Spin-curious?

Recently my fiber adventures have taken a dramatic and exciting turn.  I've done what I said I would never do and purchased a spinning wheel.  I did quite a bit of research, and decided on the Ashford Kiwi, based on numerous positive reviews and the attractive price point.

Here's my Kiwi when I brought it home from Webs:

Now, the Kiwi is completely lovely all on it's own, naked, as it were, but I discovered that people like to personalise their wheels with all sorts of lovely colors and finishes.  (Check out the thread on ravelry here: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/kiwi-spinners/582663/651-675#667 )  I decided to staint the wheel itself a lovely cherry color and paint in the Kiwi bird on the treadle with the same color.  I sealed the wheel with polyurathane, then I waxed the whole shebang with Ashford teak wax. (Which smells delicious by the way.)

Isn't she pretty?  What's most amazing is I've taught myself to spin on her!  Thought it might be fun to do a little video for the curious.  Apologies in advance for the shakiness.  It was a family affair and my little one was the videographer.    Enjoy!

Just in case you were worried that this means no more felting, never fear! One hobby is never enough. I recently finished this little lion,

and am hard at work on a unicorn.  Happy days to all!

Gone Batty!

My latest personal project is the wet felting of some chair pads, or a runner for my dresser, haven't exactly decided yet.  To complete this project I will need lots, and lots, of wool.  Sooooooo, I dug through my stash and pulled out my washed Navajo Churro fleece, which looked like this before washing.   

I spent about two weeks picking the washed locks apart by hand and taking out any large clumps of kemp (rough hairy fibers found in primitive breeds).  Once I had a bunch of fluffy wuffy wooly, I carded it on my drum carder.

I carded, and carded, and carded some more.  In fact, having never carded an entire (pretty much - saved a few pieces for needle felting a cute long haired doggie) fleece before I was amazed at the volume of batts I could make!  Here's a vid of the carder in action. 

The best results are had by adding a small amount of fleece at a time. Once carded the batts are carefully removed. All told, I carded 15 huge batts! They made a Navajo Churro mountain, and when I laid them out on my 8 foot work table they carpeted it two layers deep. ")

See? 

Maybe I will be able to make my chair pads and a runner after all.  Oooooohhhh, all the buttery goodness!  But first, a lion.  ROAR!