Sunday 08 Nov 2009

Presto Chango

The recent spate of fiber festivals renewed my interest in spinning. Well, that and the pounds and pounds of unspun fiber that is occupying precious storage space in my basement.

Many years ago, before I even owned a wheel, a friend gave me bags and bags of alpaca fleece from her friend’s flock. The fiber wasn’t the best or the worst, but the shearing job left a lot to be desired. There were a lot of second cuts and the fiber itself was full of nepps. I had it processed by Lynn and, frankly, she worked a miracle on it. She combined it with some Correidale and some silk and then carded it into roving that was completely spinnable.

To be honest, I mostly used it to practice new techniques on the wheel, like Navajo plying or trying to draft with the opposite hand. I thought I’d used it all up, but I found one last bump a few weeks ago.

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Now close your eyes . . . .

. . . . and open them again.

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Look, like magic the roving turned into yarn right before your eyes. Pretty good trick, huh.

Result: 958 yards of fingering weight singles.
Intended Project: Who knows, maybe a lightweight cardigan. All I know is this hank of yarn takes up a hell of a lot less space than the roving from which it came. Amen.

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14 comments | spinning

14 Responses to “Presto Chango”

  1. # Cookie on 08 Nov 2009 at 2:11 pm

    Wow!

    It’s wonderful.

  2. # Laurie on 08 Nov 2009 at 2:23 pm

    I like your brand of magic.

  3. # melusine_tricote on 08 Nov 2009 at 2:49 pm

    Just beautiful…

  4. # Jennifer on 08 Nov 2009 at 3:38 pm

    Wow! You knit. You spin. You blog. AND you do magic. That’s a great trick. I love it.

    The yarn is beautiful. Can’t wait to see what you make.

  5. # margene on 08 Nov 2009 at 5:22 pm

    And it’s so soft! You did a great job of spinning it.

  6. # Manise on 08 Nov 2009 at 6:10 pm

    Great trick and resulting singles! Lynn does work miracles. Alpaca/ Corrie/silk is a great blend. What are the percentages btw?

  7. # Betsy on 08 Nov 2009 at 6:48 pm

    That was amazing! Next up: straw into gold.

  8. # Teresa C on 08 Nov 2009 at 8:46 pm

    You’re a magician, TOO!?

  9. # Heather Joins The Round on 08 Nov 2009 at 10:59 pm

    Hmm, that’s a good reason to spin all right! Pretty!

  10. # Dianne on 09 Nov 2009 at 6:42 am

    Amazing..you’re just ‘full of magic’

  11. # Cayenne on 09 Nov 2009 at 8:38 am

    Awesome! Yay for Lynn. Oh, and yay for you for being such an incredible spinner.

  12. # Caffeine Girl on 09 Nov 2009 at 10:10 am

    You spin, too? Amazing. Your handspun is lovely!

  13. # Marie on 09 Nov 2009 at 10:30 am

    Oh, I hear you, I’ve been going through much the same process myself lately (hmm, if I spin that, it won’t take up a much storage space!)

  14. # Anne on 10 Nov 2009 at 7:21 am

    Amen. Can you come over here and work some magic on my fiber stash now, please? :)