Garden Party Spinning........

Here's what I'm up to spinning wise right now. Above is a picture of fiber that's been run through a picker. A bunch of spinners all brought some fiber to a 'garden party' and threw it in a pile which was then put through the picker. We all got back the same amount of fiber we brought. Summer 2009's theme was pink/cranberry with some bit of other colors for some pop. Fiber content is who knows what - I do know from sheep there is corriedale and merino, there is angora bunny fiber, there is bamboo, there is mohair (from goats) but since we didn't ask what everyone was bringing it's really a big surprise.

This past Saturday I put it through my drum carder three times. Some of the spinners will spin it without carding and end up with lumpy bumpy fun yarn, some will put it through a carder just once. I wanted just a bit of texture but not much so I put it through the carder twice, then a third time adding some angelina sparkle in hot pink to give it some flash!

Here's what one of the batts looks like. As I spin I tear the batt into strips. I ended up with 12 1/2 ounces of fiber.

Here is the first bobbin almost filled - the color turned out beautiful, I love the little bits of yellow, white and black in it for interest and texture. I completely filled this bobbin and started on the second bobbin today. I'm able to fit half of the fiber (6 1/4 oz) on one of these big Majacraft bobbins. I'll ply the two bobbins together for a 2 ply yarn. I'm not sure how I'll use this yarn yet - will depend on how many yards I end up with. I'm spinning it a bit thicker than fingering weight. I wanted to start off the year working on this project since our display at the county fair this year will be a photo display of all the steps of the garden party and finished pieces of skeins of yarn made not only from the 2009 garden party but also from 2007 & 2008.