Spinning Carbonized Bamboo

After my meeting on Saturday and the opportunity to try some new fiber I decided to finish up the Carbonized Bamboo that I sampled. I have about 1/2 an ounce of it so I expect I can get quite a few yards. From what I can tell Carbonized Bamboo is Bamboo that has been pulverized, turned into a sludge, heated and then somehow turned into this soft and silky fiber. So at this point it is no longer considered a natural fiber but a man-made one. That having been said I would probably not be interested in using a lot of it, but, it is fun to explore. It is very soft and silky. When you spin it, it is both slippery and grippy at the same time. It takes up the spin well yet you can still work with it once some spin has entered the fiber. I would like to see if I could use some of it in making some tatted lace or some bobbin lace. It is supposed to finish very soft and drapey so bobbin lace may not be possible unless I create lace with sewing edges on both sides to support it. We will see how it goes.

Dorset Wool

This big ball of fluffy wooly goodness is actually only one third of its original size. When I received it, it was just shy of 15 ounces. My mother sent it to me from Ohio. It was some wool raised on a farm near her and the neighbor sold it to her already processed into roving. When it arrived in the mail I could not help but think that I had just received a lovely base of a snow man. I don't miss the cold but an occaisional snowman certainly would be nice from time to time.

At this point I have all but 5 ounces spun into a "worsted" weight yarn. I then plan on dying it into about 3 different colors of young girl friendly shades. I plan on making my daughter a granny square vest for her to wear this coming winter. I not long ago was re-introduced to the granny square and just can't resist doing my part to revive such a tried and true design.