More ALPACA...

So i finally got to spin up a small skein of this scrumptious chocolate Alpaca i carded yesterday.

I experimented around a bit with different whorl sizes,speeds and yarn thickness.

I ended up with a very nicely balanced two ply with a wpi of 9 ,worsted. The color is just amazing, a deep ,rich ,dark chocolate.Yummy!

first i was a little disappointed about the feel of the yarn, i imagined it softer.

So i soaked it in warm water for a few minutes(with a little fabric softener) , squeezed it dry in a towel and whacked it against the counter a few times.And Bingo!! now it's the way i thought it would feel: very soft, no 'prickle effect ' on the skin and a nice drape. The yarn is light and fluffy, like a cloud but really strong ,i cant just break a strand between my hands, i have to cut it.

Yes, i think I'll be working a lot with Alpaca in the future, and why not? It is a lot easier to process than most sheep wool, is softer than merino(it has been compared to cashmere) and the price per pound is comparable or less than for most sheep wool ( at least on e-bay). It'll take me a while to process all this fiber, i got about 10 pounds in assorted colors (still looking for a good deal for a white fleece on e-bay).After I'm done washing and carding all of this i will offer some of it in my shop but i will safe a good chunk for myself, i really would like to spin enough up to use for weft for a big size shawl i can wrap myself into on cold winter nights (or days ).Maybe a variegated yarn with all the colors in it.

Next I'll be turning my attention to the fawn colored fleece,stay tuned...

Pretty Shuttle

I piddled around with the saw and sander this morning and made this very pretty Stick Shuttle:



of course i immediately put it in my etsy shop :)
It's 16" long and has a bevelled edge so it can be used to beat in the weft too.
I'll make some more in different lengths in the course of this week but should someone want one , let me know and I'll make one for you.
I'll also make some inkle shuttles and I'll experiment with a rag shuttle design.
Fortunately we have oodles and oodles of these beautiful cedar boards left so i wont be running out of material soon.

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 :)