While on vacation this summer, Evan and I ended up taking the ferry from Falmouth Harbour to Martha’s Vineyard, where we spent the day walking around exploring, and navigating the bus routes to arrive at Island Alpaca.  If you are ever in the area, it’s worth a trip.

image source: islandalpaca.com

I was really excited to see alpaca, and was eager to get my hands on some luscious spinning fiber.  Evan had never seen alpaca before, and couldn’t really understand why I was so excited, but he got pretty excited himself when he saw the cute animals frolicking in the fields.

They make whining and grunting noises, and one of them let our a real squack!  When they run, their thin long necks seem oddly misproportioned.  The first field we saw had a self guided tour of posters on the fence posts.  As we took our time reading all the information (good English practice for Evan), we noticed several of the young male alpacas with necks tangled, wrestling each other into the dirt, biting and spitting at each other.  Boys will be boys I guess!

image source: islandalpaca.com

We followed the signs to the barn and saw more alpacas inside.  They were way too busy eating, or moved too quickly to photograph well in the dim light.

Next up was the lovely farm store with yarn and roving and knitted things of all shapes and sizes.  I think Evan got a kick out of seeing me totally hypnotized by the soft fiber.  I met Philippe who showed me where the roving was hiding.  He’s a spinner too, so we had a good time chatting about spinning things as I tried not to drool over the superfine jet black alpaca roving.  It was so gorgeous that I had to buy 8 oz worth, and probably should have gotten more when I had the chance.  I’ve started spinning it, and it spins like a dream!

Philippe and the girls

Through another doorway, and we were out with the female alpacas and the HUGE guard llama.  We could get close enough to pat them as they were eating.  They are the softest fluffiest creatures I’ve ever met.  Evan kept repeating a phrase from Despicable Me:  “It’s so fluffy, I’m gonna die!”.  I think that in this case, it is a valid statement.

Philippe and a cria

Philippe picked up one of the babies (young alpaca are called cria), and this one was even softer than the other older alpaca.

On our way out, we purchased alpaca fiber, and some white wool fiber to dye and spin back at our campsite (more on that later!).

Everywhere on the island is so pretty.  Here are some of the more beautiful views we saw that day.

This weekend there’s a pretty neat event happening in Kingston.  I urge you to go check it out if you are in the area.  It’s the 23rd annual Sheep Dog Trials held this Friday to Sunday at Grass Creek Park (2991 Hwy 2) about 16km outside of Kingston.  If transportation is a challenge, there are free shuttle busses from downtown Kingston (check the city website).  Admission is $10 a day, kids 10 and under are free.

I had never been to the sheep dog trials before, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  I guessed I’d see lots of sheep, and dogs, and herding.  Of course, that is the main event, but there is so much more!  If you go on Saturday you can watch the Sheep-To-Shawl competition, which I’m sad that I missed.  I’ll have to go back again next year and catch it.  The competition is done in teams, starting with fleece, and ending up with woven shawls by the end of the day.  Be sure to check it out if you are there tomorrow.

herding in action

There are so many things for kids to do!  Face painting, pony rides, a petting zoo, educational programs about birds of prey….

barn owl (no longer found in this area)

….spinning….

Doreen, the woman who taught me to spin

….and even sheep sheering–I had a great time watching this demonstration, and the kids really loved it too!

before

Bill McMaster demonstrates how sheep sheering can be done without electricity.  A volunteer turns the crank, which powers the clippers.

three cheers for kid power!

The clippers move really fast, and take all the fleece off the sheep.

The kids were eager to feel the sheep after it had a haircut.

after

The fleece was gathered up, and Bill and Hamish demonstrate how to use a drop spindle.

They spun and plied wool, from the grease, and made wool bracelets for all the kids–I got one too!  If you have a chance to stop by and talk to these guys, it is worth it!  Check their clock for shearing time, and you’ll be in for a real show.

If you are in the market to purchase anything wooly, from dyed roving to finished garments, there’s lots for you to see.  My favourite alpaca vendor, Silver Cloud Alpaca, is there selling lots of squishably soft yarn, roving and blended batts.

I couldn’t resist, and didn’t really want to resist purchasing some fiber to spin.  It is the very best alpaca fleece I have ever encountered.

They had two alpaca there too!  Aren’t they gorgeous?

There were so many sheep dogs, but there were also non-sheep dogs competing in several activities.  There was an agility trial obstacle course, and also a dock jumping area run by dockdogs.

taking the leap

Dogs jump off the dock into a big pool to get a toy.  Some dogs have great long jumping ability, and others are not quite ready to make the leap.  I was experimenting with a new camera mode (new camera is Olympus Stylus Tough 3000)–this one takes high speed rapid succession shots.  Pretty cool I think!

the leap

long distance!

the splash!

All in all, I was surprised at how many people were there today.  I imagine that Saturday and Sunday it is even busier.  Get there early.  The events start at 9AM. Bring a lawn chair, lunch, cash for your emergency yarn purchasing, and be sure to have a hat, sunscreen and lots of water.

Participating (rather poorly I might add) in the Tour De Fleece this year has made me realize that although I do really like spinning, I do NOT really enjoy preparing fleece for spinning.  I’ve been asking around, and found that there’s a fiber mill about 20 minutes from my house, so today I packed up my fleece to see if they could mill it into lovely roving for me to spin.

two bags full

I brought along Maggie, who knits, spins, throws pots, and is generally very crafty.  She’s the one that is making the ball gown from jeans.

The mill is located in the garage of the motel in Odessa Ontario.  We met Janet, who explained how to tell if a fleece is worth milling.  Take a lock of fleece.  Hold it with two hands, and pull lengthwise to stretch the fiber as far as it will go.  If you hear a crackle it’s a fragile fleece (not good).  If you hear a ping sound, then the fiber is strong, and it will make good roving.

Paul, Maggie and Janet with the spinning machine

Apparently you get what you pay for.  My fleeces were all donated to me from various places, and they all crackle when pulled.  Too bad!  It’s not worth it to have them milled, but I can still make something quite useful with them if I can put up with the slow and tedious process of carding.

Paul gave us a tour of the mill.  There’s a picker to get the locks of fleece open and fluffy, another machine to get rid of vegetable matter and guard hairs, a very large and complicated looking drum carder, a spinning machine and a plying machine.  It’s an amazing operation!

roving being spun onto bobbins

The store was next on the tour.  Such gorgeous merchandise, and all produced right there–yarns of all sorts and colours, rovings, woven scarves and blankets, knit socks.  I bought some superwash merino, and some “pandora’s box” (unknown fibers, mostly grey) roving.

the store

What’s best about this store is that you’re encouraged to touch and smell and really enjoy the fiber before you choose what to get.

Maggie with a soy silk moustache

We got talking with Janet about our fiber projects, and the topic of Maggie’s denim dress project was brought up.  This led to Random Freebie #1: 3 Pairs of jeans for Maggie’s ball gown!

Maggie with my purchased roving, and her free jeans

The next stop on our trip was to Wilton Pottery, just down the road.

We met Tim, who explained about his kiln and his process.

If you are in the area stop by to say hello, and have a look at the work that he and his wife Diane are doing.  She grows crystals in the glaze of her porcelain.

such beautiful crystals

We totally lucked into Random Freebie #2:  Zucchini!  I’ve frankly never seen a zucchini this big before in my life.  I’m not exactly sure why Wilton Pottery was giving them away, but it was a very nice treat.

The next stop on our way back to town was in Sydenham at a vegetable and antiques market.  There were lots of treasures to be found in this place, but I think I lucked out when I found sock blockers!

antiques/vegetable market

There’s something nice about taking a drive in the country on a lovely summer day.  You never really know what adventures you’ll run into.  I highly recommend it!

What cottage industries are in your neck of the woods?

I haven’t really mentioned much about my Tour De Fleece progress, because it didn’t feel like I was making much progress.  I have been carding and spinning and carding and spinning, and the bobbins barely looked like they were filling up.  Finally today I had two bobbins full which I plied together.  I’m not all to thrilled about how lumpy and bumpy this yarn is….I should have carded the fiber more perhaps.  (Carding is NOT my favourite part of this process!)

Anyway, it’s pretty neat to see the transformation from this

washing fleece

to this

carding fleece

to this

spinning yarn

and finally this

spun yarn

But my progress seems much slower than those other fabulous spinners who are working from roving.  In any case, this yarn is going to eventually be turned into mittens.  I always find it nice to knit something for the farmer that gave me the fleece.  In this case, I don’t even know the farmer!  They will certainly be surprised.

To give myself a bit of a break, and make me feel productive on the spinning front, I started into some commercially prepared combed top that I purchased from Paradise Fibers.  I stuck it into my black bean dye (recipe) just to see what would happen, and after a day or two it turned a very light almost periwinkle blue.  I stuck part of it in some ammonia afterwards and that part lightened to a lichen green.

The fiber drafts like a dream, and I find that I’m spinning very thin, and consistent singles.  I was starting to doubt my ability when I was spinning that lumpy stuff I carded.  I am enjoying the subtle colour changes too–way more enjoyable than spinning white/offwhite speckled with grass.

For some other inspirational tour de fleece blogs with some awesome pictures, check these out.

• Word Lily
• I dream of sheep
• Leafgreen Knits

When two fiber enthusiasts get together you’d better stand back–the fleece will be flying!

Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting Teira in person.  I’ve met her on Ravelry and through reading her blog, but to be in the same room with someone who is keen to discuss the ins and outs of washing fleece, or experiments with dyeing, or recent spinning wheel issues, was something very new for me.

What's on Teira's wheel?

Apart from meeting a new fiber friend, I learned a new skill tonight–combing wool.  Now, if you’ve never prepared a fleece before, you may not be familiar with this term.

Combing wool is different than carding wool.

Carding wool uses anything from a dog brush, to hand cards to a drum carder, but all of these tools are similar in that they are a surface that has small teeth placed in rows across the entire area.

image source: wikimedia.org dog brush

image source: pacificwoolandfiber.com hand cards

image source: clemes.com drum carder

Carding will leave you with a batt (a flat mass of fiber that has been brushed). There will still be short and long pieces, and there might still be bits of grass left in the batt–of course this depends on how fine the carding cloth is (the more teeth per inch, the better job it does of brushing out all the unwanted bits).

Combing, I realized tonight, is TOTALLY different.  The resulting fiber is smooth and uniform without any dirt or short pieces–those end up on the floor!  Also, and very important to know…combs could be weapons!  They have two rows of stainless steel tines that are very sharp.  Be very careful when using combs!

image source: bountifulspinweave.com

Here’s how to comb fleece:

Step 1:  Fix one comb to the table so it will not move.  Mini combs can be used one in each hand, but I don’t think I’m coordinated enough for that yet.

Step 2:  Load the locks (clumps of fleece) onto the stationary comb so that the butt end of the lock (the end that was cut off the sheep) is stuck in the teeth of the comb.  Don’t load it too full!

Step 3: Put the moving comb (teeth downward) into the locks starting at the tips and working toward the base.  Continue this until the fleece is almost entirely transferred to the moving comb.  All the short pieces will be left in the teeth of the stationary comb–discard these.

Teira demonstrates how to comb

Step 4:  Change combs–secure the full comb to the table, and use the empty comb as your moving comb.  Transfer the fleece back to the other comb by brushing in a similar fashion.

Step 5:  Using a diz (anything with a fine hole in it–Teira has a seashell), thread the combed fleece through the hole, grip tightly and pull the fleece through the hole to make a roving.  If the fleece is not combed open enough, the roving may not pull out nicely.  This part took the most practice for me!

Teira demonstrates the diz

There you have it, 5 steps to combing fleece!  Thanks so much Teira for the great lesson.

I’ve been working away with the tour de fleece, but there’s not much to show for what I’ve done.  It’s slow going.  It’s HOT and humid.  I think that’s the biggest issue.  I really don’t want to even look at fleece right now.  I’m not complaining, I know that in January I was asking for the heat.

Little by little I’m carding and spinning up thick singles right now.  With the heat, and the short intervals of spinning time I’m not making great progress, and what’s worse is that I’m getting bored already with spinning white fleece.  That’s a lie, it’s not entirely white.  It’s coloured by the flecks of desperate vegetable matter still clinging to the wool….

I think on a cooler day, that the yarn will look rustic and natural and make really warm and sturdy mittens, but right now I’m thinking of iced tea not mittens!

In other wheel spinning action, my trusty 3 speed bike is now working again!  It had a terrible run-in with a whipper snipper last week which left the tire wall threadbare.  Thanks to my dad, his tools and WD40, we got the tire changed in record time.

whipper snipper was the last straw

Now, don’t feel too sorry for me…the bike is and always will be a bit of a junker–the kind of bike that is worth less than the lock.  It’s my favourite summer transportation though, and I was eager to get it back on the road.

This tire may have doubled the worth of the bike!

If the weather stays like this, I may just ride to the lake and jump in!

What are you doing to stay cool?

If you leave a bag of raw sheep fleece in the car all afternoon, be prepared for a particularly ripe odor when you open the door.

I got a large feed bag full of raw fleece today.  It is much softer, crimpier (wavier) and has a shorter staple (hair length) than the fleeces I’ve had before.  I’m hoping that these characteristics will lead to a much softer and less scratchy yarn when it is all said and done.

can't ya smell it??

After work, I poured a nice hot bath, and dumped the whole stinkin’ lot into the tub.  I use a washing liquid (pH 4.5) which maintains the acidity, and is beneficial for the wool.

Something of supreme importance in this whole process is a bathtub drain filter.  This can be picked up at a hardware store, and it will reduce the amount of hair and sticks that go down the drain.

It’s at this point that I wonder if the fleece will ever get completely white, and I wonder if my bathtub will be white again.

What is the most important thing to do when you plan a vacation? Well, after figuring out where to go, who to go with, and where to sleep, my mind started wandering to where I can find good roving and yarn.  (I MAY have a bit of a problem!)

If you are traveling with another knitter or spinner, then you are set!  If you are traveling with non-knitters, you might need to disguise your itinerary a little.  Get your groceries at a farmers market that just so happens to sell wool too.  Go to a farm (that sells fleece and roving) to see the animals sheep and goats.  Find a good restaurant that might be across the street from a yarn store.  All of this takes quite a bit of planning…

Here’s my approach

Step 1:  Check on Ravelry to find local yarn stores near where you are staying.  Search the “people” section for people from the area, and ask them where they get the best quality yarn.

Step 2:  Search for local farms.  I found farmfresh.org to be very helpful.  Search by the product (veggies, honey, roving etc), or search by the town.  Maps and websites and farmers market details are all listed.

Step 3:  Ask on Twitter to see if anyone has recommendations of area farms to visit, markets or sheep and wool festivals to go to, or local yarn stores that are not to be missed.

Step 4:  Put all the locations on a Google map.  It is a great way to keep all the information in one place.  Link to websites, keep track of business hours or market days.  Use streetview where available so you know what the yarn store looks like when you “stumble upon it by chance”.

So far my plans include visiting alpacas on Martha’s Vineyard, pygora goats near Providence Rhode Island, llamas at Journey’s End Ranch in Middleboro MA, and sheep at River Valley Farm in Lennox MA.

If you know of anywhere in the Cape Cod Area that’s worth a visit, let me know.

The training begins tomorrow.  A strict regimen of ankle stretching, and fleece carding every day for the entire week should be ample preparation!

You see, I’ve just signed up for a really big challenge this July.  I just joined the Tour De Fleece, for Team Canada, and as such I vow to spin every day that the Tour De France riders are on their bikes.

That’s from Saturday July 3rd to Sunday July 25th, 2010.  I aim to get part way through this bag….but we’ll see how that goes.  I imagine that a lot of it will end up as sport weight yarn that I can use to make mittens this winter.  I’m thinking that some creative dyeing may be needed, because that’s a LOT of white fleece! 

I know, there’s lots of fun to be had in July….cottages, beach days, camp outs, and many other adventures.  Good thing spindles are portable!

If you are tempted crazy enough to join in, sign up on ravelry, here are some of the guidelines (not RULES):

1. Spin every day the Tour rides, if possible. Saturday July 3rd through Sunday July 25th. Days of rest: Monday July 12th, Wednesday July 21st. (Just like the actual tour)
2. Spin something challenging Thursday July 22nd. (The Tour’s toughest mountain stage from Pau up the legendary Col du Tourmalet)
3. Wear yellow on Sunday July 25th to announce victory. Why not wear yellow on any day you feel particularly successful? (Yellow is the color of the race leader in the Tour – but here we are all ‘race leaders’)

Teams: Join one, or many, or none.

• Rookies (first years)
• Sprinters (fast and/or high mileage like lace)
• Climbers (conquer mountains, big personal challenges)
• Breakaway (Art yarns)
• Peloton (The main group. Everyone is in the peloton at some point)
• Lantern rouge (You will participate as much as possible but you may skip days here and there. Cheerleaders welcome.)
• Wildcards (This is for people who want to form their own team. This includes sponsored teams, like those affiliated with a specific fiber shop or people who live in the same town, etc.)

I’ve met a kindred spirit this spring….someone who gets excited giddy at the idea of creating yarn and knitting with it.  Last week I showed her how to spin with a drop spindle, and the next thing I know she has talked with a sheep farmer and negotiated the acquisition of several large bags of fleece.

She asked what to do with the fleece, how to make it into yarn.  I let her know that there are 4 main steps

1. Wash the fleece
2. Card the fleece into a batt
3. Spin the batt
4. Dye it (this can be done any time after it is washed)

She went home and washed some of the fleece and dyed it with onions and tea and beans.  Later next week we’ll have a carding lesson.

Washing Fleece

Basically, fill up a bathtub/basin with warm soapy water, and put the fleece in.  Let it sit.  The water will change colour as the feces and grease leaves the fibers.  You may need to refill the tub a few times until the water stays clear (like in the picture).

• Never agitate fleece when it is in the soapy water or it will felt
• Never change the temperature rapidly
• Put a bathtub strainer on the drain so the fleece wont end up down the drain.

relatively clean fleece

After the fleece is washed, it will need to dry.  Hopefully it is a sunny day, and you have a clothesline!  Do not try to do anything with the fleece until it is completely dry.

After it is dry, it is time to card it, and spin it….and the fun begins!

locks, roving/batt, yarn

I made a smart purchase of a drum carder (from E-Bay) in 2008, and my wrists have been thanking me since.  Before that time I had used a dog brush, and using that gave me some kind of carpal tunnel issue.  Be warned!!

Carding Fleece

I’m always learning how to do this better, and the most recent improvement that I’ve made to my process is to add fleece directly to the drum to start with.

The big drum is where the carding happens, it is driven by the handle.  The little drum is rotated slowly when the big drum rotates.

Add the fleece, lock by lock to the drum until you have the entire drum covered.  It is important that all the fibers are lined up in the same direction.

Rotate the big drum around a few more times.

Use a knitting needle (or chopstick) to lift the fibers from the big drum.  Start this process where there’s a break on the drum.  Lift about an inch at a time.

Wind the big drum backwards, and use the chopstick/knitting needle to take the fleece off.

Split the fiber batt in half lenthwise, and feed it into the drum carder from the tray.

Card the fleece 2 or 3 times until it is as smooth as you want it.

3rd time carded

Here’s the batt, ready to spin.

There are still little noils or nubbly bits in the fleece.  I’m not sure how to eliminate those.  Let me know if you do!