#alpaca fiber

[ithilien-bjd]

Hey to all doll makers and customizers (and fiber artists too lol) - our two old alpacas just got sheared for the summer, so I have a bunch of brown fiber and a bunch of white fiber. Unprocessed/raw, with a shorter staple length than most suri (2-4 inches, theyre suri x huacaya crosses so have the silky straight fiber but not as long). I'll let you have as much as you want for the cost of shipping! Just trying to save attic space.

Here are two wigs I've made with them to give you an idea of color.

[almapark]

My day on the farm

[ancient-art-of-craft]

Yarn for Christmas?

An open PSA to anyone with crafting friends (and isn't really sure what they like):

DON'T BUY THEM YARN

Part of the hobby is the purchasing yarn, which some might argue buying yarn and using yarn are two different hobbies. "But OP," you might argue, "I just know they'll love the Red Heart Super Saver I got on sale at Joann's! One skein should be plenty, and they can make me a sweater!"

This is one of those rare cases where a gift card to their favorite yarn store is more personal. First off, nothing against Red Heart, but if they're a yarn snob, it's going to collect dust. If they're a project-oriented purchaser, it's going to collect dust. If they like to buy yarn, then it's just mean.

Also, NEVER imply that your crafting friend should make something for you. If they love you, they will. If they don't, then you're not close enough to be making expensive demands.

[we-re-always-alright]

slowly chugging away at this baby blanket, 8in down, 31 to go!!!!!

[so-i-did-this-thing]

Today's enrichment.

[throughtrialbyfire]

developing possible headcanons about bosmer textiles/clothing and materials commonly used, trying to figure out what dyes they would have access to (if any), where they'd get some of the materials that don't come naturally from valenwood, maybe there is a little creature in my head that does not let me be normal ever

[cjgladback]

I went to my first fiber festival this past weekend! Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival; if I'm still in this state come June next year, I'll probably be back and would love to meet anybody else there. Socializing/hanging out/talking to people without feeling like I was obstructing Real Customers was the one thing I missed, though I didn't really get to any of the free lectures so maybe that's where I could've met some people. Since it was an unknown situation with a lot of people and nearly an hour drive each way, I strategized to make sure I'd go:

First day, I signed up for a couple volunteer shifts. Absolutely a recommended strategy.

Got to be helpful!

They happened to have goodie bags, to help me justify the gas and time (I now have a nice tape measure to replace the one that's been vacationing with a missing sewing kit for a couple years and a lasercut wood two-inch gauge window that might help me with consistency versus my suboptimal practice of just trying to knit perfect squares when swatching in pattern)

I got to learn things about the layout and schedule I wouldn't know to ask when answering questions and acting as a gofer -- especially true working two different locations

And of course, some people were pretty much guaranteed to be happy to see me!

Second day, I signed up for a workshop in the morning so I'd be there and able to shop for anything I needed at the end. Ombre yarn dyeing was the class! It's acid dyes, something I'm several years off from wanting to get into enough to commit to dedicated cookware, full pots of dye powder, etc. The room with the workshop was a barn that had plenty of outlets--but they did not represent plenty of breakers. So there weren't quite enough functional heating elements for the class to have sufficiently cooked our yarn before leaving, and I did need to risk a giant stock pot at home for three batches of four jars, almost-simmering in a water bath for thirty minutes each, of the yarn that hadn't proven it was done (all but the two palest greens). I was a little worried the delay/drawn out heat situation would affect the results but if it did it wasn't much; I got pretty much exactly what I was hoping for with my two color gradient and the single is great too!

The single dye gradient is the color Moss, which did some interesting things with the red portion separating out once they were heated. Every skein has redder blotches, so I'm not bothered about any inconsistency -- if anything it'll help my finished product camouflage stains. Though it was definitely a surprise for me and the other Moss user in the class when our first yarn to have exhausted the dye was the complementary color to what it went in as.

The two color gradient used Rhodamine Red on one end, which was one end of one of our instructor's samples where she chose a cool-green for the other end to show how multi-component dyes mix less predictably than most paint. (It was kinda like shading with markers where you can still see washes of the pink and green in what you squint at and call a grey-brown.) The other end was Cantaloupe, which was one of the maybe three colors she didn't have a sample cut of yarn for. But she described it as the flesh of a perfect ripe cantaloupe and obviously I had to see that, and it sounded like it would be fairly guaranteed to combine nicely with the magenta while being just enough around a bend in the color wheel to be interesting--warm orange versus cool pink. As I said, it turned out pretty much exactly as I was picturing. Not anticipated was how much the jars looked like they were full of some delicious dragonfruit-mango beverage. Were I still a barista I'd be trying to recreate this for my shift drink.

Image descriptions under the cut.

[ID: Five images following fourteen small skeins of sock yarn dyed in individual glass jars, in two gradients. One gradient is six skeins from a medium forest green through a pale creamy pink, the other is eight skeins from a vibrant yellow orange through an even more vibrant magenta. The first photo is inside under fluorescent lights, showing the 32oz glass canning jars with metal lids and rings, full of dye and yarn on a table at the end of the class in which they were filled and heated for a short time.

The next two images are animated gifs. The first gif is two frames showing the finished dye jars sitting in grass, with their yarn and with it removed. The green gradient left only transparent blue color in its jars, and most of the pink to orange gradient's water looks more orange without its yarn, aside from the third and fourth jars from the orange end, which shade toward a neon lilac with the peachy pink yarn removed. The second gif is a view of the inside of the bright green wash bucket, with just the pink-orange yarn in it, then all of them mixed up, all as they were after a soak with the rust-brown water, in the first rinse, and that rinse water alone showing its transparent but still brown tint.

The last two photos show the gradients lined up along a weathered wooden bench on the side of a deck. The first photo has the wet piles of yarn bundled in front of each of their respective jars with remaining dye. The final photo has the clean, dry yarn wound into center-pull balls and still vibrant in the direct sunlight. End ID]

[avaylee]

Update... and a question.

Finally making time to get through Cloudy Rainbow. The alpaca is so very soft and the silk... is slick as snot. I forget that I am not well practiced and that silk is a level up. There will be slubs! There will also be chain plying, so it will balance out (I hope).

Finished up thr yellow, which means I'm halfway through. Woo!

Onto the question...

I've been listening to Depeche Mode while spinning this particular set of rolags. The underlying beat is somehow perfect for my treadle. I've listened to other things at other times, but kind of consistently come back to Depeche Mode for spinning projects.

To the spinners... what's on your playlist? Does it satisfy a beat need, or strictly music for music's sake?

[weavingforlooms]

progress on my natural color alpaca shawl!!!! It’s taking shape!!!! Ish!!!!!

Two fingering weight yarns held double (my favorite way to knit), eight increases every four rows, garter all the way through. Alpaca is so buttery soft that it is an absolute pleasure and a joy to knit with, and I stop frequently just to rub at what I’ve knit, hehehe

[calendae-creations]

I went to the craft supplies thrift shop near me the other day, and really lucked out. I got what appears to be an entire alpaca fleece for astoundingly cheap!

[freshstitches]

I posted this on Instagram and they just didn't get it over there.

[blueprintcraft]

Forgot the first rule of everything. Show don’t tell.

Exploring my next installment of creative failure and foundations.

I approached a good idea the wrong way and it’s been sitting in my WIP pile for a long time. Every row was leading to a “What if…” or “I should have …” moment.

So. Here we go. I haven’t torn anything back yet. It’s 2:39 here and big decisions are not good at (now) 2:41.

But it’s not the end. It’s doing it right.

[justanotherlittlequeerdo]

Hello, I've been busy.

[we-re-always-alright]

that is the absolute LAST time I make a baby blanket in fingering weight

LETS FUCKING GO.

[norwegianvisagecrusher]

I'm going to my first fiber fest tomorrow! Help me pick out patterns and decide what to buy!

I've been crocheting for about 3 years now and feel like I'm at a solid intermediate skill level now, which means I'm going to treat myself to some fancy yarns! I've done some looking online at hand dyed yarn and am feeling quite overwhelmed honestly. There are so many dyers and yarn bases and color combinations, and I have no idea what will look good crocheted. Most of the swatches of hand dyed yarn are knit and crochet eats up so much yarn that I have no idea how the yarn would look in a crocheted project, so I'm feeling a bit lost! Should I go for stripes? Speckles? Gradients? Tonals? I just don't know!

I'd really love to make a shawl/wrap in hand dyed wool, but am struggling with finding a pattern so I know how much yarn to buy tomorrow. Does anyone have any crochet shawl patterns that will look good with hand dyed yarn? I'm open to working with anything from fingering to worsted weight and feel pretty confident with most stitches. I would prefer something that doesn't have large sections of open work or lace, but I will conquer crocheted lace if there's a pattern out there that would shine with a hand dyed yarn. I'm also pretty confident with Tunisian crochet and have been eyeing a few shawl patterns from TL Yarncraft recently.

Any recommendations for yarn or patterns is greatly appreciated!

Here are the patterns I've been considering, but I cannot for the life of me decide which one to buy for. Please help!

[palustrine]

A lil sample of my alpaca humbug~ my favourite way to show off natural colours!