Doffer

Doffer is doing well, He seems to like sleeping in the dog's bed!!

aNOTHER new fiber addition

Well, it was back up to NC (Perfect Spot Farm) on Monday (4/6/09) to pick up this little fellow and a 'relative?" of his.



This little guy was one of a set of triplets born on 4/5/09. His mom accepted and fed his sister and brother but would have nothing to do with him. We were told he would need to be bottle fed 'round the clock if he were going to survive. (He was less than 24 hours old when we got him and would need to be monitored REALLY closely during his first 48hours.

He spent the 1 1/2 hour drive home from Forest City NC area in my lap very quietly sleeping -- occasionally alert but mostly snoozing. What a good little fella!

Here's a shot of Caron holding him AND driving!

Shhhhh....
.... don't tell anyone but we snuck?? him into our knit group at Starbucks. Latte on the hoof anyone?? Anyhoo....everyone LOVED him.



His 'relative' on the other hand (3 month old male just weaned that day) 'hollered' the whole way home LOUDLY!! BBBBAAAAAAAAA. BBBAAAAAAAAAA He didn't quit crying when we got him back to the farm either.. Needless to say, the little guy was hoarse by the end of the evening.

Some new 'fellas' have been added to the farm!

On Saturday, Caron and I went up to NC to pick up some BEAUTIFUL angora goats.
Meet Nep and Noil (spinning/fiber terms). I haveta admit that sometimes I call the one Daryl the other one his brother, Daryl. Why you ask? Well, I guess the Yankee in me just cain't say Noil right.. to me Noil rhymes with OIL and where I come from, OIL has two syllables OYE ILL. So I call the fella NOY ILL which isn't quite right. Guess it should sound like Noll. Anyhoo... I was trying so hard to say his name right that I must have really contorted my mouth... Caron was ROFLOL. Humph. :)

So anyway, here they are!! Nep is the darker one and DARYL is the other. GREAT fiber pets!!

New Louet, Spinning and Dyeing

Not sure if I told you or not but.... I got a new spinning wheel!! I LOVE my Ashford and can do almost anything on it EXCEPT very, VERY bulky, funky novelty yarns. Sooo, I looked online for a Louet which has a nice big orifice through which lots of 'interesting' fibers can be fed.

My first spinning on Louie? did indeed show that one CAN spin thread on a Louet. I've heard it said that you cannot spin fine laceweight yarn on this wheel. Not so... at least for me. :)

My second yarn was spun from some fiber that was included in my FANTASTIC E-bay deal I got on my wheel. I wasn't expecting any fiber but the seller threw in about 3 lbs of merino roving. Nice stuff! GREAT surprise!

Anyhooo, I've been messing with the fiber.. still not doing the chunky stuff yet but did spin up this PURTY stuff and then dyed it with Koolaid. I just LOVE the colors.. so soothing. Anyway, here are the pictures showing my dyeing steps.



I wet the spun/plied yarn with water -- allowed it to soak while I prepared the Koolaid.


I mixed up three colors of Koolaid in some old jars. I put in the complete koolaid package, added 1 cup of water and then 2 TBS of vinegar. Swirled to stir.




I squeezed the water out of the yarn which had been soaking and then slowly poured the Koolaid solutions onto the wet yarn. (I have mine layered in a microwave safe bowl.)



Next, the whole shebang went into the microwave. I nuked it on high for 1 minute. Allowed yarn to 'rest' for a minute or two. Nuked it again on high for 1.5 minutes. Allowed it to 'rest' for a minute. Nuked it on high for 30 seconds.

Then, I rinsed the warm yarn in warm water to remove any vinegar/Koolaid solution still in the yarn. (BTW, you will know when you've nuked your fiber enough when the Koolaid solution is pretty much clear - hardly any color left in it.)


Next the yarn went into the salad spinner.





Finished yarn:





Ok, so what are my plans for this yarn?? WEAVING on either my Cricket Loom or my Flip Loom. FUN!