Housebound in a Wool House….May 7, 2005

Housebound in a Wool House……..Sadly,I am one of the few, not making the pilgrimage to Maryland Sheep and Wool festival this year, so joining Julia and Margene’s gathering of the housebound, I thought that I would break out of my weekly post for a Saturday Blogger’s Festival post…<grin>.

As you can see, I have been working on the Faux Russian Stole for the Lace KAL….  (whoops….In spreading the lace out, I see an error!)

I still have to add my name to that list and get a button up,  However, I have been having so much fun knitting this pattern, that I just haven’t taken the time to do so.  I have to spin up some more Shetland, so this should give me a little time……………or …………will it?  A new little toy made a stop over at this house of wool…………

To Buy or Not to Buy
That is the question.  I am giving this wonderful Pat Green Super Carding machine a test drive to see if it would like a permanent home here.  As many of my friends know……carding is my LEAST favorite part of fiber preparation, but unfortunately, it is a necessity for me.

This machine has been touted as a one pass machine, meaning that you shouldn’t have to process the batt more than once, unless you are doing some color blending.

Although, I send out a lot of my hand- dyed angora/wool blends to a professional carder, frequently after a show, I will need to re-card the angora roving to fluff it up again.  Angora is almost impossible not to touch, so my little roving balls, usually need some tender loving care when we get home.  (now that should bring some interesting hits…) As you can see from the picture, this carder did a lovely job on one of the few balls I have remaining.

So to those of you out there in blog land……..what do you think?  Of these 2 machines,  a 16" Duncan electric carder that can fit a bit more on the drum…….or this Supercarder, which do you prefer?  I would love to hear from those of you who have used either machine.

My try at Lace Singles
Last night as I was playing with the carding machine, I threw in some freshly washed Shetland wool and some angora from one of my fellow bunnies and tried my hand at spinning lace singles.

I got some lovely yarn from Judy this week (look for pictures later in the week) and I thought that I would see if I could spin as nicely as she does.  Not as nice, for sure…………but I think I got the right weight.  It is fun to challenge ourselves now and then.  As a spinner, I tend to get caught in that happy, mindless spinning mode, which almost always produces a dk weight yarn.  It was fun to try something new :-).  I definitely need a wee bit more practice though…….

I am looking forward to hearing the fun stories about Maryland next week!  I hope that everyone had a safe and wonderful trip~