Susan, of Susan's Fiber Shop, whom I bought my spinning wheel from, had a booth at the festival. We stopped to say hello, plus I wanted to take a look at what type of drum carders she had available. I am trying out a Pat Green drum carder. I'd read about them on the internet, but had not seen one, let alone tried one out, in person.
Susan is giving me instructions......
Oh yes.....I would like one. :)
Fiber is laid onto the "feeder tray" ...................
and gently fed into the teeth of the drum, which then blends all of it together, making what is called a "batt".
The batt is then rolled off of the large drum and is ready to be spun.
The finished batt.
We didn't know what to expect in the way of animals at this festival, having never been before. The other fiber festivals/county fairs that we have attended, have always had a number of fiber animals "on the hoof". :) This festival had these 2 Alpacas......1 shorn and the other not, plus a few Angora Rabbits, but mainly it was just a "vendor driven" festival.
Both were quiet (with the exception of a little "singing/humming") and very friendly.
Beautiful eyes, eh? :)
I'm sure this little guy has beautiful eyes, too, which will show after shearing. :)
I didn't buy a drum carder, but did manage to find some roving that I was looking for. I had wanted some "superwash" roving to spin for knitting sock yarn. I found some superwash Merino/Mohair in 3 shades (sand/gray/and dark, almost black, navy). It is my 1st time spinning Merino and so far, I seem to be OK with it. :) I also bought some washed Coopworth fleece, that has to be carded prior to being able to be spun. I have opened up some of the locks, using a dog brush.....that too, seems to be working out fine. I'll have to make sure I take some photos of that, too.
1 comment:
Man! You're advancing quickly. I'm not even close to the drum carder step yet! :-)
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