Chiengora (Dog fiber yarn)

Freykja -German Shepherd

Brian works with another Brian (LOL we know about 6 of them) that has German Shepherds. FOUR Shepherds. So there's a goldmine of fiber in that connection.

His wife, Colbie, send my Brian home with a bag of combings and this is what they looked like.

 I was so excited till I spun up a sample and noticed:

It's full of guard hairs. (click for detail) Those straight pieces are what give wool it's prickle factor. My pug's coat is completely guard hair...that's why it's unspinable. There's no open cuticles to "grab" and it's so stiff that it won't bend into yarn. But the down of a Shepherd is marvelous. So I've got to figure out a way to get ALL that guard hair out of it. After some frustrated tweezing sessions, I wondered how it'd spin with the hairs in it. NOT WELL. It's so prickly that I think I'll knit this into a practice swatch and look for another way to separate the wool from the hair.



And last, but not least, this is Frekyja. Isn't she beautiful?

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It's still hot here. It's so warm that even INSIDE the AC is having a hard time keeping up.

If you have any ideas about how to dehair fiber, let me know! LOL

Love, Ang



Handspun Shawl

I'm a new spinner...without a hands-on guru to mentor me...so I learn by mistakes. I'm trying to curb my spinning zeal and spin, knit it up, spin, knit it up, etc. That way I can find out what flaws I need to correct BEFORE I spin up all my fiber stash.

This is one of those projects. The brown is Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud laceweight. I held it doubled and knit till I was completely out of yarn. Then I added on my handspun and knit till I couldn't complete another full row. (I have about 6-8 yards left over. I'm going to crochet a coaster and use all of it up.)

Here's its journey:

It started out a braid of fiber that I bought ($10.75) at the Arkansas Fiber Extravaganza

I didn't split the braid in half...so one skein is lighter than the other.

Here it is finished and blocking out (you have to pin it open when it's wet to make the eyelets pop open.)

Detail

A Shawl Tab (Only interesting to about one person)

I'll upload a modeling picture of it when it's not a) dark or b) +90 degrees outside.

Love ya,

Ang

Jesse's Cheshire

I'm working on massive projects right now. And in the depths of summer, my knitting mojo starts to dwindle. So I turned to fiber spinning to fill the creative void until fall comes to rescue me.

-My fiber back story-

When we were first married, we had a German Sheppard that would blow his coat yearly. I remember sitting in a three inch pile of combings thinking “This has got to be good for SOMETHING…I wish I knew what to make from it.”

Fast forward 11 years….my cat, Patches, was dying of a cancerous mass on her spine. For the last two weeks of her life she loved, and allowed herself, to be brushed. (I think she gave me those weeks as a goodbye gift.) I was shattered. I still have that bag in my fiber stash, waiting for the day I have enough skill to spin it properly.

So although I spin wool because it’s so easy to get your hands on….my passion is spinning companion animal fiber (rabbits, dogs, cats) My girlfriends tease me about trying to “pluck” their pets. shrug They’re not too far off.

Anyway, that’s my journey to where I am today. I enjoy the process of spinning, but I feel that I’m just fumbling around (in the dark) with it. All of my instruction has been through Youtube videos and books/videos.
-End of Spinning back story- (copied from my introduction on Ravelry.com -Central Arkansas Spinner's Guild)

Well, I've been saving my cat fur combings for a while now.  And I had enough spun up for a small project. I finished the little cat (of cat fur..lol) a few days ago and kept noticing that she'd go "walkabout" from her place on my dresser. So, of course, I had to make the little thief one of his own.

He chose the eyes. They were leftover safety eyes from when I knit him a snake. And, according to Jesse, is called "Cheshire" from Alice in Wonderland (but he doesn't have a grin...go figure!)

(Um yeah, I still haven't convinced him that he needs a haircut.)

So, do I have my mojo back....no. But I'm getting closer.

Stay cool, everyone. 

Love, Ang