My New Toy!

My Elsa Carder arrived today. I paid Kyle to drive to the freight office to pick it up and take it out of the crate. I am glad that he was willing to do it. He has gotten really good at following instructions and managed to get all of the crate off with the hlep of my nephew, Drew. By the time Marc got home, we were ready to move it into the studio. Marc connected the table where the fibers fed in and I was carding immediately. I spent 45 minutes feeding it and decided to check how much was on the carder. It is not even half full. I can tell that the picker s going to speed things up. I have still not pulled the first batt off, but I can already tell that it is going to be well prepared and have a lot less VM (vegetable matter for you non fiber addicts!)

My first batt/roving is going to be all kid mohair and consists of lots of batches of colors that were floating around. The next one will be Rambouillet which has already been picked. I have been running the carder at 40% of its maximum speed and it is running at the same pace as the old one. Since it is a lot wider, I will be getting a lot more of one "dyelot" to play with. I cannot imagine doing a whole batt in one color!

I finished the medieval collar and the pattern. I need to wash and block it so the ruffles will lay properly. Then I will photograph it for the pattern and list it on etsy

I carded this batch of coiled and single with the intention of using it for "my" corset. I don't really plan to wear it. But, I decided that I want to make it in black and burgundy. One batt on the larger carder will be sufficient for the yardage that I need. So this will go in the shop. It is a lovely combo of kid mohair and merino. The coiled has 182 yard, if I remember right. I still have to count the single.

Life is so exciting right now. To add to all of this, I found out that I was accepted into the Winter 4th Avenue Street Fair. So mark your calendars for 11-13 of December , if you usually come looking for me there. All the more reason to play with fiber!