Spinning Roving Swap
A while back I mentioned that I was participating in the Spinning Roving Swap. It's actually beginning to draw to a close (next week is the deadline for sending out goodies to your pal), and if you check out the swap blog, you can see the fun things that have been going between people.
My swap pal Celia is in Australia, and she sent me this lovely little package of goodies:
Celia sent me two batches of fiber to try that will be completely new to me. The lovely caramel brown fiber is camel. It's very soft. Much softer than I expected given what I think about when I think about camels! The wheat colored fiber is baby alpaca. It's going to need a bit of flick carding before I can spin it, but it's easy to tell that it will make a delicate and lovely yarn if I spin it up correctly. Anyone out there have suggestions/tips for working with 100% baby alpaca? I don't want to turn this lovely soft fiber into high end twine!
Celia also included a pattern for several lacy scarves (one of which is very clever and reversible!) designed by Margaret Stove of Artisan Merino in New Zealand.
Definitely a very fun box that will give me a chance to try out some very special fibers. Thanks, Celia!
Oooh, I know Margaret! She is very cool. She is such an authority on *everything* - although slightly intimidating to knit around!
You will LOVE spinning Camel. It is one of my favorite fibers to work with and the color is amazing. I hope you enjoy it!
I recommend that you spin the alpaca singles lightly and then overspin them (in comparison) when you ply. The yarn will balance out just fine when you set the twist. Don't weight it.
The soft spinning of the singles will retain the soft hand of the fiber. Alpaca can get rope-like if it is spun too tightly.
Ooh, you've been lucky enough to be gifted by the lovely Celia as well!! I was very fortunate to receive some of the (probably same!) baby alpaca that was in your pkg from Celia, and is a delight to spin. Well, I'm sure it will be when I feel confident enough to do more than tentatively play with it. I'm thinking a little scarr for when winter rolls around these parts again in about 6 months!
I find alpaca fleece easier to spin if it's unwashed but then I found it very hard to dye. If I washed the fibre before spinning it took dye as I expected, if I washed after spinning I didn't get the colour takeup that I would have expected. Mine was a very grubby fibre though, it started out the same colour as yours but washed to the colour of porridge oats.
I've only spun camel in a mix and it was lovely, the yarn had a gorgeous halo and it was so soft. You're a lucky lady!
Oh, lovely! Camel is definitely soft and lucious to work with, lucky girl!
I just started a new swap and am looking for more participants, if you're interested (click on my URL).