A PEEK AT WHAT I'M WORKING ON

A recent discovery is Lindsey and her site at 

www.artifactsofappreciation

up in Canada.

She is an avid spinner/knitter who sells the most luscious batts to spin up.

So yummy they include wool, alpaca, silk and kid mohair all carded together.

Above I separated the 5 batts she sent me into smaller segments.

Each batt was a bit different but they all flow beautifully together

as you can see.

The top half are separated into 8ths and then staggered,

the bottom half are separated into 4ths and lined up into rows.

Then I experimented spinning and plying them different ways.

I also wanted to add a bit more color into some of the yarns.

I had a braid of Blue Faced Leister wool and Tussah silk

that seemed to look good combined with Linsey's batts,

bought from Cowgirls Yarn in Laramie, Wyoming.

Below a much thinner length of the braid being auditioned & ready to spin up.

You can really see above the shine of the Tussah silk peeking out in all the batts.

So from left to right below,

the first skein is one of the experiments plied on itself,

same with the second skein.

I liked the second one better because more of the darker fibers showed up.

The 3rd skein is the braid spun up and plied on itself

Btw, 

I also experimented with how to spin up these batts,

woolen or worsted,

long or short draw or off the fold.

I ended up spinning long draw woolen off the fold for the most softness and shine.

My favorite skein is the 4th one,

 a singles of the braid plied with a singles of Lindsey's batts.

A close-up below.

I haven't used my spinning wheel in at least 3 years now,

and it just feels so good to get back at it.

Because spinning is a global skill,

like riding a bicycle,

it comes right back to you.

Super relaxing while I binge on Netflix's Longmire,

a modern Western murder mystery series about a Wyoming sheriff,

his Deputies & town,

and the Cheyanne people that live on the reservation nearby.

Starring the older but still very handsome Australian actor,

Robert Taylor,

as well as Lou Diamond Philips and A. Martinez. 

The scenery is gorgeous so I looked to see where it was filmed.

Several locations in New Mexico were used

including Santa Fe, Eagles Nest, Espanola, Red River, Los Alamos and Las Vegas.

And the most iconic location in the series is Longmire's log cabin 

filmed in the Valles Caldera National Preserve.

So what to make out of these delicious yarns?

Stay turned for my next post,

or ha ha,

maybe my next one after that.