Something Old, Something New...

Hi everyone! As you may have noticed it has been a while since my last post. This was primarily due to exam season and all of my creative energy being focused on my essays. But its all done now! I have complete my undergrad! Yippee!

With my undergrad completed I now have more time to focus on my spinning, knitting and overall fiber artwork. As a graduation present I received the best present a spinner could ask for from my mother: a spinning wheel!

I am in love! Here is a picture of my lovely Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel (I need to do a proper photo shoot for it). I was able to get it used from a fellow spinner in London. It is 20+ years old but it works wonderfully. 

My lovely Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel

I have been trying all kinds of fiber combinations out on the wheel, including alpaca. Yes that's right, I have finally begun spinning my alpaca roving! It was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be.

Alpaca - Merino blend from Silver Cloud Alpaca Farm

My most recently spun yarn is a 100% merino wool in beautiful blues and purples. It is a two ply yarn and the colours are absolutely lovely. My spinning wheel has been invaluable and has significantly cut down on the time it takes to produce a skein. The size of the skeins that I can produce on a spinning wheel in contrast to a drop spindle are much larger. Altogether my spinning wheel has been one of the best gifts I have ever received.

Fresh off the wheel! I haven't event taken it off the bobbin yet!

Stay tuned for more blog posts! Is there a specific topic you want me to cover in my next post? If so let me know in the comment section below! Happy Spinning!

Alpaca Your Bags!

Hi everyone! So its been a while since my last blog post (the life of a university student gets exhausting this time of year). I have been playing with some beautiful Sweet Georgia BFL top, and made a nice 2-ply yarn (haven't had a chance to do photos yet, next post!) As I slowly get better at plying on my drop spindle (thanks to my DIY Lazy Kate!) I grow less scared of spinning my lovely alpaca roving that I purchased in February. 

Here I am at the Silver Cloud Alpaca Farm, it was a lovely sunny day!

In February I visited the Silver Cloud Alpaca Farm where I not only got to make friends with over 50 alpacas but was able to purchase the LOVELIEST alpaca roving. I have yet to spin it. Maybe its because of my busy schedule, but its more likely that I don't yet feel confident enough to spin a luxury fiber. 

The Ladies of the farm. 

I have been spinning primarily Merino and BFL (Blue Faced Leicester) fiber, which is lovely but not as luxurious as alpaca fiber. I have the bags of roving siting untouched in my yarn box. I'm hoping with more practice I can add alpaca fiber to my list of roving I feel confident spinning.

Such cuties!

Fun Facts! 

Alpaca produce fleece in more than 22 different colours

Alpaca fiber is hypoallergenic

Alpaca fiber is much warmer than your average sheep