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Friday, February 25, 2011

Hitchhiker spinning wheel

This is my new to me Spinning Wheel, it is called a "Hitchhiker". This is a small portable model made to take with you when you travel. I'm still adjusting and finding out how to work it, shown are two sample yarns I've done as I'm learning how to use this wheel.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Sharing Pic of my latest handspun

Hi, I've been real busy this week on vacation at home, found out I'm going to be a great Auntie (again), have family moving out of town soon, and little time for spinning... however I did manage to find time to make these two very different Art Yarns the black and white one is a natural colored yarn from my sisters Jacob sheep which have big patches of white and black, wish I would have taken pictures of the whole washing and carding process. The wool had quite a bit of spring to it.
The second handspun yarn is a green blend embelished with tensil strips, fiber wraps and curls. A nice soft blend of wool and Alpaca. I don't think the camera/moniters do it justice, very nice color combos.


Preludes to Handspun Yarn ~ The Raw Fleece


Of course, just because my sister has rare breeds of sheep and grants me access to wonderful fleeces doesn't mean I limit my adventures to the local availability. Here is some raw fleece I bought online and have a few pictures so far of picking thru the raw fleece and washing, it is now hung to dry so later I will have more pics of carding and possibly dyeing then spinning and finally off to sell on Etsy or Ebay. Mind you I am very new at all of this so it may not seem just the way others would do it, I'm still learning....

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Arlenes handspun Stash

Just over checking out her hand made handpun novelty yarn stash....what do you think?

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Blacksheep Gathering

The Blacksheep Gathering In Eugene,Ore is this summer in June. Arlene, Stephanie and I are planning on driving down for it. There are spinning classes, ravlery meet ups, fiber and sheep for sale there. It sounds like a real fun art fair to go to. Let me know if you are planning on going or have been before. I heard the rooms are getting booked up like crazy already.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Ok So I just made 3 Skeins today..

Yeah, the day I was supposed to be enjoying with my boyfriend went slightly awry, after a nice lunch together I managed to get him outside busy with his friends and he even thought it was his idea... lol... don't tell em... So I managed to spin up 3 new skeins :} The first one I really needed to see how the new curls were going to look actually spun into the fiber and I like it!
Then I needed to spin up some small samples of colored Merino rovings bought on Ebay. They were thin rovings like pencil rovings, multicolored and I spun them with soft patches of Mohair fibers swirled around in random puffs and spots. I still need to wash and dry that one to see the final yarn, but so far it looks very soft and thin, thinner than most of the handspuns I've done so far, but very pretty.

So many fibers ... so little time .. :}

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Is Spining wool and fiber an addiction?

Hi All,
Just a note .. my boyfriend wants to spend the day with me tommorrow on my day off going to the movies and hanging out together.. Would you consider it an addiction if all I wanted to do was spin more yarn? Would he notice if I brought my hand carders to the theater? he he,
Ran home from work today and snuck my purchase of raw Alpaca fiber to Arlenes house for her to "help" me wash it... well we know who washed it. :} Anyways she did a great job, and I will spread it out to dry tommorrow next to her mohair. Can't hardly wait to see how it cards up!
I've been trying to think of how to best promote my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/RhodaBear and have put in some classified adds. If any of you reading know of some good "cheap" advertising please email me and let me know.
Happy Knitting and Spinning to all of you for now,
TTYL,
Rhoda :}

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Pics of kettle dyeing wool, carding, drying and fiber dyes






More Pics of handspun yarn





Im so glad my sister Arlene has taught me to spin this wonderful fun yarn, you can see her blogspot here http://wildwoolfarm.blogspot.com/

Not enought Time to Spin!

Hi,
Just a bit frustrated right now, learning this cool hobby spinning wool into yarn and now no time to actually spin and do it! Agghh :} Yeah I know I'm new at blogging and spinning, but I thought a few of you would like to see some of my creations, I've acutally impressed myself since I've never been much creative or artistic.
My sister Arlene is showing me how to spin, and how to card by hand and a crank carder. I usually do a thick and thin, bulky type yarn. Sometimes adding locks or sheep curls. I've learned so far I really like soft fibers and long fibers. It is harder to spin the shorter fibers. I'll add pics so you can check out new yarns as they come along. My Etsy shop is found here http://www.etsy.com/shop/RhodaBear