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It’s been mighty hot.

As much as I hate to say it- too hot for wool.

Almost too hot to spin.

But, I’ve managed to get through it by spinning the milk fiber I picked up back in IL. It’s light, and fine, and silky.

It is a little slippery,, but I find that it’s a lot more manageable if I spin it from the side (kind of “from the fold”). Seems to draft more smoothly that way, at least for me.

It’s been fun, and it is really very pretty. Nice for a bit of a diversion. (here it is,loosely plied with some random white wool- Romney, I think)

But it seems a bit weird, spinning something that is artificially fiberized (my word).

I do wonder about how the stuff is generated. And I’ve realized that what I really like best about spinning (and the fiber prep) is that the whole process is low-tech, and feels really close to the source.

I like that you can take a fleece from a sheep, and with some skill, patience, and a little bit of simple mechanical (not chemical) help, turn it into a finished object that is beautiful and useful. It’s really quite amazing.

I think the milk (and soy, and bamboo, for that matter) fiber takes me too far away from that.

Now, the Milk Protein top I haven’t seen advertised as “Eco-Friendly”, but the others are certainly marketed that way, and while Soy and Bamboo might be readily renewable resources, the process that is required to turn them into spinnable fiber really isn’t.

It takes chemical intervention and extruding the fibers with machinery and all kinds of things that are really energy intensive, and certainly not low-impact (environmentally speaking).

Now I’m not a green-freak, but I do wonder why we go to all the trouble of processing the heck out of things to make them serve a purpose they are not intended for when we’ve already got the perfect natural raw materials at hand. Just because we can? Maybe. But that kind of thinking gets us into all kinds of trouble over and over again.

I think that from here on out, I’ll drink my milk, eat my edamame, stake my garden with bamboo- and spin my wool (weather permitting, of course!)
___________________________
Ps.
Today’s harvest-

(Isn’t that the most beautiful onion?)

Pps.
The blog now has a spokesmodel-

Sorry I  missed y’all last weekend.

I was back in Illinois visiting family and attending my 20 year high school reunion.

It was fun, and exhausting, and I’m awfully glad to be taking the rest of the week off to catchup with things around here.

Would you believe, it just so happened that here was a really great fiber event going on the very same weekend of my visit? Right near where I was staying??

Indeed. The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Festival, in Crystal Lake, IL.

So of course I stopped by.

There were inside vendors-

And outside vendors-

Fabulous humongous skeins of yarn-

Hitchhiker travel wheels (which I got to try out!)

Wonderful hooked items-

And I did bring home a couple of souvenirs-

Some glowing blonde mohair:

And Milk Protein Fiber! Because it was just so unusual (and beautiful):

And, I did manage to get a bit of travel knitting done!

Stashbuster Hat:

I really like how the Mountain Colors “Mountain Goat” yarn works with both the light and dark handspun. I forget the name of the colorway, as it’s been sitting for a while…they may not make that exact thing anymore.

And Sock:

Standard sock formula, with a little extra ribbing in the gusset, on tiny needles. Good for long plane rides. (and yes, it’s store-bought yarn. Didn’t plan far enough ahead on this one)

Ps. Boo Kitty came home last night. So far, so good!

You’ll never guess what I brought home from work the other day.

So I’ll just tell you.

Buffalo.

Yep. Really.

Not the whole animal or anything- just buffalo hair.

Pretty gnarly stuff. Guess it was collected from a scratching pole that is out in the pasture for them.

But buried deep within the hairy mess is fluff. Very soft, short, downy fluff.

Here it is (mostly) sorted:

I figure, volume-wise, I got about 10% or less fluff.

I washed and then I carded what little I had-

My hand cards are not the really fine type, but I was able to get it into decent enough shape to spin after a while, though there was still quite a bit of veg.

Here is the resulting swatch:

Wild, eh?

Was kind of an interesting exercise,, but the de-hairing was not much fun. Kind of like picking apart dusty brillo pads.

And in other news, I finally have my first batch of yarn for The Man’s sweater.
I’ve decided on a heavy worsted three-ply (from three bobbins so I get a more consistent result)

Here are the nice fat little bobbins ready to be plied-

Here is the yarn, fresh off the wheel-

And all steamed and skeined up-

I do so love a squooshy three-ply.

Stats on the yarn: approx 110 yds per 3.5 oz skein.

I’ve been pretty wrapped up in working with the fleece from BSG, but I did want to finally share the rest of what came home with us-

Mohair.

Kid Mohair.
Just enough to try out- maybe 7 oz.
It was just so silky and lustrous that I couldn’t resist.

A couple of people had mentioned to me that I just HAD to try it. That it was heaven to spin. That I didn’t know what I was missing.

Ok. Turns out that they were right!
It also turns out that black mohair is really hard to photograph.
Here are a couple of my attempts:

This is the one to try and show how fine and light it is-

And here is a swatch (of course), to show you the amazing luster (too bad you can’t feel how silky it is!)

Very Nice stuff.

That was it for the fiber. Really. (Aren’t you amazed at my self-restraint?)

But we did bring home a bit of sheepy decor:

Isn’t that fun? Did you notice the little shetland tail on the odd-sheep-out?

Just couldn’t resist.

In other news, the stranded colorwork swatch I was working on at BSG is fast on it’s way to becoming a hat.

And Boo Kitty came over for a “meet and greet” with the pups this weekend-

The event was a little stressful for both parties,, but I think that with time (and close supervision) it will work out.
Hope so, anyway. She’s such a sweetie.