Snail Spirals

Shaun is away this week. He's at a conference in San Diego, but that's not relevant to what I'm going to talk about. What is relevant is that Shaun is gone, and I can trash the house with as much fiber and carding stuff and spinning stuff and yarn as I want to. And I can leave it out until Saturday afternoon!

We got a sheet of plywood before he left so that I can set up the borrowed carder on the dining room table (the table has a shaped edge, so the carder won't clamp directly to it). Since he left I have carded 8 ounces of the Rambouillet x Cormo fleece, spun 5 ounces of it, plied a skein of 4-ply bulky and a skein of 3-ply worsted weight yarn using part of those singles, spun and plied 2.4 ounces of 2-ply laceweight alpaca, and knitted half a sock. All this took place on Tuesday night after Emma went to bed and Wednesday morning while she napped. I think I may have warped the space-time continuum.

I was on such a fiber high Tuesday night that I wasn't even tired when I went to bed at midnight. But I was surely tired Wednesday morning when Emma wanted to get up at 7:00. She usually sleeps at least until 7:30- why'd she have to get up early?

Anyway, here's a shot of the carding set up.



The plywood is 5'x5', so it's a nice large working surface. I just got a little scale (cheap-o model from OfficeMax), and it makes it so easy to make batts that are (approximately) the same size. I'm weighing out an ounce of washed fiber, carding it three times, attenuating it into roving, winding it into a ball, and tossing it into the large storage container. I'm having a bit of trouble with the fiber making neps because it's so crimpy, but if I card carefully it's not too bad, and they’re pretty easy to pick out when I spin. Two 1-ounce balls of roving almost fill a bobbin on my Ashford Traditional.

I initially did a 4-ply skein, but decided it was a little too heavy for the yarn I wanted for a sweater. So I switched modes, and will do the rest as a 3-ply. Here's the 4-ply:



1.8 oz., 57 yards. Nice round yarn. I'll probably make a little more 4-ply and use this for a cozy warm hat.

And here's the 3-ply:



2.3 oz., 82 yards. Haven't decided what kind of sweater this will be yet. Prolly cabled. I love cables. Both these yarns are sproingy and soft.

I also spun this skein of alpaca laceweight.



2.4 oz., 325 yds. It's not the greatest fiber, but I got it free, so who can complain? It is a mill-processed roving, and there is a lot of guard hair in it. The yarn it makes is a little scratchy, but it has a lovely drape and knits up into a springy fabric that has a nice crispness and shine. I spun quite a bit of this before I was pregnant, and started a shawl. I think this is a project that should be resumed. The pattern is the "In Love with Lace Orenburg Shawl" from Knit One Crochet Two.



As you can see, I probably have enough yarn to finish the shawl and then some. Just need to knit. Actually, I had forgotten that I'd knit so much on this. Definitely must be resumed.

And since I'm posting tons of pictures, here's one of the sock I started. Not very interesting, but there it is. Another with the hemmed cuff. The colors are pooling weirdly.