Black Swamp Fiber Market

The Black Swamp Weavers Fiber Market in Bowling Green, Ohio was last weekend...March 28th. I did not leave without finding some beautiful turquoise bamboo roving that I am having hand spun to use in a shawl. I am going to weave it with my turquoise Wensleydale/Suri yarn and look forward to beginning that project. I also purchased some loopy Mohair and some Corredale. I knew I wouldn't leave there without some booty. My mom also made some purchases and is laughing when she thinks about all the projects she has to do now. I think she is busier now that she is retired than when she worked!

Fiber Market and Dyeing

I will be attending the Black Swamp Fiber Market in Bowling Green, Ohio this Saturday. This is my third year for this trek and I'm looking forward to it. I also spent last weekend doing some dyeing. I had great success in dyeing a 50/50 mix of Wensleydale Sheep/Suri Alpaca yarn with a turquoise acid dye. This weekend I will begin weaving this into a new shawl on my triangle loom. Can't wait to see how this turns out!

Skirting in March

We were blessed with some nice, warm weather today. With highs in the lower 60's, it was time to do some skirting. I reserve this activity for warmer weather since I don't do this indoors due to the dust, debris and dirt. It was great fun to re-open boxes of fiber I have been collecting for this year's processing. We skirted some white suri for a new blend of cashmere, angora and suri alpaca. I cannot wait to get this yarn!! I'm off to the mill.

It's like Christmas when a new box of sourced fiber arrives at my doorstep. Yesterday, I received a box of angora (rabbit hair) from a new source in Indiana. This is going to mix just beautifully with my suri alpaca and cashmere. I can hardly wait to get out to the skirting tables again!

Today I launched my new web site and store for Great Lakes Fibers. I would invite any fiber enthusiast to post here. I now have some spare time to finish my latest tri loom project and hopefully skirt about 30 lbs of alapca and cashmere to send to the mill. We are working on a great new yarn line.