is it tomorrow yet?!

After months of waiting I just got a call from the spinning mill and MOST of my fiber is ready! I'm going to go pick up what's ready tomorrow and I'm giddy about this, it's been a long time coming and a huge step for the farm! I'll post pics when I get it - after I'm done swooning over it!

my first hand spun and hand knit hat!!!

I just finished this hat tonight and I couldn't be more excited about it! It's been a while in the process, because I spun all the yarn from roving I purchased this summer and started knitting it last night. It's a 50/50 combo of mohair and lambs wool and as soft as can be, and it's for sale!

a fun process!

I made YARN!!

These are two skeins of yarn that I spun myself on a drop spindle! It's a mohair/lamb blend and I think its to die for! I'm pretty pleased with how it came out having never taken a class or anything and being my first time. My sister showed me how to use a drop spindle a few years ago and I've puttered with it periodically. The wool I have from my animals is currently raw fleece, I do not have a carder so I can make it into roving, fortunately I live near a small spinning mill and they will do that fairly reasonably. I purchased this wool to blend in with my fiber, it was not what I needed and wouldn't work, so I opted to give it a whirl. Literally!

Once I had enough on my spindle I did a bit of internet poking around, found out what the next step was, spun another spindle full, plied the two together, soaked it, stretched it, dried it and voila' this is the result!

Hmmm, now what to do with it....

I'll give it a whirl!

Often I've had people say to me "Oh, you're so talented, I could never do that." (Before you think I'm tooting my horn, let me say, I'm not and please keep reading.) Personally I don't think I'm any more or less talented than anybody else. I'm just willing to try something and fail at it or succeed in some cases. Lots of people are not that willing. Best I can figure I'm only getting one go round in this life and I don't want to end up at the end of it saying, "Damn! I wish I'd tried this or that..." I've tried lots of things in my life and I'm interested in trying more, (Sorry Ron!) that's how I live, learn, grow, laugh and love, I try it. (I just reread that last sentence and sound like a play-school commercial!) I don't know if I'm capable of walking on the moon or not, I've not done that yet and it's sad to think I'd miss out on the opportunity to do it just because I thought I couldn't. I don't know if I'm capable of changing a tire on my truck as I've not done it, yet. I do know that I am capable of pressure canning tomatoes fresh from my garden, I've tried it and will add they are mighty delicious! Truthfully it saddens me when people say they couldn't do what I do when they have not even tried, I totally understand that people would not want to do some of what I do, but that is not my point. For trying most things my attitude is 'ok, I'll give it a whirl!'

My latest project, (because it is a sitting down project which doesn't require much lung or sinus activity which is a good thing considering Im still tring to fight off this ridiculous head cold) is having a go at spinning the pygora fiber I harvested from Blackberry, (our pygora wether) this past spring. I'd like to try spinning it on a wheel, but am happy to be able to start off on a drop spindle. It's only about a pound of fiber, thankfully, otherwise it might seem too daunting a task to bite off; for sure I'm not attempting the nearly seven or so pounds of llama fiber I have to do next, I'll send it to the local spinning mill! Actually it's really quite fun and I'm looking forward to having a finished project; that down the road a bit, I still need to finish spinning, then ply it and then knit something.... His fiber is so silky soft to spin and is a nice charcoal gray, my husband keeps telling me that he needs a scarf to go with his black jacket, so we'll see, one step at a time. Baby steps even. So my hope for you is that when something comes up that your first reaction is to think you cannot do that, try this instead, 'ok, I'll give it a whirl!"