Spin it......or....... Eat it?????

The top picture is banana fibre !!!!! ......Amazing stuff, it is shiny, looks like candyfloss, feels like silk and is so light and fluffy.
It arrived from the States today from blondechicken on Etsy - there is a link in my lists on the left. It smells fantastic as well but that must be the dye and the washing product the seller used.

I plan to card it into a batt for spinning made from the other fibre that arrived with it, second picture, these are locks from Blondechicken's own sheep Shera, but I might wait for a little bit of Angelina fibre to arrive for that added bit of sparkle.

Living in a particularly wild part of the Pyrenees we rather depend on web purchases within France as well as international. Mind you we are not easy to find, this week I have had to meet two delivery trucks in the village because they could not get down our track ( or didn't fancy driving over our little bridge?).

I willl upload a picture of my 'stash' tomorrow. I now have a stash worth photographing, since I have been collecting all these different fibres by stalking the auction sites and other web sites.

My husband is asking me to knit him another hat with some of my yarn....does he realise I have been reading 'Intertwined' by Lexi Boeger???? His hat could be spun with beads, bottle tops, plants, feathers, paper, old Beatles cassettes or anything else I happen to grab. LOL

My Old Haldane Spinning wheel

This is the very old Haldane wheel that I am trying to teach myself to spin on. My main problem has been with the Scottish tension - in fact it did not even have a spring or wire and I was trying to use it. I managed to spin something before I realised there was anything wrong.......

I have my eye on an Ashford Country wheel as I know I want to spin chunky, art yarns.

The cat in the background is Pookie.

I have to go and bid on something now. I Will add to this later.

My first skein of handspun yarn........

My very first skein of arty yarn. I skirted it, washed it, carded and combed it, spun it, plied it, washed it, beat it about......and twisted it into a skein. Quite a lot of work.

The peach colour is the result of the walnut husk dye, the white ply was another spool of single white Cheviot. Cheviot wool I find quite rough and it is recommended for outer wear and rugs, so you will understand that I am now searching the web for some different wools.

I ordered several different types of wool from www.worldofwool.co.uk, including what they call Botany lap waste which is just ends of runs of various colours and it was a great big bag and very cheap, great for beginners. Also ordered some Wenslydale because I like the long curly locks, and some angora to try out as I am looking for an angora goat now........

I have collected some oak leaves to make another dye.

I have diversified a little......

Spinning has taken me by storm.......I dug out my spinnning wheel, a castle form Haldane wheel, for the cupboard it has been hiding sin since we moved to France.

I had been particularly inspired by Tara of www.blondechickenboutique.com on Etsy and her web site/blog, and used her videos on You Tube to help me to self learn again to spin. 10 years ago spinning was very ordinary and I managed to learn to spin and ply some uite reasonable yarns in wool and llama. Now I only want to spin wild, chuky, art yarns but I only seem to be able to spin thin!!!!

I also spin left handed when I do everything else right handed????? Maybe that's because I was looking at people on the net as a sort of mirror image????

I have ordered some different types of yarns and a carding machine is high on my Christmas present want list. I have knitted up all the little scraps I have spun lately and have stuck them in a folder, even my 'failures', or what I consider failures but what now seems to be fashionable and desirable.

Pictures to follow