I can’t believe it’s already Thursday again. I don’t know how that happened, but I’m thankful for it. 
Knitting continues, and I still can’t show you anything because of the secret nature of it all. As soon as the gifts are sent out though you can expect a FLOOD (well maybe not a flood) of FO’s being posted.
In the mean time I’m still practicing my spinning. Monday I found a farm that raised Finn sheep, which were supposed to be comparable to Merino and Blue Faced Leicester. (And having my family hail from Finland not all that long ago everything Finnish is a plus!) Do you know there’s not a whole lot of Finn sheep roving for sale out there? Well I do. So I found a small farm, contacted her about some natural black & white striped roving. She was lovely and even separated the 16 oz of roving in two so that the Mr & I know distinctively which one belongs to us. This I fear may be an upcoming battle, and I may be the aggressor, stealing his poor roving to spin.
To my amazement and total shock I had a package waiting for me yesterday night. Talk about speedy shipping! I was so happy too because I had no fiber in the house that belonged to me and was feeling a little sorry for myself about it. Imediately I spun some up.
At first I wasn’t that impressed by the softness, I had read a lot about how wonderful it was & kept telling myself “after washing I’m sure it will be great”. But you know what? Once it was spun into singles it was silky soft. Crazy. Also the amount of floof (yes I’m sure that’s a technical term) in the yarn is quite impressive. So I’m happy with my small $18 investment I still have a ton left which rocks too. I can’t wait to see what the Mr does with his.
That’s the best thing about both of us spinning. I get to spin the kind of yarn I want, the Mr gets to spin the yarn HE wants to make & guess what? In the end it’s ALL MINE! Talk about “Score one for the home team!”
So if you are interested in some awesome Finn sheep roving with amazing customer service & probably the words fastest USPS priority shipping visit Firefly Fields website. I’m sure that you won’t be disappointed!
I spun the last of the BFL into a bulky weight, lightly spun yarn. I haven’t washed it yet, but I’m quite fond of the results. It took more concentration to spin loftier & thicker singles but it’s something I will definitely try again
The light grey is BFL & about a DK weight (this was prior washing & thwacking) and the dark brown is the Mr’s Romney. I was really surprised at how fast he’s picked it up. I think honestly, he has a better handle on getting it all even than I do! Now if I can just get him to slow his wheel down to warp 1 I think we will be in business.
I have ordered a pound each of Merino & BFL from Hello Yarn and am going to try my hand at dying it. Do you spinners like to dye your roving first then spin, or does it matter? I also have 16 oz of Carmely Shetland coming. Just want to try everything & with two of us spinning it’s not as much as it really sounds
Another random bit? I saw the Mr looking at the mechanics of the spinning wheels the other day & knew exactly what he was thinking, but had to ask anyways his answer was…”I think I could totally make one of these.” And so it begins.
Your yarn is gorgeous. I wonder if I can convince my husband to learn how to spin. I doubt it – pity too.
June from An Everyday Fiber Obsessions recommends dyeing the roving first. This way – should there be a dyeing tragedy – you wouldn’t have wasted all that time spinning the yarn. If you ruin the roving, all you’ve wasted is the small amount of money that the roving cost. No time and effort involved.
Best of luck!
Your spinning is lovely! I did recommend dyeing your fiber first, that way you don’t accidently end up felting the yarn by mistake, or ending up with some ungodly color that you would never use. . . but, that is simply my humble opinion from a self taught spinner and dyer -and I’ve been knitting so long, I don’t know if it counts that my Mom sent me off to the lys to be taught!
Beautiful!
When I first started on a wheel my spinning teacher had me sit down with no fiber and treadle as slow as I could for 20 minutes. It did me a world of good when I was first learning. Of course, now I have to treadle like a madman to make the high twist sock yarns that I adore.
Regarding dying…it really depends on what you’re going for. The only way to get marled yarn (where the plies are different colors) is to dye, then spin. Most other things you can get either way. I haven’t done a whole lot of dying, but I’ve seen from buying nasty felted stuff that it’s easier to screw up dying fiber. No twist holding the fibers in place = more agitation = more felting. I’ve heard of a lot of people using superwash fiber for just that reason.
Love what you are doing.. Cant wait to see some in person.. All our sheep are getting “hair” cuts tomorow.. There will be lots of yummy Icelandic roving, and yarn as soon as we can fit it in the mill.. I cant wiat.. Keep up the great work !!! Hugs to you and Matt…