Fiber Arts Friday: Spinning Paco-Vicuna

I picked up what I thought was a cloud of Paco-Vicuna at the Taos Wool Festival a few years ago.  It was in the silent auction, and I HAD to have it.

It was my first ever festival acquisition.

I was a brand new spinner, so I was really nervous about messing it up.  Which means it has sat quietly in my stash ever since.  But now that I have a lot more spinning experience, I felt like I was ready to try.  Or at least I had reached a point to where my fear of risk was balanced by my sense of confidence.

I have to say I'm not crazy about this preparation which turned out to be shredded chunks of batting and not clouds.

But I do love the how color changes in the yarn and I'm looking forward to see what this will look like woven up.

Since today is Fiber Arts Friday, you know what I'm going to ask... so please go visit everyone else and tell them how awesome they are.  :-)

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece - 2011, week 4 and wrap-up

Week one, two and three are here.  Week four and my final wrap-up are below.  :-)

Friday, July 22nd - Challenge Day

I was thinking that last Thursday was going to count as my challenge day.  However, since I've been having so much fun with my drop spindle, I thought I might try to take it to the next level.

I am very much a park and drafter when it comes to spindling.  So I have decided that my challenge shall be to try to move into a more fluid motion of spinning and drafting all at once.


6 days of spindling = ~1/2 ounce of Paco-Vicuna Yarn

I was not able to get an action shot, but I was able to spin and draft all in one motion. At least until the yarn broke. :-/  It took me a bit to get the yarn “fused” back together, but I will definitely spend more time spindling properly. :-)

Saturday, July 23rd

Back to the Batts of Wonder... I sure do enjoy spinning Huacaya Alpaca.

Sunday, July 24th


~ 2 ounces of Huacaya Alpaca Yarn after 3 days of spinning

Wrap-up and Thoughts

My goals were:

• Spin every day the Tour races - Not Completed.  I missed three days and made up one.  So I have a deficit of two days.
• Finish Spinning the Black Huacaya Alpaca Batts of Wonder - Not Completed.  I have started spinning this yarn, but have a ways to go before I complete the lot.
• Spin the Tibetan Mastiff Fur I carded a while back - Completed.
• Improve my skills to the point of nothing being over spun. - In Progress.  I'm doing much better.  I still have small bits of over-spun yarn, but I have come a long way baby.
• Practice Spinning Thick. - Completed.  The TM fur was started out a bit thin, but I was able to get the yarn to a more consistent thicker thickness.  With it being plied I have a wraps per inch (wpi) of 8-10.  Which is much thicker than my normal 17-18 wpi singles.
• Spin with a Drop Spindle while I'm travelling. - Completed.
• Spin only alpaca-related fibers - Completed.  I spun Tibetan Mastiff Fur which we use use protect our alpacas, Paco-Vicuna which is an alpaca breed in development and Black Huacaya Batts of Wonder.

While I wasn't as prolific as last year and I am disappointed that I did not meet all of my goals, I am proud of my accomplishments.

The resulting yarns are very different and therefore good for different purposes.  Which brings me to how my spinning has changed since last year's Tour de Fleece...

I was much more interested in trying out different fibers and seeing what happened.  But over the last year I have migrated into spinning for specific projects.  I think this is good because aside from the one yarn I spun for my BFF Hat, all of my TdF2010 yarns are still in my stash.


Golden Tibetan Mastiff
22 + 106.5 yards at 8-10wpi, 6.5 ounces of 2-ply yarn.
(10 days of spinning)

I still think it would be fun to actually spin during the Tour de France... as in spin at the same time and same length of time the riders are racing... maybe next year?  ;-)



Be sure to check in with the other Fiberistas over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.  As always, you're certain to find inspiration.  Happy Fiber Arts Friday.

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece - 2011, week 3

My Tour de Fleece installments for week one and two are linked and week three is below.  :-)

Friday, July 15th

No spinning today.  Which means I have skipped three days and made up one.  Therefore I have a deficit of two days and only one more opportunity to make it up.  :-(

Saturday, July 16th

Well, I was planning to return to spinning my Tibetan Mastiff Fur this week.  Instead, I took one of my Tibetan Mastiffs to the park with the drop spindle and paco-vicuna  roving.  :-)

This is Wonton, she is seven months old now and pushing 75 lbs.  It's crazy to go back to when she first came to live with us.  We thought she was big then.  ;-)

Sunday, July 17th

Well, I'm finally back to my wheel and Tibetan Mastiff Fur.  I added two half-batts this morning and have four to go.  So it will be a couple of days before both spindles are full and I can begin plying.  :-)

I think taking the photo outside shows the fiber color much better.

Monday, July 18th - Rest Day

I didn't spin today.  So I continue to have a spinning deficit of two days.  I did however, make it to knit night which was super fun.  :-)

Tuesday, July 19th

I finished the Tibetan Mastiff Singles! Tomorrow, I ply!!

Wednesday, July 20th

I plied!

It turns out that my (new and still unused) Lazy Kate is narrower than my bobbins, so I wound each bobbin into a ball prior to plying.  Which isn't terrible as it gave me the opportunity to evaluate my work.

The first bobbin was thinner at the front and had more over-spun areas than the second bobbin.  The second bobbin was a more consistent thickness through-out.  So I am improving on my goal of no over-spun yarn, but I am not there yet.  :-)

I really like the finished yarn.  It's quite balanced and nearly even weight throughout.

The lot weighs 6 5/8 ounces and measures 127.5 yards over two skeins at 8-10 wpi.

Regarding some questions on the Tibetan Mastiff Fur.

I think I should wash the fiber prior to carding next time. Also a third run through the carder or a pass through a diz would make the batt/roving a bit more homogeneous and therefore nicer to spin.

The unwashed TM Fur has a faint smell of stinky feet, but it's not overtly smelly.  It certainly is not wet-dog-like nor anywhere close to the one raw sheep's fleece I've had the pleasure of smelling and now that it's been washed, it has a faint smell of lavender and mint.  :-)

I don't know the diameter of the TM Fur, so I attempted a photo comparison.  The Paco-Vicuna fiber on the left measures 17.3 microns and TM Fur is on the right.  The TM fur is definitely more coarse but the character is similar with a subtle crimp in both fibers.

Both fibers also have a good staple length of about 2 inches.

Thursday, July 21st

(Finally) I am back to the Black Huacaya Batts of Wonder.  :-)

I've been saying I'm half-way complete with the lot for quite some time.  I started with 17 ounces and have about 12 ounces to go.  So that's a long way from half-way complete. ;-)

At my approximate spinning rate of one ounce per hour, that's 12 hours of spinning between now and Sunday or three hours of spinning each day between now and then.  I'm usually not a negative person, but I'm  pretty sure that is not going to happen, especially since I didn't spin for 3 hours today.  So, I'll do what I can and be happy with the result.  :-)

So that's it for week three.  Be sure to visit the Wonder Why Gal and everyone else participating in Fiber Arts Friday.  :-)

Fiber Arts Friday: Tour de Fleece - 2011, week 2

Welcome back to my weekly Tour de Fleece installment.  Week one progress is here and week two progress is below.  Please enjoy.  :-)

Friday, July 8th

Woo Hoo.  Bobbin #1 of Tibetan Mastiff is full!

Saturday, July 9th

No spinning accomplished.  :-(

Sunday, July 10th

I began spinning bobbin #2 of the Tibetan Mastiff Fur.  My intent is to ply these once both bobbins are full.  Then I will wash the yarn and set the twist.

I think it's going pretty well. There are small bits that are over-spun, but really this is significantly better than the yarns I've spun in the past.

I am having a challenge showing off the fiber in my photos though.  The places with the best light in my house offer the worst background... eew... 1974 linoleum.  OK, maybe the linoleum isn't original to the house, but it certainly is not of the current decade... or century for that matter.  :-/

Technically the fiber is golden, but it looks beige in the photo.  Add blonde wood and "white" linoleum and you get a very blah photo.  I'll see what I can do to make these photos more interesting.

Monday, July 11th - Rest Day

Today was supposed to be a rest day, and I am travelling.  However, since I missed one day last week and one this week, I decided to spin a make-up session.  Not sure if that's "allowed."  ;-)

I brought my drop spindle and a ball of paco-vicuna roving.  I haven't spun paco-vicuna before but I thought starting with roving rather than a batt or cloud would be the better choice.

...and I love it.  :-)

This roving is really just luscous.  I'm enjoying spinning it.

Tuesday, July 12th

Wednesday, July 13th

Thursday, July 14th

Not sure if you can see a difference from yesterday... I only had a little bit of spinning time in the morning prior to the going to the office and my flight home.  I'm considering spindling at the airport, but I still feel like a spazz with the drop spindle.  So we'll see how I'm feeling when I get there.

Much, much later in the day...
 I didn’t spin at the airport but I did spin on the plane. I spun while we were waiting 2 hours to take off and then I spun while we were diverted and slowed down in flight.  The weather in Denver added 3 hours a to my trip.  :-/

A few people watched and smiled. My seat mates asked a couple of questions. One had visited Peru last year.

I think today counts as my Challenge Day since I over came a fear of spindling in public and I did it in a very cramped space. Also it was a challenge to just stay calm while they kept saying the next update from ATC will be in 30 minutes... I rescheduled my shuttle home 3 times.

I'm am back home now, so the paco-vicuna and spindle will be set aside in favor of my wheel and Tibetan Mastiff Fur which I hope to finish up soon.  :-)

Please remember to check in with the other Fiberistas over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder because it is Fiber Arts Friday.