Roving Rug II

Further prep for the roving rug.  We will need some nice bulky yarn to weave an inch or so at either end of the two rugs we will be making.  I've used Clun Forest (of course), and fairly quickly made up a 3-ply to do the job.  It's certainly pleasant/fast to be spinning thick singles and then plying 3 of them, probably into the 'bulky to super bulky' range.

The finished skein

It's certainly quite different to my current (and fairly normal) 1.8oz 160 yard skein.  This one is 2.2oz and 30 yards!  I have a little left on the bobbins, so will probably get another 10 yards - which will allow 4 yards used at each end of the two rugs.

Roving Rug

As preparation for making a rug from Clun Forest roving - I've converted some batts into roving.  The trick will be to keep it relatively consistent so that the roving (used as weft) will be fairly even.  I think a couple of shots of roving and then a couple of the standard 2-ply yarn to tie it all together should do.  I'll also have to make some nice bulky yarn for weaving the start and finish.  I already have the warp linen as I bought plenty prior to weaving the rag rug.

Here's a couple of rolls of roving (3 batts each).  As I/we get more consistent at making the roving I'll measure how long each batt becomes in the process.  With that we can then calculate how much roving we will need for an X by X rug.  We have no shortage of either batts or flick carded locks ready for the drum carder, and this will be a great way of converting the large number of bags of wool we have in the cupboard into something we can use.

Two rolls of CF roving

Spinning Alpaca

I'm taking a break from spinning Clun Forest for a while, and decided that I may as well spin the Alpaca roving I bought in Taupo over a year ago.  I have two lots; one from an alpaca named 'Chocolate' and one from 'Cairo'. Both lots are about 320g of wool.

I've been spinning a fairly lightweight 2-ply yarn which works out to about 50g per skein and about 170 yards in length, so it will make approx 12 skeins and about 2000 yards.  That should be at least two scarves (maybe 3 when I do the full maths).  I'm thinking of one as herringbone, and the other as a bird's eye (same tie up and threading - just different treadling on the loom).

3 skeins completed so far - and I'll be working at these for a while but as the next project on the loom is a roving rug, and then some linen place mats I have time.

Chocolate (center), and Cairo skeins

Blue Ribbon

Spent a very pleasant day yesterday at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in West Friendship, MD.  http://www.sheepandwool.org/ We had planned to spend the whole day at the show because we had to pick up the two entries that had been mailed off before we went to St Louis last week, after 4:30.

We took a slow walk through the sheep to shawl competition area - meeting up with one of my third Thursday spinning members before we headed for the competition room.  Right there on the front table was my scarf - a blue ribbon award and also best scarf in show.  A great start, but then on to the skein table and another pleasant surprise that my skein was also a first place blue ribbon with 96 out of 100 points.  Both items had some very favourable comments, I guess I am the only one that actually sees all the little mistakes and blemishes.

Both entries.

The 1st prizes were worth $15 each and the special award also came with a little silver scarf clasp - hand made by an artist Leslie Wind www.lesliewind.com who may have had a stall at the show, but we didn't notice as we were too busy looking out for wool/fiber bargains at the many many stalls

We came away with some Lincoln top, some samples of bleached silk (to blend with CF), bamboo, and some cotton - the latter two just to try out spinning the different fibers, and finally a little Jacob wool (the black and white variety) - this one just very black.  So with the prize money and the money for my first scarf (which I sold today), we're slightly ahead!

I won't give up my day job just yet though!!