Roving in the Wind

Good morning Friends!  I just wanted to take a minute to draw your attention to our "farm products" blog, in case you didn't know about it.  It's listed in the side bar of this blog over on the right, or you can click on this link to go to it My Wool Mitten.  It's just a separate place where we can list items produced here on the farm that are available for purchase, when we have them.

Right now, the only thing we have to offer is some lovely white roving from a Corriedale ewe "Hannah", raised here on the farm and processed at Zeilingers Mill in Frankenmuth, so a completely Michigan product!  It's a lovely spin, so check it out if you're interested.  You can also email me at serenityfarmswool at yahoo dot com if you have any questions.

If you happen to be visiting here after watching The Woolen Homestead podcast, welcome and thank you Tiffany and Ethan for the shout out.  If you haven't already, check them out - they're so much fun and so talented!  They dye some amazing yarn colors

From A Sheep To A Sock, Next Part

(First I want to reply to the comments left for the last post and say thank you for leaving them!  To my friend Susan, on a day like I've had today I think I could easily be persuaded to trade in the farm!  And Emily, so nice to hear from you and yes, I would be happy to share how I prepare a fleece from start to finish at home for sock spinning - maybe that could be a "July Series"?  Jody, your spinning is so lovely I think you could surely teach me a thing or two!!! How fine did you spin Elizabeth's 3-ply?  As much as I love a long wavy fleece (like Francie's) for socks, a tightly crimped fleece makes a wonderful sock yarn, too, just different ;)  And Joanne you would love this roving - its much darker than the photo shows but it has so much shine (don't you think Susan?)  And the pillow is one of a vintage set I got at the Maple Valley Farm Shop a month or so ago!)

The next step for me in spinning for sock yarn is to find a comfy spot to do my sample spin.  If you're lucky enough to have a back porch that looks out across the garden, farm and sheep pasture for inspiration that's truly a joy!  A helpful farm cat companion is another plus.  So I finish the supper dishes, pour a cup of coffee and settle down on the porch.

I have three spinning wheels, but I still go back so often to my old standby Louet S17.  My Mom, who is gone now, painted the sheep on it for me and I love it.  I can spin from lace to bulky with little effort.  In this case, you might notice the grey wool already on the bobbin.  That's because I find it helpful for spinning a finer single on the Louet if the bobbin is partially full.  I'm only going to be spinning a one ounce sample so have plenty of room here.  Remember the pictures of the two samples from the last post, one ounce each?  I'll spin one to make a 2-ply sample and one to do a 3-ply.  My default spin seems to be a light sportweight.

In this photo, I've pulled a little of the single back from the bobbin and let it twist back on itself to give me an idea of how my 2-ply will look.  Notice the helpful companion cat is not impressed, nor has she moved much from the last shot!  I might mention here that for this small amount, I'll spin the full ounce onto the bobbin, let it sit at least overnight then I'll wind it off into a center pull ball and ply it from that.  I like the results I get from plying from a center pull ball.  I'm not sure if its mechanically correct or not, but that works for me (in small amounts)  Larger amounts tangle to much, so I would use two bobbins and ply together onto a third.

Tomorrow I'll show you pictures of the finished 2-ply yarn and the sample swatch I knit.  And if I can find the notes I was so careful to make I'll be able to tell you how many yards I got from each sample - ugh - where did those notes go?!?

 

LIMITED EDITION Silver Shadows Roving

A few weeks ago I was cleaning up my fiber room (ummmm, maybe I should call it the "fiber house" - there is fiber and yarn in nearly every room, LOL!) Anyway, as I gathered some things together I found a fair amount of grey Alpaca and both white and silver French angora bunny. I knew I had a bit of silver Corriedale already washed that I had kept from our ewe, Mary. Throw in some dehaired Pygora and I had enough to take with me to Zeilingers for processing into roving!

Because the fibers were already washed, turn around time was short and I got the call last Friday that it was ready for pickup. It is lovely, but I don't need it all so am offering one pound of it FOR SALE here. For some reason I can't get a page loaded on my website, and that is why you find this roving listed here at the blog.

SILVER SHADOWS ~ Silver Corriedale, grey Alpaca, Pygora and Angora! Spinning this is a real joy, watching the light reflect back the subtle shading of the fiber as it moves through your hands like a shadowy mist. This is a very textural roving*, easy to spin lofty and bulky or fine and ethereal (see photo below) ~ many options for this beauty, but only a small amount (one pound) available. $2 per ounce (minimum purchase of 2 ounces, please) or $28 for the entire pound plus shipping. I imagine this would overdye beautifully!


* The alpaca used in this blend was a grey fiber boy with some guard hair and the French Angora (both grey and white) were older guys with considerable guard hairs, so while a soft and lovely end product please be aware that there are guard hairs present in this roving

UPDATE 2/27/09 ~ The roving is SOLD, thank you to all who inquired!