Garden Carding

I took my wheel for a spin today at the GA Botanical Gardens. What a fantastic place to spin!

I got quite a few looks but I met some adorable kids and talked to a lot of people about fiber, so of course I loved it!

 

I was able to get a nice shot of my wheel, a little LadyBug model. I love that it is so portable, I can't imagine picking up a larger wheel to take a little trip to the garden.

 

I decided I needed a few pictures of my yarn. This is a navajo-plied chunky yarn made from shetland/babydoll/alpaca fiber, my first wheel spun item.

 

And I just loved these trees to model the fiber against. Their trunks are just beautiful. The colored yarn is made of the same batt as the navajo-plied chunky yarn, but it is plied with a thin, green cashmere yarn I reclaimed from a sweater. The white is a single ply I've been practicing with. I'm not sure what the wool is exactly (it was a sample pack that came with my wheel) so I thought I'd give it a shot to see how even and fine a yarn I could manage. As I only have three bobbins, I've wound the yarn back on navajo spindles I've been working on building. They really do a nice job displaying the yarn, and with an easy cardboard version of a lazy kate, I can ply directly from them.

 

I forgot to get pictures of the llama fiber I was carding, but I'm sure I'll have many more opportunities to get pictures of my decked out carders in action.

 

All in all, a beautiful relaxing day in the garden.

-M