb+Alpaca (80/20).  The staple felt like a mile long after the cotton.  It drafts quickly but is much more coarse so my fingertips got sore.  Below is nearly an ounce.

To show you  what I mean about the difference in staple length... the cotton (~0.5 inches) is on the left and the Romney Lamb+Alpaca (~3.5 inches) on the right.

Sunday, July 6th

Continuing with the Romney+Alpaca, I spun 1 5/8 ounces in two sessions.

I love the way that wool smells and as I mentioned earlier, this drafts quite nicely so it spins quickly.  But my finger tips are sore after spinning this blend.

I don't imagine I'll spin romney again... there's a little lanolin buildup on my finger tips... don't know if that's due to the preparation, quality of the fleece or breed.  But I do think this would be a nice pairing with the Navajo Churro I have in my stash.  This is definitely not a next-to-skin type yarn.

Monday, July 7th

Another 1 1/8 ounces today.  Not much of this one left.... thankfully.

Tuesday, July 8th

3 7/8 ounces of Romney/Alpaca (80/20)

Then I added what I spindled in last year's TdF to the bobbin.

4 3/8 ounces and 426 yards of excited Romney + Alpaca (80/20).

After a bath and a stretch, it is a little more behaved.  ;-)  It will go into my stash to be used in a weaving project that's been percolating over the last few days.

After the last 4 days, my fingers needed some soft fiber.... I thought this local llama would be the ticket.

It was delightfully soft and slippery and full of neps and vegetable matter.  Not a very good preparation, but exactly what I needed.

1 1/8 ounce, 99 yards of Charcoal Llama.

Wednesday, July 9th

I'm not feeling too much of the spinning mojo today... perhaps I over did it yesterday.  ;-)

Below is about 1/4 ounce of a Brown Llama.

It's from the same source of the Charcoal Llama from yesterday, but this preparation is much better so far.

Thursday, July 10th

I finished spinning the brown llama from yesterday.

1 1/8 ounce, 93 yards of Brown Llama.

I was planning to save this roving for tomorrow, but I just couldn't help myself... much like good chocolate cake, this llama+bamboo roving was delicious to work with.

2 ounces, 140 yards of silver llama+bamboo.

This has been an exceptionally productive week on many fronts, not just spinning.

Happy Spinning and Happy Fiber Arts Friday.

Fiber Arts Friday: My Unusual Fiber Stash

Some questions popped up a "few week's ago" about what rare fiber I was planning to spin next.

I am usually willing to oblige.... ;-)

I am of the mind that nearly everything that is fibrous is spin-able and I am mostly interested in spinning single-source fibers.  As such, I have a few rare or unusual fibers in my stash.

I am also lucky that when I first learned to spin I had access to a Local Yarn Shop (Village Wools in Albuquerque, NM) that had a wide selection of interesting fibers for the spinners in the area.  I also had access to the Taos Wool Festival which had amazing, single-breed options and now the Estes Park Wool Market which also has some unusual, prepared, fibers available.  Lastly my cousin and her family have decided that finding fibers for me to spin is a bit of a sport.

As a result I have an interesting collection of rare and unusual fibers for spinning.... or, at least I think it's interesting.  ;-)

Cashmere and Cashmere+Silk. I have not spun Cashmere or even a Cashmere blend yet.  I'm looking forward to trying it.

Camel.  I have a small amount of raw camel collected by my cousin... I have spun baby camel and a camel blend.  It is divine... so much so that Hubba spent some time shopping for a camel.  I'm happy that he decided they are a little too big for our fences and a little too disagreeable for our preferences.  ;-)

Yak.  Cloud and Roving.  I had been saving this because I think it's very special and I did not want to mess it up.  But I think my skills are up to par now, so it's waiting for inspiration.  I don't want to spin it for spinning sake, I want to make sure I know what it will be before I put it on my wheel.

Black Bear. Hair and Down... both found by my cousins... in their back yard.  I attempted to spin the hair a while back, but it is too stiff for spinning... at least at my current skill level.  It might be interesting in a blend, or might be better for the embroidery that Vivian mentioned way back when...  The Down is quite soft and will be a lovely yarn.

Rocky Mountain Goat... also found by my cousins... on a hike.  I'm about half-way thru the picking and cleaning.  Hubba doesn't like me cleaning fiber in the house, so it only gets attention when I have time and weather to support it.

Milk.  Yep, fiber made from a protein in Cow's Milk.   I made an attempt at spinning this a few weeks ago... it's very much like silk, with a very long staple length and very "fly-away."  I realize that's a lot of "very."  I decided that I was not in the right frame of mind and plan to spin this at a later date.

Navajo-Churro.  This is the only sheep's wool in my stash right now.  I've only spun a little of it.  It drafts nicely, but the guard hair (prized in this breed of sheep) makes for a tough time on the fingers.  I love the way it smells.

I also have a few ounces of llama, several pounds of Tibetan Mastiff and a large amount of Huacaya Alpaca in my stash, which will get much larger since we are shearing our herd tomorrow.

Currently I am working on a Naturally Colored (Green) Cotton.  The colored cottons have not been bred like the white cottons and were (still?) nearly extinct, so the staple length is very short... ~1/2 inch.  My first attempt was pitiful, but this time it is going beautifully.

I have quite a lot to spin and am planning a 2-ply so this will be in progress for a while.

I am on the watch for more Qiviut and Bison.  The Qiviut was so amazing, that I think I will always be in search of more.  The Bison was challenging enough that I want to get better at it.

I am also on the watch for Vicuna and Guanaco.  I have yet to touch, let alone spin either of these.

Also with so many Elk nearby and it being spring I continue to hope to find some shed Elk, but so far, nada.

Finally, if I happen upon any Possum roving I would absolutely give it a try.  I have felt some yarn and knitted gloves made of Possum and was surprised by how soft it was.  I think it would be interesting to spin.

Have you spun any interesting or unusual fibers?  Did you enjoy it?

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Recovered from Dog Saliva

Now that's a headline I never thought I would write.  lol.

If you recall, our very lovely and wonderful LGD's (Livestock Guardian Dogs) hatched a plan and successfully executed a llama-silk roving heist a couple of weeks ago.

Some bits were definitely felted, but most of the roving was usable.

The yarn has now had a bath, so any remnant dog saliva should be long gone.  ;-)

131 yards, 2 ounces

Happy Fiber Arts Friday.

Fiber Arts Friday: It's Not a Toy!

It would appear that the girls had a well-crafted and executed plan.

Wednesday evening, Wonton was calling for my attention.  So I went out to see what she wanted.

Wonton and The Alpaca Dog

The door to the house does not always latch on it’s own and did not this time.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it until it was too late.

Wonton, who is not much for opening doors, went straight to it and kept it from latching until Noodle was able to come over and fling it open.

Noodle

The both of them went straight into my office and snatched something to play keep-away with.

They raced around the house until we cornered them in the bedroom.  It turns out that they had a ball of llama-silk roving that I had started spinning.  :-/

Fortunately what was already spun is ok.

But what’s left is now covered in dried dog saliva.

Some is definitely felted, but I think most of it is salvageable.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

Fiber Arts Friday: Estes Park Wool Festival, 2012

Ahhh, the Estes Park Wool Festival where two of my favorite subjects collide.... Estes Park, Colorado and all things Fiber-y.  :-)

I had a few things on my mind for this festival... especially the cashmere goat show.  I happened upon the end of it a couple of years ago and missed it completely last year.  I could not find the schedule of events, so I missed it again this year.  :-/  But I did spy a few of them snoozing.

I was also looking for some specific yarn for a specific project.  I didn't find it, but I did find this...

wool + silk + viscose

I think it will turn into something wonderful.  :-)

I also found some special roving for the Tour de Fleece.

Corriedale Top

cashmere + silk

camel + merino

alpaca

llama

I will be spinning with the Team of Wonder again.   :-)  Of course, I just realized that most of the rovings are very nearly the same color...  lol.

The High Park Wildfire started that day, which I wrote about here.  So it was difficult to relax and spend time enjoying Estes Park, as I typically do when I'm there.

As of about 6:30 last night the fire looked like this from our place....

I think this photo is optimistic.  The fire is estimated at 52,000 acres (larger than the cities of Fort Collins and Loveland combined) and about 15% contained.  At the time I was taking this photo, the fire was racing to the north and had crossed the Poudre River.  That being said, last night was the best air quality we've had in nearly a week.

I am pleased to note that our Governor issued a state-wide ban on all open fires and private fireworks yesterday.

I hope you are enjoying your Fiber Arts Friday.  Please join us over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.  There's always a lot to see.  :-)