Knit, purl, blog.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

I *Heart* My Mini Combs

I may have a problem.

I can't stop combing fleece.

It started with the Corriedale:

Hand-combed Corriedale top

Then, I moved on to some Targhee I acquired from my guild's fiber swap the other night:

Hand-Combed Targhee

And then, there was Cormo.

There was adult Cormo:

Cormo Fleece (Adult)

And Cormo lamb (hogget):

Cormo Lamb Fleece

Which is turning into hand-combed adult Cormo:

hand-combed Cormo top

and hand-combed Cormo lamb (which you simply must feel to believe):

Hand-combed Cormo lamb

Of course, all this combing produces waste, which can then be carded. Here's some of that Cormo lamb combing waste, which I spun long-draw:

Cormo Lamb Sample -- Woolen

That was a quick-and-dirty, noils and all sample, spun around midnight without caring about consistent grist (that's probably obvious). But it proves to me that the combing waste is still very usable.

I also finished spinning some roving from Pigeonroof Studios:

Handspun Yarn - autumn cherry

That's 3.75 oz., 182 yards of superwash merino.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Combing Fleece

I put on my big-girl skirt, got out my combs, and combed some Corriedale fleece from Rising Meadow

Corriedale Fleece

I used my Alvin Ramer super mini combs:

Wool Combs

Mmmm... puffy.

Combed Corriedale Puff

I wound up with about 1.6 ounces last night. It's not perfect yet, but it's pretty nice:

Combed Corriedale

I also made a Koolhaas hat from this year's Interweave Knits gifts issue:

Koolhaas Hat

It's made from my 3-ply tweed handspun, which I spun with this hat in mind.

(By the way, Kris, this is what happens when I try to smile while taking a picture of myself in a mirror.)

I've got almost enough yarn left over to make another one. I could probably shorten the ribbing a bit...

Leftover Tweed