Fall Fiber Work

 With the temperatures in the valley starting to finally slip down into a more comfortable range and even some rain, I've been able to get cracking on several projects.  The highest priority was to finish the weaving on the Guild 2018 challenge bag.  That took about half a day to finish. It would have been much quicker but I had to work around a couple of minor warp problems. 

Finished the weaving, with a celebratory glass of wine!

 Once cut off the loom I ran some machine stitching across the ends and wet finished it in warm water with a little detergent.  Rinsed a couple of times and then dried flat and ironed on a hot setting under a damp cloth.

Finished and ironed.

 I went out yesterday and picked up some iron on backing and some cotton lining.  Along with some cardboard and magnets I now have everything to put it all together.

In the mean time I finished the first skein of llama wool and washed the second batch.

Drying llama locks inside under a fan.

 Once dry it takes another hour to run the lot through the drum carder (in two lots of approximately 1 oz each).  I then diz it off the drum and I end up with very easy to spin roving.

Llama roving ready to spin.

When not working on either of the above I did find time to finish another fall colors dishtowel and start another - I think 3 to go to finish the warp.  And of course there was the outside work - three wheel barrow loads of wood cut up and split and now stacked and drying, and I dug out the silt and fallen leaves from the dam so that we can pump some water up to the hot tub and get it running again.

Return from Oneida, TN

We spent a very relaxing couple of days with friends in Oneida - well almost all relaxing. There was a few hours of digging out a RZR all terrain vehicle after we managed to get it stuck in a muddy creek!

I had taken my wheel and was able to fill two bobbins of a grey romney singles.  The wool had come from an inherited stash of odds and ends and it seemed like it would be easy to spin. It was!  I was able to ply it into a skein of about 2.7 oz., 140 yards 2-ply.  I'll look at a potential weaving project using this wool and some Clun Forest white 2-ply.

Skein of NZ Romney 2-ply

Once home we did some guard hair picking and lock sorting with the llama (Moonshadow).  That resulted in 2.5 oz of white which I washed and dried.  I then ran it through the carder twice and dizzed it off the drum to produce some nice looking roving that should be a dream to spin.

Llama (Moonshadow) roving.

I've also made progress on the guild challenge project - incorporating some of the supplied hand spun yarn as a supplementary weft and one other variegated yarn into a small square (using tapestry techniques).  I'll use up more of the yarn pieces in further squares.

Guild challenge project progress.

 And finally I've also been working on more Fall colored towels - these ones with a brown weft instead of the original white.  I think my towel count is 7 (of 10), but with the trip up to Townsend and weaving up there I've lost count a bit.  I did manage to finish one and a half towels up there while still talking to visitors most of the day.