South Park S.E.eX.

G'day all!

We took us off to South Park to have us a good time. Yeehar! See my Colorado blog for pics of the drive. For me a good time means not only a good long drive, amazing scenery, etc, but also a stash enhancement expedition!

After a bit of searching for the fairgrounds (they were not exactly hopping mind you) we found the place and the fibre!

I had a lovely chat with Carol from the Sheep Shed Studio and bought some nice tops

and a bit of yarn from her (not all is shown - one ball of Wildfoote and two of superwash yarn in true blues - camera hates true blues with a passion. Obviously it is not very Australian. (True blue meaning a true Aussie)). The pumpkin coloured tops will become something for Nathan - he likes orange.

I also picked up some nice rovings from Table Rock Llamas (mostly wool but one has a blend of llama to see if I prickle with it like i do with alpaca).



The pink and blue and brown roving is dyed with natural dyes - I didn't realise that until I got home and looked at it. I just liked the colours. Not that it is a problem, I just didn't ask what the stuff was dyed with. They have a nice range of natural dyes but gosh they cost a bit!



Then I bought some Ashland Bay tops from the ladies of the Leadville Ladies Angora shop. They now have an ebay store. The dark colour is not as icky as it seems - it is subtle but the brights overwhelm the subtlety. Also the purply fluff is Blue Faced Leicester.

I am really looking forward to spinning some tops. I am pretty sure that I know who blends a lot of the Australian merino/merino-silk for Ashland Bay (and maybe Copper Moose too). Some of the stuff I've seen online looks very close to stuff I get at home. Why is this important to me? Cos I am used to spinning tops and I've been spinning a LOT of rovings recently. They are very different beasts to spin! One has the fibres all aligned (tops), the other has them all jumbled, with neppy bits as well depending on the blend (rovings). It just means I spin differently and accept a few lumpy bumpies. After all I like my handpsun not to look machine made.... It is just another difference to get used to. I will survive and will enjoy the difference! Woollen spun, here I come! But I can also do my happy semi-woollen too as I can get familiar fibres.

anon!