Llama Update

When last we spoke, I almost had my handspun Llama bolero finished.  I was afraid I would run out of yarn and I was out of fiber.  Last night I finished the knitting with the yarn I had left and ended up with a mere 8 inches of yarn left over.  Talk about a nail biter.  The problem is that the last bit of yarn I had to knit with was the first bit of yarn that I spun and it wasn't so good.  Fortunately I'd since gotten more fiber from the lovely folks at K&T Llamas and last nightI got another batch spun up and washed.

This morning I un-knit (de-knit?) the cuff portion, added a few rounds and reknit the cuff.  There is a particular joy when you get an inspiration for something that doesn't exist and you're able to pull off making it exist.  I'm inordinately thrilled with this project.

I've still got more Llama fiber left over so maybe a hat is in my future.  And a scarf?  Maybe even a pair of mitts.  Cool.

Designing on a pound

I've been working on a project for a while that I haven't yet shared.  It started as a couple of bags of Llama fiber from K&T Llamas which I fell in love with at Knit in Public Day.  I'd never spun Llama before, one of the few fibers I hadn't at least had my hands on.  I did de-hair a llama fleece once and have it in my stash but I haven't spun any of it. 

I have to say that spinning this llama has been one of the most enjoyable projects I've had to date.  Every free moment, I just couldn't wait to sit down to spin and got it done fairly quickly.  I ended up with just under a pound of worsted weight 2-ply yarn.

Now, one of the challenges one faces when planning to knit with handspun is that, generally, you have what you have.  What you do with it has to fit with what you have.  Getting more fiber isn't always an option.  I read a quote the other day that basically said that new ways of doing things aren't usually created by smart people but by lazy people trying to find an easier way to do something.  Maybe the old bromide about necessity being the mother of invention is closer.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that it's about 1/2 pound of 2 different natural colors - blond and med. dark brown.  That's fine but it creates another design challenge.  Don't want it to be too easy, do we?  Where would the fun be in that?

I knew I didn't have enough for a full sweater but I've been wanting a shrug for quite a while so I reckoned I had enough for that.  Here's what I've done:

It does fit me better than it does the dress form and I think it's a grand effort.  Can't wait to get the sleeves finished and have it ready for the upcoming cooler weather.  Why isn't it finished?  I'm afraid it's because I've gotten distracted with this:

I'm at the point of working the 11 flowers.  I can't tell you what pleasure this project has given me.  I've wanted to learn to tat for the longest time and didn't think I would ever be able to do it.  Now I can't get enough of it.  In fact, I'm going to make some new tatters at the upcoming tatting class at Lincoln Land.  The class is full but we're hoping to offer the class again in the spring and I think we'll probably do a class through the Old State Capital Heritage Knitting project.  Fun.

Spinner's Progress, vol 1

I've been spinning away lately and am making some progress on some projects.  First of all let me introduce you to my Llama:

This has been one of the funnest, most luscious things I've spun in a while (although I probably say that every other week) and it went very quickly indeed.  I found it really different to spin than alpaca and wool and I found that it had a more hair-like texture to it.  It's beautifully prepared from a local Llama farm, K&T Llamas.  They have llamas of a variety of colors of fleece and it's gorgeous.  I got this particular fiber from them during a Knit in Public Day visit to Sticks and Stones Innovations in Jacksonville, IL.  They had several of the yummy creatures there in the fleece.

I bought 8 and 8.5 ozs of the different colors but I haven't spun it all yet.  I did, however, get more than 200 yards of the medium brown and about 150 yards of the blond color.  I think what I'm going to do with it is make a sort of a shrug.  It's forming!  I also got some chocolate brown but it had lots of vm in it (she did tell me up front and sold it at half price) and I wasn't able to spin that very well.  I may have another go with it before I start knitting.  That's one thing about llama - it's quite heavy so I'm not sure I would want a whole sweater out of it but I think the shrug will be just right.

This was spun with z-spun singles, s-plied at a 2-ply dk weight.  I did a sample of it with 3 plies but I really didn't like the look at all so I went with the 2 plies.  I spun the whole bobbin with the singles, then I wrapped half of it back onto an old bobbin.  I'm getting pretty good at estimating half way although I do andean ply the last little bit so I can use all the singles.  Actually, what I need to do is get a few more bobbins for this wheel.

You probably noticed the other little sample hanging between these hanks and, if you thought that it doesn't look like llama, you're right!  Karen got some new fibers in last week and this is one of them - carbonized bamboo, spun fine on the smallest of the Ashford drop spindles.  Interesting.  It has a very different handle than other fibers, even from regular bamboo - it's more a matte finish. 

To be continued...