Wednesday, August 1, 2007

OOh OOh But there is still more!


I am currently participating in MS3. I love it and am totally inspired by it. I have purchased Melanie's Hanami and plan to spin my own yarn. I have about 15 pounds of merino in the grease that was brought home for me from Australia by Marguerite, a fellow nurse, about 15 years ago. She was a particularly ballsy, if uninformed, person and went directly to the exporter at the wharf. She told him what she wanted and he apparently was so blown away that he let her select whatever. She didn't have a clue about fleeces, but brought me home lovely stuff. Contrary to what you might read, it cleans up really nicely even now, no "hardening" of the grease. So - I washed the locks individually today and they have turned out quite nicely. I plan to blend this with cashmere raw fleece I bought years ago to spin, inspired by a garter stitch crayon colored scarf at a Maiden Lane boutique in San Francisco. (Well, THAT never happened.) And I plan to include some cultivated silk top and one ounce of a merino-silk-angora roving my sister bought for me from Woodland Woolworks years ago (what was I supposed to do with that?)
I have spun a sample, space dyed it and knit it up. A little too pink for me - I want more white spaces! This is supposed to commemorate cherry blossoms and I plan to give it to my dear cousin who works at the FAA in Washington!
And now about my carder - it is a Clemes and Clemes. Well worn, I have used it for everything from lincoln and adult mohair to the aforementioned merino, as well as for silk and angora. With careful determination, you can card ANYTHING!
Tomorrow about fine tuning my wheel!

1 comment:

Cary ~ My Wool Mitten at Serenity Farms said...

Hi, I found your blog from the Hanami kal blog...and am totally awestruck at your washed, carded, spun and dyed sample!!! WOW! It is lovely!

I'm going to be cheering you on as you work on this project (I am a fellow spinner and knitter!) You can see my blog at http://www.serenity-farms.blogspot.com if you would like to take a look.

Cary at Serenity Farms (P.S. Your rose is so pretty, too!)