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January 07, 2007
I'm a drum carding fiend!
Yesterday, my Strauch Drum Carder came home. Oh I love it. I made a few batts last night for practice. I used some merino I'd hand painted a while back, but wasn't really crazy about. The yellow, orange, and pink blended together for a really lovely look. Then I mixed some New Zealand wool in purple, white, and a fuscia pink with navy silk and a bright pink firestar and ended up with stunning results.
Today, I started blending for my Nordic Lights socks. I used a mix of yellow and white merino, a bit of white bombyx silk, faux cashmere in orange and yellow, and finally yellow firestar. I photographed the whole process.
First, I started out with dyed fiber.
Then I cared the yellow and white together.
Then I removed each batt from the drum. I used a size 19 needle to wrap the batt around. Yes, needles that large CAN be useful!
I ended up with five yellow and white batts.
I then tore the batts in half and carded them with halves of other batts. I sandwiched the Silk, 'cashmere', and firestar in them to add some depth in the color.
I didn't measure out how much of each was mixed in, so I had to card the batts one last time. this time I tore the batts into third and mixed them up. This left me with my five final batts.
I'm now spinning these by tearing a strip from random batts. And boy do they spin like a dream. I'm rather proud of myself. I'm still working on my mittens, and the second one is about half way done. I intend on posting more pictures tomorrow for that.
Posted by Holly at January 7, 2007 07:37 PM
Comments
oh man...... those pictures are ALMOST making me want to get back to my wheel for a minute..
very nice!
Posted by: Mia at February 16, 2007 05:19 PM
Zowie - gorgeous! They look so soft, so light, so smooth. I haven't even begun to think about this part of fiber - you're giving me ideas! I'll make sure to blame it on you when a drum carder finds its way to my house someday in the not-too-distant future!
Posted by: Dawn at January 8, 2007 09:55 AM
Oh my your batts are wonderful! Thank you so much for posting them.. I NEED ONE NOW!!!
Posted by: merlinthecat at January 7, 2007 10:11 PM