Peachy keychains

On June 21, 2023June 18, 2023 By CarynIn Craft

I recently created a PDF pattern for a local yarn shop. It is the owner’s pattern, but they needed it taken from written shorthand to a sharable PDF. It is a cute little peachy amigurumi, and in testing the pattern, I made up 6 little peaches.

The pattern is by Anniewhere at NerdCraft. I’m very excited about the wool yarn I used for the body of the peach, because it was locally spun and dyed by Texas Prairie Fiber Co. I love using locally produced supplies! The leaves I made from my own handspun yarn, that I spun from Blue Faced Leicester and silk blended roving dyed by Frabjous Fibers. This turned out to be quite the collaborative project.

I did make each one into a keychain by sewing on some chain and attaching a split ring. I used hand-spun alpaca scraps from a naturally brown alpaca (Aimee) to sew on the chain. So each peach has a little brown stem.

New skills

On March 1, 2023February 27, 2023 By CarynIn Craft, dog

Kicking a ball while combing alpaca fiber

Thanks to Missy (IAB (Identified At Birth) dog) , I am learning new skills. I can now kick a ball while combing out alpaca fiber. I started singing and she thinks that is my signal I want to throw the ball (laughter also prompts her to bring someone a ball, hmm). My hand were full of combs, but my feet were available to send the ball in various directions. She was quite disappointed when I started to spin and both hands and feet were busy.

Taming static

On February 8, 2023 By CarynIn Craft

I’m getting back to my alpaca combing and spinning project, but last time I delved in it was summer and relatively humid. In the depths of winter there is far less moisture in the air and the static build up during combing was driving me up a wall. Luckily, Spin Off magazine has an article on this very problem, with first hand recommendations from many long-time spinners. The majority just use a spritz of water to calm with electrical surge. Hm. I dug out another glasses cleaning spray bottle (I do seem to have an unending supply of these), and filled it with water. It works wonders. The mist is very fine, so it doesn’t take much, and the fibers are happy and free rather than a staticky mess.

Taming combing static with a mist of water

The waiting shawl

On October 10, 2022October 6, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

I am calling this my waiting shawl, since I knitted it while waiting. Waiting in the car rider line, waiting in the doctor’s office, waiting in the parking lot. It feels like I’ve been waiting forever, but I’ve only been knitting for six months. I started spinning the fiber over a year ago, though. So. This is made from fiber from Sugar Plum the alpaca, washed, carded, and hand-spun with a drop spindle and some on my upcycled bicycle spinning wheel. The knit pattern is yarn over, purl two together, both front and back, with knit stitches on the edges to get the stripes vertical

Finished knitting draped over the steering wheel because the car is where most of the work was done

The amazing thing about this shawl happened when I did a light wash and blocked it. First, there was still quite a bit of dust in the yarn that came out in the wash. Second, when I blocked it, it doubled in size. All the lace holes opened up, evened out and expanded. Wow. It made my spinning seem much more even. I’ll take it.

Combing alpaca

On October 5, 2022 By CarynIn Craft

I decided to try my new wool combs with the alpaca fleece that I washed and dried a year ago. I love them! Combing removes so much more vegetable matter and short cuts than carding. The fibers pulled off the comb are light and airy and beautifully aligned. I do get much more waste; I’m putting that in a bag to put out for nesting material for the squirrels and birds. I was going to comb all the fibers then spin, but the preparation was so fluffy I just had to spin it right away and not risk compaction in storage.

I tried spinning directly off the comb, but my skills are not that advanced yet, so I pulled off the fiber then spun on my vintage Befra Willy wheel. I now see how the yarn on a Irish tension wheel (flyer is slowed down) has to be thicker. There is more strain on the yarn and thinner yarns snap. I’m still pleased with the thickness of the yarn for multipurpose projects, but this will not be lace yarn.

Spun alpaca fiber on the bobbin of a Befra Willy wheel

Critters and Craft

Tag: alpaca