Lemongrass

Yum, lemongrass! This months theme for the Phat Fiber Sample Box is Spice Market. Now for some reason, I really pondered this one for awhile, I could only think of my everyday favorites and they are all tones of brown, it seemed like they might be too obvious a choice as well. I love cinnamon, vanilla, cayenne, clove, nutmeg...then I remembered my favorite green tea with lemongrass, perfect choice as I have been feeling the green lately! The hand pulled roving is a blend of Corriedale in bright chartreuse, creamy bamboo, delicious citron Angelina and another layer of Corriedale in moody, bruised green tones. The colors were layered individually on my drum carder, so when I pulled the roving, rich veins of color run along the length. I'll have them (full and sample size) in the shop soon, the beautiful Citron Angelina is already available. (Look carefully if ordering, I also have Lemon Zest Angelina, which is nice too. In the pictures the colors look very close, but the citron has a definite chartreuse glow. I'm making myself a wig out of it, hehehe...no I really am, giggle, just as soon as I get my top hat!)

Have a wonderful weekend! Blessings Friends!
Melissa

New Fiber Goodies

I added some extra special, fiber goodies this week, my all time favorite sparkle add in, Silver Hologram Angelina!


Plus some new long Teeswater locks dye up in some new color palettes, this one is Stone Moss.


This is Orchid.

I hope you have a delightful weekend, I hope we have good sunny weather. Blessings Friends!

Melissa

Fleece Sorting And Scouring Season Has Begun!

My favorite season, spring, and of course shearing time! I'm so pleased because this year things in the fleece skirting/sorting arena have gotten even better. I started out using old window screens to lay out my fleeces and sort them and getting the fiber ready to scour. This worked nicely for a number of years, then last year I got a look at my friends skirting table and decided I needed more room to skirt/sort my fleece too. So I picked up this nice large screen on sale at a local home improvement store. In the past I balanced it between two lawn chairs and spread out my fleece to skirt/sort. But this year I have these wonderful drying racks, complements of my friend Jan. (Thanks Jan!) They work perfectly, the screen and the racks were made for one another! I especially like the flexibility, I can work standing up or adjust it lower if I want to sit. This makes a long process quite a bit more comfortable.


Ooo, look at this gorgeous fleece! So pretty and clean I hardly had to do anything to it, and it came clean in one wash and rinse! I still have my smaller screens, which I can use for drying my fleece and something even more convenient, if I get to a stopping point and I'm not finished with the fleece, I place another screen on top and I can easily transport the fiber safely back into the garage. Saving me from disrupting the fleece, and it makes for a quick set up when I want to get working on the fleece again. All of these items are really compact and portable, another bonus.


Here's a close up of the beautiful fleece I was working on when these pictures were taken, stunning right! I already did a little test spin on my spindle, beautiful! I plan on blending this with alpaca and some other goodies.

Have a great weekend! Blessings Friends!
Melissa

Fiber Play

You may remember these batts I carded up for myself awhile back, Harbinger of Spring, well I finally got a chance to spin them up! I've been doing a lot of spinning this week and I'm lovin it! Between spinning and plying, my trusty Lendrum, Mirabella, has been getting a real work out. We both needed the exercise!!!


I spun those batts into a thick and thin single, which I auto plied with a fine cream colored silk strand, then I plied it into this super coil yarn, I had a blast playing with the coils! This worked out to be 4.25 ounces/35.5 yards/Mondo-Bulky 4 wpi.

I've given myself a little more me time this week, spinning just for fun and reading, I hope you will remember to pencil in a little time to nurture your creative spirit too!

Have a wonderful weekend! Blessings friends!
Melissa