Several of you have wondered as to my whereabouts and activities. I landed at Cousin Betsy's in Albuquerque, where, in between getting a spare car key cut so I could lock the dogs in the car with the AC on, buying dog food since traveling with my homemade stuff is not easy, and getting a new touch pad for my McBook Pro, I've been playing with LLAMA FLEECE.
A friend in Wise gave me the fleece from her two llamas. I've been wanting to wash, card, spin, and weave it, just to be able to say "Oh, yes. I washed, carded, spun, and wove it myself." Of course, if I really, really wanted to be a fiber snob, I'd grow the llama and shear it myself.
I started with one tub of llama fleece....unwashed, but, fortunately, not too dirty.
Then, I wrapped a portion of the fleece in mosquito netting and immersed it gently in tepid, soapy water. These activities take place in the back yards and back porch.
I swished very, very gently, so as not to turn the fleece into felt. I let it sit for awhile, then swished again. After half an hour or so, I lifted the netting, heavy now with wet fleece, out of the tub and onto
Betsy's clothesline, where I let it drip while I emptied the water from the wash tub, refilled, and gently immersed..... Repeat until water runs clear, 3 to 4 times.
It is at this point, looking at all the water I'm using for a very small batch of fleece, that I begin to wonder how the Navajos wash sheep fleece in arid Navajo country. Betsy and I postulated stock tanks. After the final rinse, I spread a sheet on the ground and scattered the wet fleece around to dry.
Gradually, clean fleece accumulated
until I had a pile and was ready to card. A friend of Betsy's had lent her a drum carder
which turns fleece into spinnable fiber, called a batt, much easier than using hand carders. I tried with a hand carder once, for about five minutes and knew I would have been an abject failure as a pioneer. I fed the fleece into the drum carder, turned the handle, and voila, something resembling a spinnable object began to appear.
I moved to the front porch as the back porch faces west. A wonderful work space. The batt produced by a novice (moi) resembles a Halloween fright wig.
Trust me. A professionally carded batt does notnotnot look like a Halloween fright wig. But I'm new at this so..... I now have a small stack of Halloween fright wigs
which will one day become yarn.
All of the above supervised, gently and with love, by
A friend in Wise gave me the fleece from her two llamas. I've been wanting to wash, card, spin, and weave it, just to be able to say "Oh, yes. I washed, carded, spun, and wove it myself." Of course, if I really, really wanted to be a fiber snob, I'd grow the llama and shear it myself.
I started with one tub of llama fleece....unwashed, but, fortunately, not too dirty.
I swished very, very gently, so as not to turn the fleece into felt. I let it sit for awhile, then swished again. After half an hour or so, I lifted the netting, heavy now with wet fleece, out of the tub and onto
It is at this point, looking at all the water I'm using for a very small batch of fleece, that I begin to wonder how the Navajos wash sheep fleece in arid Navajo country. Betsy and I postulated stock tanks. After the final rinse, I spread a sheet on the ground and scattered the wet fleece around to dry.
I moved to the front porch as the back porch faces west. A wonderful work space. The batt produced by a novice (moi) resembles a Halloween fright wig.
Trust me. A professionally carded batt does notnotnot look like a Halloween fright wig. But I'm new at this so..... I now have a small stack of Halloween fright wigs
which will one day become yarn.
All of the above supervised, gently and with love, by
So this is how an unencumbered woman spends her time! Terminology is familiar since most of my kin worked in textiles. Have fun and tell Betsy Ted and I say 'hello'.
ReplyDeleteHi Sheila....It's been fun hanging out with Betsy and learning more about weaving and spinning.....and carding. I told them hello from ya'll and showed them the photos from our breakfast at the Inn at Wise. Betsy instantly recognized Mike, even though it's been years since she's seen him, because he looks so much like his dad.
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