Fibers West Show

Today we had a field trip to Abbotsford for the Fiberfest West Show. Look what I bought!

Starting from the top left:
- 4oz. Merino/SoySilk (multi-colored)
- 1lb Raw Polworth fleece (white)
- 100grams 80% Romney 20% Possum (dark brown/grey)
- 1.75oz. Firestar (sparkly!)
- 80grams Soysilk (natural)
- 3oz. Mohair locks (purple/red)
- 4oz. Adult Mohair locks (blue/purple)
- 4oz. Viscose Rayon (white)

The show is on until tomorrow/Saturday. Check the website for details!

wow!

It's amazing what happens when you actually follow the directions!
As you remember from this post, the fleece was quite dirty. Not as dirty as some of the fleeces I have seen, and also, not as white and fluffy as it is now!!!!

The method I used was:

-Fill sink with SUPER hot water (make sure you have gloves)
-Add a squeeze of dish soap
-Add fleece
-Do NOT man handle
-Let it sit for about 20mins (don't let the water go cold)
-Take out fleece (or use a another sink)(try not to let the water run on the fleece, this could lead to felting)
-Drain and add fresh SUPER hot water
-Let fleece soak for about 15mins (again, don't let it get cold)

I found it somewhere online and unfortunately I don't remember where so I can't credit the person. I can't wait to spin this Shetland fleece and also dye it. I just can't decide if I want to dye it as it is, or spin it first. I might do both :)

I also washed some Alpaca that Jana traded me using the same above method and it worked fairly well, but I think I should have opened up the locks a little better

Before:After:
I also think a few runs through the drum carder will help as well.

I am so impressed!

As you read a few posts back, I purchased 2lbs of Shetland fleece from Serenity Sheep Woolens on Etsy. Well, it arrived today! It came a lot sooner than I had planned! (I was expecting early or mid next week) So you can imagine my surprise when I opened up the mailbox and saw a key waiting for me! The thought ran through my mind that it could have been one of my swap packages from Craftster, but none of my partners told me they mailed their items. So, like a giddy little girl I grabbed the key and bent over to unlock the larger mailbox and found this:

(minus the kitty... hehe)

Right away I checked the label to get a clue of the contents that may be inside... and I was right!I grabbed the nearest sharp thing, which luckily was scissors! and opened up this bad boy!It was jammed packed in there! I was surprised when I pulled it out, and fluffed it up a little that this "tiny" little box (15-1/2"x11"x5-1/2") held 2lbs of fleece!!

(12" ruler for size comparisson)

And a crappy picture of the staple length for good measure. (no pun intended! lol)
This fleece is surprisingly clean! The first raw fleece I ever received was sooooooo (x10) greasy I still haven't de-lanolin-ized it (yes I just created a new word ;) lol) (I've written about it in one of my drum carding posts) But, this one! Beautiful! I can't wait to clean it up, dye it and spin it! Thank you Serenity Sheep Woolens!!!!

i've gone batt crazy!

Last night I drum carded 23 - 0.5 ounce (average) batts of llama fleece. I couldn't believe it when I counted them at the end. It definitely didn't FEEL like 23 batts! haha

"Calle"

(I'm still trying to work on my picture quality. I don't have a lot of light in my house.)

The fiber is titled "Calle" because that is the name of the llama. The color is absolutely beautiful! It is a medium brown with some cinnamon highlights. I have spun some of this fiber up already, and it is so soft! I think I started with approx. 1 pound of fiber.

I also have 2 more pounds of llama fiber (from two different llamas). One of the fleeces is already 3/4 spun ("Wreckless"), and the other is still in the bag, from when I bought it. The last fleece ("DeNiro") has not been washed, though I have read that you don't have to with llama, so I might skip this step for this fleece. The three fleeces came from a couple I know that own a local llama farm.