This has to be the most perfect day I've seen, and this morning J and I walked over to the farmers market for some fresh, local produce. The market was hopping, and I had to wait in a long line for my berries-- but they were worth it, and we came home and had pancakes with blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries for breakfast. Then I got down to serious business: Spinning!!
This is wool I got while at woolfest last weekend. I love woolfest (formerly known as fiberfest) which is held every June at Lake Farmpark, the farm that I used to work on. I love this event and always try to go, because it is ALWAYS so inspiring, and makes me want to spin. I find I spin more in the summer and fall, and tend to knit more through the other seasons. Woolfest is one of the main reasons, because after seeing all of the fiber and handspun yarn and thinking about the possibilities I can't help myself!
This year I bought my wool from Amy, who owns a wool mill in Michigan! She was very friendly and was really excited to share information, which I always appreciate. Her mill, Jehovah Jireh Woolmill, is in Paw Paw Michigan, a couple of hours from me. She dyes the wool herself, and her blends were beautiful-- I fell in love with Lagoon immediately and had to get that, but it was hard to pass up some of the other color combos! The other great thing about the wool is that it is a blend of mohair, merino, and corriedale. I have always been a bit of a wool snob and usuallty only spin merino or merino silk blends, but this is the easiest wool to spin, and it's soft. Amy explained that including a wool like corriedale, which has long fibers, helps it hold together, and boy is she right. I am so spoiled by this wool, I might not go back to the other kinds. It should be easy to get more, too, because the mill sells the wool in their ebay store, so if any spinners are reading this, check it out!!
The thing I love most about spinning is playing with color, and appreciating the blends of color as I spin. Eventually I would love to get a wheel, but for now I am loving my drop spindle, and it's getting me where I need to go. I love how handspun yarn looks so original and has such character, too-- I have no problem using commercially produced yarn (I was just admiring the alpaca I am using for the Kenobi again), but there is something about making something original and different that is satisfying. I can spin yarn that looks very consistent and uniform (there was a time when that was what I desired!) but I am more appreciative now of the variation and uniqueness in my handspun, so while spinning up the lagoon I am letting it flow at it's own thickness rather than controlling it to be very consistent. As soon as I have a skein it will be posted-- keep an eye out for it!!