Twice in One Week

 I got up very early and hit the garage before it got too hot. I had a plan.  I had stuff and yarn that had to go.  So I now have 3 more empty boxes that I will give to John, so he can see what he has stored.  3 more large plastic tubs left the house filled with baskets that I no longer use, more yarn and jewelry display items that I no longer need. I also said goodbye to some more jewelry making supplies.  I am also sending my second drum carder to a new home because it is to big for any of my available space.   I will still keep the small carder that makes very small batts along with my hand carders. 

My end game goal is to have no more yarn or fiber in the garage at all.  In tandem I will be making a lot of new things for me so that I clear space in the house. I would ultimately like to not have fiber and yarn in the sewing / guest room either.  I know that will take some time.  It has taken me a couple of years to get to this point. So I really know it will take time.  

If anyone really wants to know. Today was all directed by me.  My family was not given a say so in what was leaving or done.  I did require some help from John, I am really not up to doing a lot of heavy lifting yet.  John did a very good job. He even got some baskets that were stored in the house out of my reach to go.  I personally suspect that he did not want me climbing to get things he can reach from the floor..

We also found things in the garage that could be recycled. So the recycling bin all 96 gallons is almost filled to the top. Somehow cleaning leads to more cleaning and organizing. 

We were out of the garage before 7:30A.M.. we were so hot we got some water and went straight to the shower before breakfast. The picture below shows what left the house today.  My friend and her daughter picked everything up after dinner.  The boxes were wider than my car.  The cardboard box had the carder in it.  

The Ugly Side of Spinning

 Don’t get me wrong, I love spinning.I find spinning very tactical and relaxing.  I love that I can have yarn that no one in the world but me can have.  I generally love playing with fleeces and carding them into batts.  I did have to give up spinning from the lock for a large project.  Although I am happy to teach people how to spin from the lock.  It’s just an arthritis thing.  I try to figure out how to do things that won’t get my hands tired super fast.  I have modified how I spin too, but it works for me.  I can still spin cob web, lace, fingering, worsted and larger weight art yarns.  It’s my play time.  So this is all good. 

This is the ugly side of spinning.  A fiber producer who won’t skirt their fleeces.  To skirt a fleece you basically take out as much vegetable matter as possible.  You also take out short cuts, the oops of shearing.  You take off the ragged ends. It’s like cleaning house, you get rid of the yuck.  Below is an example of an ugly fleece. Now it should not be an ugly fleece because it’s kid mohair from the first or second shearing of the goat.  See how the fiber is all matted, twisted and knotty…

 I actually had to get my combs out to get through this mess.  I can’t tell you how much feed I had to pull out. A lot of the knots were caused by short cuts of 1/2 inch or so.  There was also more barnyard stuff like hay then most producers allow in their dyed locks.  The combs are very sharp, think of nails. They come in pairs so the fiber can be gently combed out. It actually did not look that bad in the bag, but the store owner in the metro Phoenix area did not let anyone open the bags to check the fiber out.  I now now that this is a sign to leave the store and not look back. 

From what I combed today I filled this little blue basket. Then I decided to stop for the day so that I could weave or knit tonight. 

This is after combing.  It looks pretty good. Combing did not correct all the problems.  This small basket made one batt.  

You can see how little fiber that over flowing basket had.  This was all I could make from that one basket.

The above picture shows how much was not carded into the batt do to short cuts.  

 The above picture shows how much was unusable do to short cut of fiber. That is a business card on the side so you can see how much waste there is. From a good supplier you would not even get 25% of that mess of short cuts.   

This is not to scare you off from making your own batts, but rather a lesson in buying from business people who know what they are doing. Yes, raising goats and sheep for fiber is a business.  

The first business that I would like to recommend is WithersWool. Kathy is the lovely person who taught me to spin and lead me down the fiber rabbit hole farther then knitting alone could.  Kathy raises her own flock of Merino Sheep and Angora Goats.  She is very picky about who stays and who goes.  So she has wonderful fiber. Kathy has very love art yarn , hand spun yarn, weaving, patterns, roving and locks. Kathy even makes rug yarn bumps for those who want to weave their own rugs.  

The second business that I would like to recommend is Grandma’s Spinning Wheel. Vicky is the grandma behind Grandma’s Spinning Wheel. Vicky carries a wide range of fiber and spinning supplies. Vicky personally skirts, washes and sometimes cards each fleece that comes into her store.  Being a spinner herself she is very picky, making sure each fleece is skirted and washed properly before it is put on the sales floor.  Vicky does take special orders and can even order an Ashford Drum Carder for you.  Just for your information I use the Wild Drum Carder, which might be a special order.  Whether you order online or shop in person I’m sure you will be happy with everything that Vicky carries.

I know this is a rather long post. So I will let you go now.

I forgot to add that this is my own personal opinion. I have not been paid or given items to review.  My wonderful husband John paid for all the supplies used in this blog.  I hope that this enough for all the regulators worldwide. 

A Good Day

It was a good day today. I felt well enough to start digging the house out of mommy being sick mode. There is still a lot to catch up on but progress was made.

I also got to teach Lisa how to use a drum carder. We worked on some of the buffalo fiber her dad gave is to play with. I was amazed at the difference between the under coat and the outer fiber, which was still very course even after all the guard hair was removed.  We almost got through the first carding. I think it will take 2 or 3 more trips through the carder before we blend in the silk. 

I made a lovely vegan corn chowder for dinner. I will try to get the recipe up layer in the week.  After dinner I managed to knit 2 more hats for charity.