Washed Suri Alpaca Fiber

This the the free fiber I was given at the last fiber festival I attended in Longmont.

It was raw fiber and in need of washing, so I placed it in a mesh bag and filled my sink with Dawn detergent and hot water.............3 times. You never have smelled anything so foul as this. It definitely had that barnyard fragrance that we all know and love. I was very careful not to agitate in any of the washings or during the rinses. On the last rinse, I poured a glug of white vinegar into the water, then one more rinse to remove the vinegar odor.

After squeezing the fiber, still in the mesh bag, in a towel, I then hung the mesh bag to dry.

After drying completely, I fluffed a few of the locks and look forward to using my hand carders, which have mysteriously vanished in my home. I have looked everywhere and they are just hiding from me. I hate it when that happens.

Any way, see how much whiter and brighter the fiber is once washed. And so soft too.

I have not fallen off the face of the earth!

My blogging has been on the back burner as I have started to get my life back, only to find out today, that the next exam (Series 66) is almost as hard as the first. Not so much computation, but lots of rules and regulations to memorize. It is a much thinner book, but chock full of facts. Here we go again! I will probably take this exam at the end of April or early May.

I have been spinning as relaxation and have learned a few things from the Ravelry support groups:

1. I should have been waxing my drive band with beeswax. The other night, it just snapped. Not at the join but at the exact opposite side of the wheel.

2. And I also learned that I should be relaxing both the scotch tension and the drive band after every spinning session.

3. The fiber I am spinning throws off a lot of dander, or fiber, or whatever, so I am wiping it down every day. It is coming out nicely though and this is the second bobbin. I am going for a lightweight 3 ply for a project to be decided.

I finished two skeins of Alpaca from the last festival I went to and here are the results:
I have begun a new project (what, am I totally crazy!!!???) which I offered to donate to the auction at our Synagogue. It is a modified Market Bag from Bags- A Knitter's Dozen, which I am making from Plymouth Boku and Lamb's Pride. I am a little worried that the Boku will not felt at the same rate as the Lamb's Pride, so this may be a total disaster on many fronts. I will post as I go.

And this little cutie is Erik Joseph Johnson in the Baby Surprise Jacket and Hat that I knit for him. How nice to see him in it!!! edited to add: I learned something new about changing photo formats so that I can upload to my blog. I feel so accomplished!

One last thing. These beauties showed up last week. They are dutch iris, low to the ground and so vivid in color.


And this was today: April Fools!!!! Except it is no joke....it really is snowing and
Saturday may bring a monster dump of snow.....


Have you noticed the Twitter updates on the sidebar? I have found a way to update here, Facebook and Twitter all at the same time. Sometimes it is easier than a full blog post and a way to check in.

to be continued....

Yes, I am getting my life back, since I passed the blasted test today. Update to be posted tomorrow, since I probably cannot get to work due to the heavy spring snow!

I want my life back......

One week (and a day) til I take my Series 7 exam. Just when I think it is all making sense to me, I take another pretest and score about 59%...not quite a passing grade. I spend a few hours more to see where I screwed up, and then retake the test. I have 2 out of 4 of the tests nearly memorized, and need to get all 4 done before the test next week.

My Netflix discs have been sitting nearly a month now, and they are making tons of money off me.

I volunteered to make a felted purse for a charity auction in April, and I haven't even begun it yet. I will work on it full time after this test.

The only thing I have been doing is spinning on my wheel, since it is so relaxing and requires no thought, only slight hand movements. I will have to start knitting up what I have spun soon, or else I will have to open an Etsy shop to get rid of the results. Hmmmm. Just what I need is another distraction to studying....back to the books.

An early sign of spring is here. I know, everyone else has tulips and daffodils already blooming, but my gardens face north and it is the tundra and about 6 weeks behind everyone else. I love when MINE bloom though.

Catching up with my blog

The past couple of weeks have been a complete blur. I have had only one day off a week and I have tried to fill those with fun instead of housework, and the house is starting to show it.

Last week I spent 5 days in a class in preparation for my Series 7 exam and that was after spending the last three weeks racing through the textbooks so that I wouldn't be totally flummoxed on day one. Great instructor, but it was like squeezing an entire college course in a week. Whew....he talked fast, but at least he was entertaining as well. My window for taking the exam opened today and I scheduled it for 3/26 which means two more weeks of cramming while the class is fresh in my mind. Practice tests, practice tests, practice tests....... if I go over them often enough, it should stick in my aging brain.

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A week ago Sunday, at the last minute, I decided to take the day for myself and went up to Longmont for the Alpaca Festival. I went to one last summer and had a ball, so it was my perfect break from studying. Many of the same vendors were there, and there were plenty of cute fuzzy creatures to pet.

I learned the difference between Suri and Huacaya alpacas both on the hoof and with the fiber. As a matter of fact, one rancher from Country Haven Farm just gave me a handful of Suri fiber, since I mentioned that I had never really worked with it before and didn't know the differences. It was unwashed so it would be an adventure to prepare it to spin it. In case you didn't know the difference, Huacaya are the fluffy ones, and Suri are the ones that look like they need a haircut. Suri fiber is much longer, silkier with curly locks and and is considered a more premium fiber.

I also purchased, and proceeded to spin some clouds of the softest aqua/lavender fluff from Goosebump Yarn Co. I jumped right in spinning it, even before I photographed it. Here is 3 oz of singles, ready to be plyed. I worked hard to keep the singles a bit thicker, so the two ply will be worsted weight when finished.

From Switzer Land Alpacas, I got some washed black fiber, which is ready to card with my new carders I purchased a month ago and haven't put to the test yet. More adventure.

And last but not least, I bought about 2.5 oz of prepared roving in a mix of greys, blacks and tans from Deer Valley Alpacas. This is naturally colored and not dyed and should be really tweedy when spun. Here is the bobbin in progress still on the wheel and some of the unspun roving.