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Norwich, United Kingdom
I'm Susan and I live in a small village north of Norwich, UK. My main hobbies are reading, gardening, spinning and knitting, though not necessarily in that order....

Tuesday 17 February 2009

Knitting and spinning chatter

Its a miserable, rainy Tuesday morning so I decided to cheer myself up by using my Ashford Drum Carder. I have had it a couple of weeks now and it has revolutionised my spinning. I can create lovely soft batts in just a few minutes. This is some Jacobs, and has come out well.


Below is some really horrible fleece which I got cheap from Ebay (cant remember what type it is), its lumpy and I waste as much as I use. At least after being passed through the carder four times (yes four....) it came out light and fluffy, and seems to be spinning up well. Once I have finished spinning all of it, I am going to dye it orange/yellow with some onion skins. I've been saving them for a week or so, so should get a rich colour.


This bag started off with mid and dark brown, but you can see that towards the top I ran out, so the rest and the i-cord handle will be finished in black and brown (I dyed that from onion skin, my first attempt). Just got to finish making the i-cord handle and stitch it up. I've already made one in black and white, and its really strong and a handy size.


Mum's cowl (or rather she wants it longer as a scarf) is coming on well. The wool is a hand-spun Blueface Leicester fleece and is so soft.


And finally my chicken jacket. Its coming on slowly, but I am sure my poor chickens will be glad of it when finished. Mum started one yesterday and is already further ahead than me.....



2 comments:

Delighted Hands said...

I got my Ashford drumcarder a few months ago-it opens a whole new world of fiber fun, doesn't it?! Your batts look nice!

ladyb1 said...

Thank you for your kind comment. I love my drum carder....