Silky Stuff

Now that I've finished up other spinning and wool processing projects for some folks, I have this lovely silk stuff to spin up.




This silky red and yellow fuzz balls are blends of merino wool, tussah silk, and camel down that I bought at the Roc Day celebration held at Little Barn, a fiber shop here in Madison County. The custom batts are dyed and blended by Patty White, one of the owners of the shop. The quantities are very limited. I had quite a time making up my mind which colors to get. I almost waited too late! Many of the other fiber fanatics in attendance had just about depleted the supply by the time I broke down and decided to buy fiber that day.

After experimenting with them a bit, I've decided to spin each in thin singles and ply the two colors together. I spindle spun a small sample at the gathering the day I got the fiber, plying the two colors after a spinning friend suggested it. I think I like it.






The other lovely mass of fiber fun is carded tussah silk that Patty also dyes for the shop. I got this several months ago. The bags were full of such beautiful, multi-colored stuff that choosing was difficult that day, too. I ended up buying six bags. That's six ounces. It doesn't sound like much, but it will go a long way. I will probably spin a lace weight, two-ply yarn with it as well. It doesn't look great in the photo because I just opened a few bags and flopped them out on the chair seat to photograph before I lost the light (this iPhone is not the one with the fancy camera, so I have to take my chances). They've been compressed in those bags for quite some time now. Once liberated and shaken out a bit, they are truly lovely to look at, delightful to...spin.

I hope I remember to photograph the end results when I get them done. . . if I'm not too old and feeble to use a computer by then.