Tag: Spin Artiste

Squeee….WoolWench blogged about Alba Ranch

Squeee….WoolWench blogged about Alba Ranch

Posted on by Melisa

Squee….yahoo!  WoolWench aka Suzy, blogs at various locations.  This time she was on the Fibery Goodness Blog and she did a posting about the various Fiber Sponsors for the Journey to the Golden Fleece Award online spinning course that both WoolWench (Suzy) and Spin Artiste (Arlene) have created and are currently teaching.  Alba Ranch was just added as one of the Fiber Sponsors and the discount code for course participants is in the members only forum.  Course participants get a 15% discount!!  AND  WoolWench blogged about ALBA RANCH.  Yayness!

Module 1 yarn panel woven and free form crochet

I love what she said about Alba Ranch as well as her feelings about one of my hands down favorite fibers to spin which is the 15.5 micron merino.  I consider this THE luxury fiber to spin as well, very classic, very luxury.  I have been selling this fiber for a while but never allowed myself the opportunity to spin it until I started this course.  Part way through Module One, I decided that ALL my modules would be created from this one special fiber left in its classic white color.  So my personal challenge has been all about using the same fiber, prepared as a commercial combed top, in its natural white and getting 7 very different yarns all down to the spinning and plying techniques.  Whew this has been a challenge. With them all being the same color and fiber, the only way to make them different is really to spin completely different yarns.  Some of these various structures have been super fun and the fiber has worked well with them.

Mod 5 panel woven and free form crochet

A few were more of a challenge and the resulting yarn has been great but I might choose a different fiber in the future for that specific yarn style.  It has been a serious learning challenge that I had no idea what I was getting into when I came up with this crazy brilliant plan.  HA!!

If you want to read the blog posting and see all the wonderful sponsors for the Journey to the Golden Fleece award go here to read all about us.

I am off out into the woods to sort out all the goats, dogs and cats along with various plants and trees.  a “ranch goddess” work is NEVER done.

Fibery Goodness Module Five Yarn

Fibery Goodness Module Five Yarn

Posted on by Melisa

I have finished Module Five yarn, set the twist, photographed it and wove a circle weaving with it.  This module was supposed to focus on mastery.  Specifically mastering a spinning technique spun previously, showing several variations in small yardage skeins.  I did not find the module enjoyable because I personally hate doing small yardages, samples and other assorted test your technique stuff that many people do.  I personally find it annoying and a waste of time as I tend to want to just get on with a project and spin or weave.

Mod 5 yarn close up

Since I have been focusing a lot on Spiral techniques in this course, I decided to spin 4 variations of a spiral yarn.  In order to really show off the technique, I still followed my previous outline which was using the same commercial prepared combed top preparation of 15.5 Micron Merino wool in white.

All the photos have the basic spiral, extreme spiral, beaded spiral and super coil core spun style spiral in that order from left to right.

Module 5 yarn

 

I spun a basic spiral, a extreme spiral holding one ply with tighter tension to create more spiraling, a beaded spiral with a silk thread and freshwater pearls, and a super coil almost core spun version of a spiral.

Module 5 yarn

 

 

 

 

 

I accidentally did the super coil core spun sort in a different module but this time wanted to do it on purpose and see if I could over come the original design problem of so much twist that the yarn was coarse feeling and darker in color.  When I spun this super coil core spun sort of version this time, I did keep the softness and loftiness of the merino fiber as well as the white color and I just loved it.

I am finding that with each module I have a large amount of yarn spun up that I don’t use in the final project weaving.  I think that I will be weaving some circular and square wall hangings as I have had requests for more baby room wall art, as well as some scarves and maybe shawls.  You will find those on my shop on Etsy.com so keep an eye out for Alba Ranch’s shop and some new projects.