It's all Dave's fault!

Well, i finally got cracking on Dave's Summer of Spinning challenge.

I sorted fibers ( some of what i got stashed) Saturday and Sunday.

This is about 1/5th of what i got:

Everything from raw, unwashed fleeces to ready to spin fibers.

I picked out about 16 oz of natural colored fibers and some white washed locks which i dyed in more natural colors:

There is some baby Shetland ( soft,soft,soft), Alpaca(soft),Cotswold(for shine),silk(! 'nuff said),

and some mystery x-bred yearling fiber(merino? soft and lofty).
after dyeing and mixing and carding this is what i got:

Nice Autumny colors.

and after spinning it up on my Ashford Traveller:

two and one half bobbins of soft lace weight singles:

I've had problems with spinning thin yarns before , they came out over twisted and wiry.

I took my traveller apart a few month ago to finish it in a dark mahogany. i started but got sidetracked and quit about halfway through.So it's been sitting in the studio since before Christmas.Now with Dave's challenge i did not want to wait to finish it so i just put it back together half done:

and for some odd reason it spins so much better now, i can actually manipulate the settings where i can get a yarn that is thin but soft.Search me!!

Now for the next batch to ply with:

again some Cotswold locks i dyed copper(looks like orange but i will mix it with something darker),the x-bred fleece dyed chocolate brown,natural baby Shetland(man that stuff is soft!)

and merino in dark brown.I'll be busy with the carder for awhile.

I'm going to weave shawl or a very wide scarf (depending on how much yardage i"m going to end up with) in a 2/2 twill pattern, for : my selfish :) i hope it comes out all soft and snugly warm .

In between i pulled out some black super wash merino, mixed it with lots of recycled sari silk bits and spun that up on my Kromski Prelude:

That will make a stunning scarf!

Not sure yet what color warp I'm going to use yet. Maybe black?, or a really deep dark red?, or a very colorful variegated yarn in the colors of the silk bits?. any input greatly appreciated :).

better run, i can hear the carder calling. THANKS DAVE for getting my butt in gear !!

I've warped my Loom!!

After dreaming all night about warping and weft and yarn and heddles and reeds and....and...and...

i just had to try it today!

and it was really not that bad (what good instructions can do , thank you Deb Chandler !

I went through my yarn stash (which is really huge) and choose the most cheap yarn i could find, since this is just for practice i won't use my good yarn.

I used my warping board i made last year to measure out yarn for dyeing (and used it only once for that ). I just drilled a few more holes here and there and layed out my warp on it.

Eventually i'll have a better one but it works good right now.(notice the book right with it :)

got both warps done:

(notice again the book :)
That was really easy!

Next i sleyed the reed :

a little tedious but that was easy too !! I'm using my spinning wheel orifice hook for that,works great.

and then i threaded the heddles ,again with the orifice hook:
halfway done

finished!! :

that was not bad at all,also a bit tedious but kind of fun. I had a broken string in between but i fixed that plus i had two of the heddles that where crossed but i also fixed that(patts herself on the back )

i think im really going to like this!!!

it's now 10:30 and im going to bed, sooo tired ....

more tomorrow :)