I was always that kid with a pocket of pebbles, and rock drawer in my desk…..I still pick up interesting specimens! The natural brown-grey of the fiber and yarn for May lent itself well to this scene of Pebbles, I simply added a wash over with the shades of maroon, pink, blue, green, and tan. I applied the colors randomly to replicate this jumble of granite.
Our yarn is Tiger Tweed, a 2 ply superwash Merino with bits of Donegal tweed blended in to lend tufts of neutral colors that don’t take the dye. This one isn’t my favorite for socks (knit tightly if you do), but it makes a very nice effect in large projects such as shawls and cowls and such.
Our fiber is New England Fine Grey Combed Sliver. Definitely something completely different to the combed top prep most of us are used to. This wool pool fiber is indeed from smaller New England farms, and has simply been scoured (washed of dirt and lanolin), then sent through the first bit or two of carding to make sliver. If continuing the process to combed top, several of these are drawn into the combs together, and then a thick combed top ready for mechanical spinners is the result. As you can see from the 4 oz sample above, this sliver is not as thick, and thus longer. It does make it much easier to handle, and you don’t need to worry about ripping it down thinner to make it more manageable. This has also not been carbonized, a chemical process that burns off the vegetable matter and dust. I washed a lot of the dust off for you through the dyeing process, but there is still a good amount on there, and plenty of hay….so you may prefer spinning outside, or with a dropcloth. I find the effort is worth it, it’s a very fun and easy spin, and most of the hay just falls out on its own. This is a good fiber to try your hand at long draw if you haven’t ventured there yet. Let go of making a perfectly even yarn with this one, and just have fun with it. We’ll be returning to our usually combed top in June.
Thanks for being a part of Tiger Club for June! My apologies for a late reveal, it has been a busy couple of weeks and this was pushed to the back burner. I don’t currently have any openings in Tiger Club, but to jet me an email if you are interested, you can be at the top of the waitlist!
