Welcome! The alpacas and farm life have become my constant teachers, and I have begun shifting my blog focus to reflect the lessons I am learning. I plan to share more thoughts and stories related to farm life in Grays Harbor County and carve out a space in the ethernet where one can stop, breathe, and think.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

My Fibershed Update

Several years in the making...but it's finally finished! My first item, a scarf, that I knit using yarn that was completely hand processed by me from locally purchased fleece. My first Fibershed accessory!

Several years ago I purchased a raw Icelandic Sheep fleece from my friend Selma, owner of Bone Dry Ridge in Rochester, WA, shown below hand feeding one of her lambs. This was my first fleece ever that I was going to process myself. I skirted, washed, picked, carded, and spun it into yarn. Back then I didn't have any fiber processing equipment of my own except for my spinning wheel, so I bought an inexpensive dog comb for picking and borrowed my friend's hand-cranked drum carder to make batts for spinning. Aside from the hot water for washing, no other step in the process required electricity.

To give you an idea of how long this has been in the making, I was spinning the yarn during the 2008 Presidential debates! The yarn sat for many years on the shelf, patiently waiting for the right pattern to present itself. I finally decided on the wickerwork pattern that you see here. The scarf is over 7' long - perfect for wrapping around my head and ears on our (thankfully rare) freezing cold winter days.

What are you working on right now? Feel free to share...
Ciao for now,
Lynn



2 comments:

  1. Alpaca wool offers all season comfort that has great insulation capacity & acts as a shield to varying temperatures.
    alpaca men’s clothing

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  2. Hi there, have just stumbled across your blog. This may be totally unrelated to what you do but you seem to be very knowledgeable so I thought I'd ask anyway. I live in New Zealand, we have a dozen or so alpacas but never really do anything with the fleece. I thought about making a duvet inner with the fleece and have watched and read a fair bit about washing it and could probably find a pattern. But I was just wondering if you know anything about this or have any tips to share? Thank you! Sophie

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