Angora spinning
I recieved several ounces of lovely angora last year at Wildflower as a door prize. I decided what I was going to do with it before I left the retreat last year, but it took me until the Winter retreat in Argyle this year to actually do something about it.
The good new is that I'm having a ball spinning this yarn. I blended the white angora with my ever present Brown Sheep Mill ends in dark grey using hand cards. After many rolags carded by hand, I decided that I needed to speed things up a bit and use the drum carder. I have two batts of the blend which I am alternating between to get the texture I want. One batt is much more evenly blended than the other, so I'm getting sections with some slubs of angora and then some smooth sections. Spinning long draw, I am getting some lovely, mostly smooth, fine singles.
The bad news is that the more I handle this stuff the more my eyes puff up. I started out carding a bunch of rolags last month and it didn't bother me a bit. I spent many more hours over last weekend carding and spinning the same blend. Now every time I pick up some angora it seems to get worse. Of course I am also suffering with my typical spring time allergies, but there is a marked difference when I pick up the angora fiber. This is a total bummer!!!!
I was hoping to get through enough yarn to make a matching set of hat, mittens and scarf for next winter. Now, even if I get through enough yarn, I may not be able to knit them, and who knows if I'll be able to wear them. *sigh* I guess if I can't handle the stuff it will make a nice gift for another knitter, huh?
The good new is that I'm having a ball spinning this yarn. I blended the white angora with my ever present Brown Sheep Mill ends in dark grey using hand cards. After many rolags carded by hand, I decided that I needed to speed things up a bit and use the drum carder. I have two batts of the blend which I am alternating between to get the texture I want. One batt is much more evenly blended than the other, so I'm getting sections with some slubs of angora and then some smooth sections. Spinning long draw, I am getting some lovely, mostly smooth, fine singles.
The bad news is that the more I handle this stuff the more my eyes puff up. I started out carding a bunch of rolags last month and it didn't bother me a bit. I spent many more hours over last weekend carding and spinning the same blend. Now every time I pick up some angora it seems to get worse. Of course I am also suffering with my typical spring time allergies, but there is a marked difference when I pick up the angora fiber. This is a total bummer!!!!
I was hoping to get through enough yarn to make a matching set of hat, mittens and scarf for next winter. Now, even if I get through enough yarn, I may not be able to knit them, and who knows if I'll be able to wear them. *sigh* I guess if I can't handle the stuff it will make a nice gift for another knitter, huh?