Wingham Wool Wonderland!

LIn my last post I talked about a few 'little' purchases that I had made when Wingham Wool visited Cornwall. I was like a child in a sweet shop! Perhaps you'd like to see them?
This is one of the wool batts that I bought. It's a mix of merino, silk and cotton.

                      

  

I loved the muted lavender colours, but, when I started spinning it, the colours were so subtle they simple looked grey. So I'm putting it on the hand carders and mixing in some more purple and green. 

       

  

       

What do you think?

The second purchase is actually two batts that I have put together to make one. 

       

 

I love the mixes of greens and oranges that this creates. There was some dark orange in the green batt already, but I wanted a more vibrant effect. I can't wait to spin it and I should have a lot of yarn in the end to make something to wear as the two batts together weigh over 700 grams. That will keep me busy!

I also bought some merino and silk blends.

                     

                               

 I bought some dehaired brown yak and some camel tops so I can practise longdraw using some short fibres.

       

This carded waste sari silk is beautiful to blend in with other fibres. 

                     

I carded some with some chocolate alpaca last year and it spun beautifully.

I also bought these cashmere neps for adding texture to my own carded batts. They are beautifully soft and 100 grams should go a long way.

       

Finally, I bought this hand dyed mulberry silk sheet.

       

Unfortunately, my hands don't seem smooth enough to handle it without it catching on my skin. I don't think I have particularly rough hands! It might be tricky to spin - presuming I can spin it at all.

Ok, that's more than enough to keep me busy for some time! However, I've been persuaded to take a spinning contract for a local lady who keeps Southdown sheep. Has two white, Cloughie and Bertie, and one black, Pepsi, that she would like me to spin. This is the first spinning project that I will done for someone else and I'm a little nervous about it. I haven't got time to start it until the Summer holidays, which she is fine about, but I shall try to prepare the fleece and spin some mini skeins for the lady to see.  
Becky x