Magical spinning……

Since my old Westbury wheel was rescued from the loft, I have become addicted to spinning.  I will be forever grateful to my husband who dutifully brought it down, took it to bits and made the wheel work again for me. 

The process of spinning yarn is magical; you never know how the yarn will look until the very end and there are so many things that can alter or influence the end product.   It is so satisfying in this world where things can seem so identikit and manufactured to make something that is ever unique & personal…..

Here is the alpaca mix that I mentioned in an earlier post, plied together, I would never have guessed that it would end up like this – it is quite different to how I imagined…..?

I have in mind for this wool a pattern for some mittens that I have seen on Ravelry  but in order to make these I need to spin some cream 2-ply up. 

Baby Alpaca and Barbara Gray Stamping

I had an enjoyable morning today watching the very talented Barbara Gray making beautiful cards with her Clarity Stamps on Create and Craft while I picked through the baby alpaca fleece that came from Willowmead Alpacas last May.

The baby alpaca is a beautiful fleece, so soft and with a rich brown, almost black colour lightly tipped with copper.   Sadly, it is absolutely full of moss and grass!!!   Apparently the Alpacas love to roll around on the ground – in their native climate this would be to give themselves a dust-bath – but here in green & grassy Suffolk they gather moss instead of dust.   In this case, a Rolling Alpaca DOES gather moss I guess, unlike the proverbial stone!   I’m certain they have a lovely time, but it means that as the fleece attracts the moss at the tips of the staple I have to cut out these out, and in doing this, I loose the lovely light coppery colours, which is a shame.

I have already spun a number of yarns from this fleece and still have a large amount of it left.  I have begun to card and spin the prepared fleece into a fine yarn similar to the cream alpaca; my intention is to create a skein of plain brown/black and then maybe a partner yarn with mint green – a mint chocolate mix and then maybe even a chocolate orange mix

Enchanted Forest

 

If my dreams are like a forest, deep, sometimes rich and verdant and green, sometimes skeletal with woody fingers piercing heavenwards, writing an age-old calligraphic story of time immemorial, then.... whatever the season .... if my dream is a forest, then it is an enchanted forest. 

Top Line (left to right) : The Magpie’s Daughter http://www.etsy.com/shop/themagpiesdaughter,  

Fairysteps http://www.etsy.com/shop/fairysteps, NatureMandalas ttp://www.etsy.com/shop/NatureMandalas 

Creationdesigns http://www.etsy.com/shop/creationdesigns, Second line (left to right) Craftypagan  

http://www.etsy.com/shop/craftypagan,  Inmostlight http://www.etsy.com/shop/InmostLight, 

Beautifulplace http://www.etsy.com/shop/beautifulplace, Darshanpottery http://www.etsy.com/shop/darshanpottery.  Third line (left to right) Forstrangewomen

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ForStrangeWomen, Natureinspiredcrafts 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/natureinspiredcrafts, Robinwade http://www.etsy.com/shop/robinwade, 

Oddfae http://www.etsy.com/shop/oddfae.  Forth line (left to right) Weirdandtwisted http://www.etsy.com/shop/WeirdAndTwisted,

Woodlandbelle  http://www.etsy.com/shop/WoodlandBelle,

LAtelierduchatnoir http://www.etsy.com/shop/LAtelierduChatNoir,

Tinyowlsmagicattic http://www.etsy.com/shop/TinyOwlsMagicAttic