Therapy Friday-ish

Whew, ok, I put my first pattern on Ravelry, and let me just say, I am surprised, humbled, delighted, and a little bit bubbly at the positive response so far.   Part of me says Oh, but it's just a little sheep... But it's a sheep I was able to make and then share with others.  How giddy!  Thank you. :)


It's been an exciting week(s) over all, I met my first Phatty, that I know of, at Mayday! Underground Indie Crafts + Arts Festival.  At first I was all angsty over the fact that a venue selling only handcrafted things was a silly thing to call indie (I suppose there are handcrafting franchises, but I don't think they are the norm) or underground (it wasn't really clandestine, that would be terrible for sales), but then it actually turned out to be in a (positively awesome warehouse) basement.  Truly, that is the best meaning of underground craft + art festival I can think of.


I was allowed to touch all sorts of fibers/yarns/soaps at the Fuzzy Bunny booth and I wasn't even chased off before I could buy several things.  As a bonus we got a quick spinning wheel demonstration, and met someone really pleasant. Plus, oh my gosh, the fibers. The fibers!


Plus, now we own a mini-lathe,  so I can do some really high speed spinning.    Har har.  (Seriously though, I've been going to bed thinking of making drop spindles and waking up thinking of making chip carved turning bowls for the supported spindles I'm saving up for.)


Anyway.


Fiber.


I left a bag of it on the couch and President Nixon was there in a flash, kneading away, with the biggest, happiest cat smile.  Truly, that must be the real way to make neps.


Ok, wait, back to fiber.   Honestly, that's where I've been trying to go this whole time!

I promised way back when I bought my first Phat Fiber box that I would write more about each little sample.  It's fun for me to flex my writing-about-things muscles, and maybe it will point one or two people towards shops with their dream fibers/stitch markers/patterns.   Win-win.

This is getting wordy, so I will keep it to the feeble amount I have spun so far.

Yeti Wears a Party Hat

Merino, faux angora, banana fiber, angelina, mohair, BL X, cashmere, nylon, sari silk, firestar 

This is a very funky batt!   It was a sample from Atomic Blue,  and when I first saw it I felt something similar to panic.   I barely know how to spin, and here was a batt that looked like it might fight back.   But in the end, it was very educational!   Some of the fibers I couldn't place, but the merino, angelina, and sari silk were all pretty easy to peg.   Now I'm not scared to spin the merino I've bought.   Or, less scared.  Yay! (Why would I be scared to spin merino but not alpaca? I don't know!)

Home grown Natural Colored Kid Mohair  locks from Farmgirl Chic

These are unbelievably soft.   I wasn't sure what to do with them, so I took just one (1!!) lock and spread it out over some (about 1/4 oz.) coopworth roving.  A little went a long way, and the yarn it made was, well, worth making!  I like that they were pretty long, which meant instead of just flopping out of the yarn, in little sections, I could easily, much more easily than I expected, incorporate it with the roving.

The end result.

"Spring Peepers" 100% alpaca fiber, locally raised, from FiberDiversions 

According to Lisa the way she prepares her fibers makes the small bits fall off.  Sadly, I don't have enough experience with alpaca (yet) to really vouch one way or another.  I will say that even though I'm a beginner, I was able to spin my finest yarn, yet:





Mmm...soft and silky 3 ply!