Here is some more color for you color junkies. I did a run of Bird of Paradise yesterday because I had a skein of kid mohair to get out and there is no way that I am going to do a run for one skein, soooooo...the Lion's Share of color went into the pot for one of my favorite colorways to spin. I have done lots of projects with merino but it was time to give my beloved Wensleydale a spot in the pot and so here you have it.
This is one of those colorways that look like a whole lot of nothing to people when viewed in the roving but once spun, it is a beautiful, warm glowing yarn. There really is a method to my madness! Tomorrow, I want to delve a little bit into new colorways, since I am going to have a morning before the Blue Face Leicester shows up. Oh yeah, I also ordered a kid/silk yarn...not the lace weight but a bit more substantial for us REGULAR people. It should be yummy and I can't wait to introduce it at TKGA. Fun and distraction, that's what I need, fo' sho'.
The baby alpaca is coming along nicely. It is such a pleasure to spin it right out of the bag and the only sign that it is unwashed is that tell-tale gunk that builds up on my pinching fingers of my left hand. (Yup, draw with my right.) I can't wait to get this stuff plied up and into the bath so that I can see just how fabulous it REALLY is...
Ummhh, Lisa, Is drawing with the right hand an unusual thing? That's how I self taught myself, so let's just say that it ain't so, Joe! I am absolutely in love with your new colorways - man, if I only didn't have to do the job thing every day. . .
June
Posted by: June P | June 21, 2005 at 07:11 PM
I draw with my right, too. And I also get junk on my fingers when I spin alpaca, but it's much easier to spin it dirty than to wash it first, I'm told. Have fun with your alpaca! And that pic of the nifty colored roving is quite appealing, I must say. I bet it spins up to a beautifuly yarn!
Posted by: Beth Collins | June 22, 2005 at 03:36 AM
I also pinch with my left (wow I spin just like the Boss!), although I don't think I can yet say my right hand does anything like 'drawing'. I saw Joanne spin long draw and SHE draws.
I pinch with my left when spindling too, I'm not sure if that is normal or not.
Posted by: CarolineF | June 22, 2005 at 05:08 AM
Me too with the left thing. You attract rebels.
Posted by: kerry | June 22, 2005 at 06:36 AM
Ahhh, i look forward to see how the yarn from that roving turns out...........remember......pictures of it, when you reach that point!! Cannot wait to see what "new" colors you gonna show of this time!:-)
Posted by: Helle From Denmark | June 22, 2005 at 07:02 AM
You draw with your RIGHT HAND, TOO?????? Ahhhh - I feel so much more normal now.......
Posted by: kim | June 22, 2005 at 11:32 AM
Kidsilk Haze in lace takes a 5.00 mm needle, sometimes even 5.5, so not so teensy, even though it's a gossamer laceweight. Just in case you do decide to try working with that kind of stuff.
A number of years ago the San Jose Mercury News had a very small AP filler piece on the subject of a woman in the UK who had the last big herd of the dying-out Wensleydale breed, saying they were nearly extinct because they ate too much grass for how much wool they produced compared to other breeds--but the wool! The finest and softest of the longwools, and shiney as silk. She'd had orders come in from Japan that were financing her efforts to keep the breed alive. Things were looking up.
I spent two years after that trying to track down a source of Wensleydale wool. I wrote to a place in England, I bugged my LYSO, who sells spinning supplies. Finally I found two sources the same week! And one was my LYSO; Ashland Bay had just started distributing it wholesale. Guess who was the first local customer to try it?
Have fun with yours!
Posted by: AlisonH | June 22, 2005 at 11:52 AM
Left, that's me :)
Posted by: Angela | June 22, 2005 at 04:40 PM