I have been putting my little Ashford Kiwi spinning wheel through it's paces. I have been pushing it to the 'Pepsi Max' of it's capabilities. I am in experimental 'Lucy in The Sky' style territory. If there are rules, they are there to be broken! Finally I have made a little dent in my Alpaca stash. I have realised that if I want have any chance of spinning a 'decent' yarn with it I am going to have to be brutal and lose a massive proportion of my haul. Just keeping the better quality fleece. It seems like a terrible waste to me, but some of it has too much vegetable matter in it and I do not have the hours in the day to pick it all out. I have also only ever spun Alpaca unwashed and uncarded. The next lot I spin will be washed and carefully carded. I still have at least seven black bags full to play with! Tomorrow I am going to Weaving Spinning and Dyeing Guild and I am doing an all day workshop, 'Peg Loom Weaving'. Well I have a plan.
In among by Gizmos and Gadgets I have an under used peg loom, and the most delightful little 'Owlie' bag.
The pegs fit nicely in the 'Owlie' bag. I have used the loom briefly at work where as a collaborative project the kids all had a go at weaving a group piece. We used an assortment of odds and ends, bright acrylic and novelty yarns. As I say, the loom is under used. The pegs were too much of a tight fit so Euan has very kindly and diligently filed the end of each peg and now they are a much better fit. I have done a little bit of 'Googling' about peg looms and know you can pretty much weave anything on them from rags to raw fleece. I didn't want to buy anything in addition to the too much fleece and yarn I already hoard so the natural conclusion I came to was to prepare some of my 'Free' Alpaca.
I have literally chucked it through the wheel and made some Super Duper Ultra Bulky 'Yarn' as I Navajo Plied the already thick singles. The little 'Kiwi' groaned under the pressure. My Other Half came across a ball of the said yarn today and said 'What the Hell's that! It looks like a creature!' It does as well, it reminds me of that episode of Star Trek with all those 'Tribbles'
I wonder how they will weave up tomorrow? I will of course be back to update you regarding my adventures. Beam me up Scotty!
