Gift horses

Last summer, Mitchell and Rachel bought me a long braid of blue fibre—8 ounces of Corriedale and silk, handpainted in the most amazingly subtle blues. I brought it home and coiled it into a matching blue glass bowl, where I could admire it while pondering my plan of attack.Once last fall, I tugged off a few inches of the two fibres, and gave them a go on one of my laceweight drop spindles, but I wasn't happy with the barber pole effect; it created a thin silk line twisting around a thicker worsted-spun wool singles, and it just didn't look right to me. And whatever I did with this beautiful fibre, I wanted it to be right, so I put it back in its bowl and let it sit a while longer.

Then, while I was drum carding the BFL I told you about yesterday, it came to me: I could do the same with the silk/Corriedale, and spin it up from carded batts. Here's what happened:

1. I pulled off a tuft (about 7 grams, it turns out) and spread it open.
2. I pulled it apart into staple-length segments, and spread it out on the feed tray of the drum carder. Notice that I'm putting it through sideways (a trick I learned from Leslie, for which I am much thankful); this keeps it from clumping up on the drum, and helps it get all nice and poofy. Yes, that's a technical term.
3. After a single pass through the drum carder, the fibres are still a bit confused and unsure which direction they should be leaning. Some of them seem positively distracted.4. A second pass through should take care of that. Note innovative use of sushi mat (actually, two sushi mats, since one isn't anywhere near long enough, but at $1.49 apiece I figure I can afford a couple). I use them to roll the batt neatly off the drum, and avoid lacerating my knuckles.5. This time, all of the fibre has got the message: it's all headed more or less in the same direction, and looking very cooperative and happy. A beautiful, airy batt. And you can still see the strands of silk, running through the wool.
6. The best part, though, is that three of these pretty batts spin up into almost 100 yards of true laceweight yarn:7. Which pleases me immensely. I love how the silk catches the light and gives the otherwise fuzzy Corriedale a bit of sheen and depth. Overall, I'd say this looks like a go.