In my previous post, I mentioned that my AMAZING friend, Roseann, was knitting 2 Spinner's Lace Shawls from the Fibertrends pattern (see link below) and one of them was for ME! But wait, there's more. Roseann hand spun these shawls from the fleece of the first alpaca ever born on my farm, Scheherazade (a.k.a. "Cher".)




Cher 1 hour old






Cher as an adult






How do you even thank someone for doing something so incredible for you? You can't really. Roseann is a genius at knitting and spinning and I am just lucky enough to have her for a friend. If I haven't already made you bitterly jealous, see Roseann's post about the Cher Shawls here:

Permalink to Roseann's Blog Entry about Spinners Lace Shawls]



And, ..... Ta Dah!!!! ..... The Cher Shawl:






















Link for the Fibertrends pattern of the Spinner's Lace Shawl:


Spinners Shawl Pattern



Don't look for me to ever attempt the above mentioned pattern. I did one lace project a few years ago and I'm still suffering from the post traumatic stress (lace weight version) to this day.



Speaking of moi, I have been spinning my metaphorical wheels a lot more than my actual spinning wheels lately - I've been switching from the PC to the Mac!



It's been at least 5 years since I owned a Mac computer, and that one was a G4, so the move from Windows XP to Mac OSX Snow Leopard has been pretty hard on an old gal like me. If any of you out there decide to get off the Windows treadmill as well, here is a tip that only took me TWO ENTIRE DAYS! to figure out:

The Mac will not join your Linksys wireless network until you change your router from WEP encryption to WPA encryption!

Figuring out that one saved me from stabbing myself to death with aluminum knitting needles. I was ON THE VERGE!



If you have no idea what I was talking about just now, you may be one of those lucky people whose children or husbands run your wireless home network.


I have never succeeded in passing this extremely annoying and thankless job off, and one of my biggest fears in life is that they'll still call me when I'm 80 years old and say, "Mom! my network is down." I'll be forced to grab my walker with the tennis balls on the legs, break out of my nursing home, and drive like Mr. Magoo over to their houses.








I am loving my MacBook though, and at least I managed to figure out how to create my own Widgets. One of the first I created was for Roseann's fabulous knitting and spinning blog, "Possessed to Knit." Here's a screen shot of the Roseann widget, dead center in my MacBook's screen:








Roseann produces so much gorgeous fibery art, so quickly, that you really do have to make an effort to stay current on what she's working on. The Widget helps.



Not that I have totally neglected my own fibery pursuits. After I finished spinning the 50% Suri / 50% Huacaya alpaca roving that I mentioned in a previous post,




handspun suri / huacaya alpaca yarn




I was a little burnt out on wheel spinning, so I decided to go back to the drop spindle for a while. My hand spindle spinning is not the most perfect, but that is actually the point of this whole effort. I was missing the days when I used to spin the uneven, kooky-looking, "designer" yarn that they sell for big bucks in the yarn stores.


Once you've spun up tons of fleece on your wheel, it actually becomes almost impossible not to keep producing the same boring, even yarns. This is especially true if you keep using the fleeces and fibers that you like the most and have the most practice at.

The drop spindle works on the same principle as the spinning wheel but, for me at least, it feels like a whole different activity. I have to try harder to keep the yarn even and I am quite happy that I don't always manage it.


I was also using a new fiber that I'd recently added to my fiber-addict stash. I had this amazing hand-dyed SeaCell / Merino roving that I'd bought from my spinner-girl friends at Shenanigans. I really should not even show you this next photo because the hand-dyed rovings these two girls make are like fiber person crack - horribly addictive - but here is my latest purchase from them:







I've been spinning it up on my Golding drop spindle which, in this photo, I have forced my dog to pose with. He can't spin, but he thinks that he can. At least, he likes to play with the spindle and the yarn. He tends to leave teeth marks on the drop spindles if left unattended - not a nice habit at all - so he is usually banned from playing with my fibery things.







If my warning about roving addiction has not dissuaded you, you can buy the rovings of the Shenanigans girls here:

Shenanigans Hand-Dyed Spinning Fibers




If, way back in the paragraph about the roving, you said, "SeaCell? What the hell?" or something similar, it is seaweed mixed with cellulose.

Hopefully, you all know what Merino is because, otherwise, why are you reading a fiber art blog?


Here is a partial description of the benefits of SeaCell, brazenly lifted from Paradise Fibers' website:

* Breathable
* Soft
* Supports skin blood flow
* Stimulates skin cell regeneration
* Pleasant touch, comfortable feel

Seaweed is added as the active substance for a good reason. The fact that this marine plant is rich in various minerals, trace elements, carbohydrates, fats and vitamins, has been well-known since the times of Chinese medicine. Moreover, seaweed has been proved to protect the skin and exhibit anti-inflammatory properties...

Well, it's hard to be anti anti-inflammatory properties, but the real reason I like the SeaCell is that it lets the Merino act like Merino - so to speak - but it also makes the yarn a lot less hot. It's an excellent Florida fiber.

Now if I could just convince the Shenanigans girls, Susan and Kimberly, that they need to start doing hand-dyed Alpaca / SeaCell blends. I've tried, but they want ME to pick out the alpaca fleece for them. I keep explaining the I am no longer in the business of BREEDING alpacas.


Know where we can score a white, crimpy, clean, 2-4 inch, inexpensive, alpaca fleece without driving to Maryland?


e-Mail me.



Below: random photos that I took at the Brevard County, Florida Agricultural Fair where I did a hand spinning demo. The Great Frederick Fair (my old county's fair) was a lot bigger, but THEY did not serve Gator, or feature small children in hamster balls for our entertainment.










socks knit by my friend Mary Beth









How cute they look, when they're trapped in large plastic balls!




But, enough of my silly sentimentality, I have a designer yarn to spin.


Thanks you again Roseann. You're the best.