Mohair Fiber/Shipshewana Wool

After getting back from Indiana I had the chance to vist a local Angora goat farm Mea Stone owns Stony Woods Farm in Keller, TX. Mea spent most of a Saturday with me showing me her goats and showing me how to process the fiber. I was able to purchase some lovely fiber from her. She was kind enough to label each bag with the name of the goat and then made sure I had met each goat so I could remember them as I spun and knit the fiber. I admit I was a little hesitant with the first batch but I had that lovely gray wool from Shipshewana and I wanted to make a great hat for my daughter, Katie. Katie had picked out a hat pattern in the yarn shop in Shipshewana for me to make.
This is just some of the lovely fiber I got from Mea. I'll have enough to keep me busy through the rest of the year I imagine.

Bags of mohair. Most of it needs washing and processing. She did inclulde 2 bags of fiber that is already processed and ready to spin. The first batch I tried was some very dark gray/black fiber from a goat named Lizzie. I picked it, washed it, dried it and then carded the locks into rolags to spin from.
Then I started spinning the rolags. I alternated between carding and spinning until it was all spun up.
I also spun the gray wool I had purchased in Shipshewana along with some gray Corridale wool I had purchased on the internet. It was gray but had some brown in it. It made for really lovely color variation.
After I had spun all the wool and the mohair I began to ply the singles together.

After plying I wound it off the bobbins into skeins using a niddy noddy and then washed it to set the twist. After washing and pressing out the water with a towel I hung the skeins on a hanger in the utility room to dry. I have about 6 oz. of yarn to make Katie's hat. The green roving I bought in Shipshewana also spun up like a dream. It was lovely and thin. Not sure what to do with it yet. Maybe try some fingerless gloves. I'm thinking I would like some for knitting in the winter.

A close up of the yarn, it had those bits of yellow and purple in the roving and look really nice in the yarn. Its very soft also.

Summer Vacation

In June my daughter Katie and I went to Indiana to visit my brother Louie and sister-in-law Teri. They live in Denver, Indiana and have a canoe rental business on the Eel River called Miller's Canoe. They have a lovely piece of property there and I love to visit. If you are ever in the area during canoe season take a trip on the river. Its great. I'll have to include those pictures in another post. One of my favorite places to go when we are there is Shipshewana, Indiana. Its about 2 hours north of Louie near the state line. Its an Amish town where you can take a buggy ride, shop for lovely hand made gifts and eat fantastic food. Of course I had to look for a yarn shop while I was there this time and found one with lovely gardens out back and on the side of it.
Katie took several pictures of the horse and buggys as we were walking through the town. Here we are outside the Blue Gate Cafe. The food there is plentiful and excellent. The gardens outside the cafe are lovely also.
While in the yarn shop I found some really nice gray wool and some lovely green roving with bits of purple and yellow in it. My follow up posts will have pictures of the handspun yarn and what I'm doing with it.