Mustard & Mushrooms

Mustard & Mushrooms. I won this fiber in a South Coast Weavers and Spinners Guild raffle sometime last year. 2 oz. of  Baby Camel, Merino Wool and Cultivated Silk from Capistrano Fiber Arts Studio. The fiber was originally called "Banana Slug". But I prefer my new choice. The fiber was a quick and fun spin. I chain-plied the single yarn to keep the colors clear. I ended up with 155 yards of 3 ply yarn.

This lovely fiber...

Became this yarn on my Ashford Joy wheel...

And then became this skein of squishy soft yarn...

 Here is a detail for the various colors. So pretty.

Long Wool Fiber Study, part 2

I’ve never processed wool from a fleece. Freshly cut, or sheared, sheep wool is full of grass, oils, dirt, and other things we don’t want to talk about.

For the long wool fiber study I’m currently working on, I have some Bluefaced Leicester (BFL) in the grease shown below. I thought to spin it in the grease just so I’d know what that was like. I’d already spun samples of rinsed but not scoured fiber and it wasn’t too bad.

But in the grease means In The Grease! As I started to separate locks in preparation for flicking them open to spin as is, it smelled bad. Not awful, just a basic animal smell. But not something I wanted in my home. Or on my spinning wheel. I realized that I would have to scoured these locks prior to carding or flicking. They were so dirty.

The fleece had been properly skirted (meaning the super dirty and waste clumped areas removed) prior to me getting it. But it was still sticky with oil and dirt.

On the left, I have separated the BFL locks, aligned them cut ends together. The pile on the right are the sunburnt tips of each lock. Really kind of yucky, sticky fiber knots that broke off as I pulled on the tip. I had heard there might be broken bits that needed to be removed.

Then I packaged the fiber into tulle net. This method should keep the locks aligned properly and let the water flow easily in the bath.

Hot water and Dawn dish soap. This is the 2nd tub of water. Still grey. I forgot to take a picture of the first tub. It had turned brown and yucky immediately after submerging the tulle wrapped fiber.

The locks moved and shifted in the soft tulle. I need to use stiffer netting and more pins to help the locks stay in place.

The picture shows less than 1 oz. of fiber drying after 2 hours of work. The fibers are clean, soft and ready to card or flick for spinning. Top row is California Variegated Mutant (CVM) Romney mix. Bottom two rows are the BFL.

What I really liked about handling each individual lock was the ability to see the curls or crimp, to imagine how the lock grew on the animal, and see it’s springy-ness. Even the kind of vegetable matter I found in the raw fiber was interesting. I’ve always spun from clean roving. It was fun to start from the actual unwashed lock.

However, having spent 2 hours working with only 1 oz of fiber, I can’t imagine how long it would take to wash a whole multi-pound fleece.

Long Wool Fiber Study, part 1

The following yarns are the first group of finished samples from the long wool fiber study that I am doing with Saturday Spinners (blog post 5/19/12). I spun, plied and wet finished these samples. What follows are my notes as I wrote them on an index card while spinning.

CVM - California Variegated Mutant - pin-drafted roving from Mt. SAC - 1 yard of roving - spun 4/21/12

• very springy
• used semi-worsted forward draft
• short fibers look fuzzy on bobbin
• wanted to spin thin/fine
• 2 ply - 36 yards - 24 wpi (wraps per inch) - lace weight

I really liked spinning the CVM. The fiber was soft and super bouncy. It should lend itself to a really lofty woolen yarn. I think I will try that next time.

Cotswold - combed roving - 1 oz. - spun 4/26/12

• very slick - easy to draft
• kind of wiry
• when yarn was too thin, felt too slippery
• lots of little ends sticking out on singles
• spun worsted forward draw
• can’t hold fiber too far apart with hands - no control
• singles kept popping off flyer hooks - very wiry
• 3 ply - 44 yards - 11 wpi - size 4 medium yarn
• 2 ply - 4.5 yards - 16 wpi - size 3 light yarn
• did not think this would make a good lace yarn

Upon reflection, the wiriness might make knitted lace patterns very crisp and clean. Cotswold was not my favorite fiber to spin. Definitely would not wear it against my skin.

BFL - Bluefaced Leicester (pronounced lester) - rinsed locks - 1/2 oz. - spun 5/18/12

• separated locks - cut ends aligned
• used small dog brush to click open locks (held middle of lock and flicked each half separately)
• spun from cut end
• feels slightly sticky - run into knots (neps) in fiber
• difficult to draft evenly
• singles very fuzzy on bobbin
• spins very fine
• fair amount of debris and fiber waste on flicker
• used worsted shortish draw
• had to hold lock firmly in hand
• luster easy to see
• would prefer scoured fiber
• 2 ply - 50 yards - 20 wpi - lace weight

I collected the fiber from the flicker and made 2 little rolags to spin. I did like the feel of the lanolin on my fingers from the rinsed fiber but I think in the long run it would be easier to control the finished product if the locks were scoured. Ultimately, it would be less messy while spinning. It was fun to see how the locks separated and the fiber brushed out. This was the first time I had spun from the lock.

BFL - Bluefaced Leicester  - processed roving from Shaggy Bear Farms - 2 yards of thin roving - spun 5/21/12

• spun worsted forward draw
• tried to spin medium weight singles
• very soft and easy to control
• 2 ply - 8 yards - 12 wpi - size 4 medium yarn

Really liked spinning clean roving. I also liked making thicker singles. I would try to spin more woolen next time though. Something lofty and soft.