Yet another spinning post!

But first - we had a bad storm a couple of weeks ago, and I lost my favorite willow tree. :-(

It also severely damaged the cotton plant, so I picked the largest bolls and put them on my dehydrator a la Spin-Off's latest issue:

One boll pretty much popped open on it's own, but the rest needed a lot of help - I don't know if they will be any good (and I forgot to take a picture of them opened).  But I'll probably plant the seeds from this year's 'crop' next year - it's a neat plant with beautiful flowers, and I have a better spot for them than where I planted this one.  And if I don't want to spin the cotton, I know a couple of people who would take it off my hands. :-)


Yesterday was a fun day - I went to the not-so-local fiber fair with a couple of spinning friends, and a great time was had by all. :-D  Though I was considerably lighter in the wallet by the time I got home, because I bought:

Some border leicester:

The white has that sparkly stuff already blended in ('angelique'?), and I bought a package of coppery sparkly stuff to blend with the reddish/brown BL.  I've not spun BL before, but one my friends just loves it, and these were softer than I expected.

BFL:

I've not spun BFL before either, though I did buy some cloud (I think) several years ago - it's still languishing in my fiber stash. :-/  This is plain ol' (sooft) roving.

Some merino (I'm itching to get to that purple!):

I've spun a merino blend before, but not straight merino.  The red isn't particularly soft, but it may be due to the dye.

Corriedale cross:

Not quite as soft (I'm noticing a theme here) as most of what I bought, but I loved the color. 

These wool blends are surprisingly soft:

I'm currently thinking of spinning the non-stripey ball on the Pinkie for bulky yarn.  Maybe. 

My almost-favorite purchase:

Black mohair.  Super soft and soo lustrous!  It's in lock form, so I'm probably crazy for not buying it with more prep, but it's such a beautiful black with a bit of silver-gray I couldn't resist. :-)  I have enough to try spinning it from the locks, and trying combing and carding it to see which way I like it (a friend said I could use her drum carder if I decided to go that route).  I've not spun straight mohair before so I'm not sure which prep to go with.  I would like to keep it 'lustrous', so it seems like that would mean combing, if not straight spinning from the locks.  I might spin this on the Tenor Spindolyn once I get the milk fiber finished.

But the neatest stuff I bought:

Silk top in coppery-sunny colors.  So outside my usual color choices but wow do I love how it looks.  I will probably spin this on the Liten Spindel.  I want to get spinning on this too (need lots of lotion on my hands first though :-/)!

This time I tried to stay away from my usual color picks, because I'm drawn to blues/blue-greens and darker browns.  The silk and the various reddish colors are definitely a departure for me (though I'm doing that red colonial on the Production these reds are quite different from what I would usually pick) - it will be interesting to see what they look like spun!  I really didn't need any more fiber, but what you see here is all of it, so I didn't buy pounds and pounds - I'd never get them spun if I did!  And I still have those awesome batts from Corgi Hill to do - I need to get to spinning!

I need to go shorten one of the Navajo spindles a smidgen, and put some Danish oil on the shaft, and then I will start matching fiber to wheels. :-D


Your parting nature shot:.

My hometown, last weekend: :-D