Into the Stash

...The fiber stash, of course. Here's where I take you through all the yummy fluffy stuff hiding in their little bins in my room! I've got so much lovely fluff, in such gorgeous colors, that it surely deserves a post of its own.

Plant Fibers

Cotton
I actually have two kinds of cotton... raw, ginned cotton, which is waiting on carding, and processed, beautician's cotton coil. Unfortunately, my mom's wool cards won't work for all its veggie matter and fine little fibers, so we need cotton cards before this can get to ready-to-spin condition. There's a whole pound of it, though!

It's... kind of dirty to spin.

There's also almost a pound of the beautician's cotton, which is essentially just a really long cotton ball. Still, the fibers are all neatly aligned and best of all, there's no vegetable matter! Just soft, clean, white cotton. Check it out, that's some well-packed stuff.

Hemp
In the pursuit of something to spin which was neither as warm as wool or as finnicky as cotton, I found flax, and hemp. This is Ashland Bay hemp, mentioned in my prior post "Projects," with a staple length of about 6-8". The flax fibers, however, are three feet long. So, hemp won out! It's an interesting fiber, with no memory or bounce and some serious twist tolerance. In other words, it'll drape, but not stretch. We - my mother and myself - have dyed it blue-green, hence the gorgeous color! It's our first attempt at dyeing, and not a bad one at all, if I do say so myself. It's spinning up in a very mild variegation of its main shade. I've also found I can only really spin it from the fold, which is my preferred technique anyway, so I don't mind. It'll be great for spinning on the beach!


Superwash Wools & Blends


Cupcake Fiber Co's "Rouge"
I mentioned this one in "Projects" too, and how much my Lark and I loved it. Look at it. No wonder about the name, doesn't it look good enough to eat?

No, seriously, look closer! It's like candy for your fingers. Mmmmmm.

I must not put the fiber in my mouth, I must not put the fiber in my mouth...

Mad Color Fiber Arts' "Tempest"
This is another one I enjoy very much, although the blend and colorway don't appear on the website just now. Suffice it to say that the blend is beautiful, the colors are deep, vibrant and true, and it spins easily and smoothly. I love this fiber.

My first substantial spindle-spun skein!

Sheep Shed Studio's Superwash
These folks do a great job. I've talked with Carol, who runs the studio, and she's just fabulous. I'm not the only one who thinks so; since about June, they've been hard pressed to keep up with all the orders coming in! Still, I've got some of my best fiber from her. Beautiful, beautiful stuff - I've got the colors "mallard" and "copper" from her listings, plus a special bonus heather she tossed in for me. It's soft, but strong; actually, what comes to mind is a particular commercial for toilet paper, wherein a wife tosses her husband three rolls - one that poofs into downy fluff, one that scrapes the hair off the side of his head, and one "just right." This is "just right" fiber, folks. :)


Natural Wools


Paradise Fibers' "Black Welsh"
It's a lovely fiber, very lofty and soft... although there are quite a few guard hairs. I don't think I'll buy it again, but it'll be great as a felted bag! It was worthwhile as a learning experience, too.


Paradise Fibers' "Light Gray Suffolk"
There are WAY too many guard hairs to tell whether this is a nice fiber or not... which makes me a little sad. If anyone has a suggestion for uses for hairy fibers, do please let me know!


Sheep Shed Studio's Mill Ends & Mohair
I love this wool! Their mill ends are every bit as fabulous as their superwash. Perfect for learning; I went through about half of my pound of white wool practicing drafting and experimenting with plying and twist, and it worked with me wonderfully. Plus, because it was natural wool, I could felt my lesser attempts. But never my very first yarn! I would recommend this to any and every beginner!

My very first yarn! It's thick and thin and WAY overspun,
but I love it and I'm still really proud.

As for the mohair... it's very soft and silky, but I've been unable to spin it well as of yet. I'm sure all it'll take is practice, so I'll keep trying.


Two By Two Alpacas' "Shaylee"
This fiber is simply gorgeous... It's only the seconds from the fleece (that's the slightly-less-soft-and-desirable stuff, for my non-fiber folks) but it's still heaven to the touch and beautiful. The fiber is from an alpaca named Shaylee, and if you follow the link above and click "alpacas" on the sidebar, you can see Shaylee! Her profile is second from the bottom. Unfortunately, I can't really spin it (yet?) because something about it makes my hands and eyes itch... I'm hoping it's just some kind of dust, because I'd hate to have to miss out on the world of soft, yummy alpaca fiber!


West Elm Farm's Romney
This was my first experience with real "sheepy" wool... It still had some lanolin in it, and smelled a bit of the barnyard. It taught me about different staple lengths and how to draft for a lofty, "woolen" yarn. It's a carded prep as opposed to combed, and more of a web than a roving... it's suited well to a rustic yarn, and felts slowly but very very well. The yarn below, spun during spring semester of this year, became a lovely felted winter cloche hat. It even repels water! The rest of this fiber is destined for something special... What, I'm not sure, but I'm sure it'll tell me when it's time.

Romney two-ply, next to a millspun worsted weight yarn
and with a quarter for scale.

Romney Cross
I bought two pounds of this fiber at New Hampshire Sheep & Wool, but neglected to take note of the shop. Bad fiber nerd. It felt strong and soft, and it's a lovely cafe-au-lait color, from caramel to cream. But, when I tried to spin lace with it, it objected! This is a much coarser fiber than I've worked with before. It's taught me that not all fiber that feels soft will spin up soft... which is kind of a tough lesson, since I've got two pounds of it now! Still, it's much more pleasant to work with spun thick, so I've been experimenting with spinning it on a homemade navajo spindle. Maybe it'll make a nice throw rug? Or even a lined cloak... Hmm...


Patch Sheep's Corriedale
It's down to the last of my fibers, and this one's my very own special project. It's a whole raw fleece, purchased at New Hampshire Sheep & Wool for just $10 per pound. It's worth every penny, and more. Way more, actually. I'm of the opinion they mixed up the fleeces; this jet black wool is very fine and crimpy, and very very soft. It's in great condition. I washed it cold to leave the lanolin in, so it conditions our hands while we work with it... I should add that I wash it, my mother picks and cards it, and then I spin it. It's already made a sample skein of laceweight yarn, that's simply beautiful. I could make anything with it. Really, anything.



It's the creative Taoist's dilemma: to choose the literal Uncarved Block...

"The essence of the Uncarved Block is that things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, power that is easily spoiled and lost when that simplicity is changed."

...or the experience in life which comes from doing things.

Exactly three guesses which one I normally choose. 

If you'd like a preview of the reason behind the blog name, you can look here for a quick, down-to-earth synopsis of Taoism, using the characters of Winnie the Pooh. The post with relevant explanations and quirky anecdotes is in the works for the coming weeks.

"When facing a single tree, if you look at a single one of its red leaves, you will not see all the others. When the eye is not set on one leaf, and you face the tree with nothing at all in mind, any number of leaves are visible to the eye without limit. But if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there."  -Takuan Soto