I was going to spin some bright yellow fiber for you all today. But I failed at that. Its called rose fiber, its created using the rayon method, which is to crush stems make a gooey slurry and extrude it through spinnerette, which is like a giant shower head. If you would like a more accurate and thorough explanation here is a site that explains the rayon method. There are many 'newer' fibers available to us that are touted as environmentally renewable and friendly. They may be renewable but I don't know how friendly they are, its still requires a good bit of chemicals to turn these cellulose by products into fiber. The other newer fibers created using the rayon method are: bamboo, corn, milk, seaweed, soy, and I'm forgetting some I know. Wood was used in the original rayon. Enough with the science, back to spinning! It was too slippery and sticky, I know those two things are opposites, but it is. Its also rather late in the day, and my fine motor skills start to 'get ready for bed' long before the rest of me does. I will certainly have another stab at spinning a sample. And then that sample will be knit and taken through some paces. Because I want to know how the rose fiber behaves before I blend it with wool or other fibers. Are you bored with me telling you what I did not spin? How about I move on and tell you what I did spin!
This gorgeous blue/gray/black braid of rambouillet wool. Rambouillet is basically a merino wool. So its soft, stretchy, and likes to be spun fine. This rambouillet pretty much spun itself. And since I'm spinning this so very fine, you'll be seeing it for a while. But you'll get bored very quickly if I keep showing you the same bobbin day in and day out. Spinning is not like sports, its too subtle and in some ways slow to be a great spectator sport. So far I've mostly spun on my Fricke e-spinner, I did 5 minutes of the rose fiber on my treadle wheel, but it was such a small amount that the camera would not take a good pic of it, so it doesn't count. Rule: pics or it didn't happen :-)
This weekend when I have good light I'll introduce you to whatever wheel I'm spinning on that day. For now, here's another rambouillet pic. See ya tomorrow.
This weekend when I have good light I'll introduce you to whatever wheel I'm spinning on that day. For now, here's another rambouillet pic. See ya tomorrow.