Baby Vest and Skeleton Leaf Bookmark

The vest for a new nephew was from hazelnut superwash merino laps, overdyed and spun in my attempt at a soft single. It was a bit overspun in spots, but worked up nicely in the vest....which I am calling a Tomten Vest as it is based on EZ's jacket pattern.







I love skeleton leaves. Like snowflakes, I wish I could translate their beauty into a fibery medium, and I will probably tackle other versions in the future. In the meantime I like how this turned out.

From handspun laceweight two-ply merino-tencel.

Making a Dent

It took me a while to find my pace with the alpaca. First I tried flick carding and spinning on the wheel. It took forever, over a week to get a measly 50-yard skein. Then I tried spinning from the lock on a spindle. That catapulted me into the 80 yards a week range. It doesn't take much calculating to figure that that is NOT FAST ENOUGH!!!

Then I tried blending on handcards, and spinning the rolags, and suddenly I was accelerating....spinning an average of 65 yards a day.....

carding early in the morning,
spinning singles on the spindle during the day,
and plying on the wheel at night.

Certainly not the fastest production spinning ever, but I do have a life outside of fiber! So I am pretty happy with this sort of progress.... I have sent the first box off to my aunt with over 800 yards of yummy skeins.

Want to meet them?

Left to right..... Pucci blended with carbonized bamboo
Pucci blended with rose colored tussah
Diamond, pure
Pucci, pure
Marlayanna blended with coyote cotton
Pucci blended with merino
and in the back, Riana blended with dyed merino-silk.

I'm taking a few days of "break" to fill some swap obligations and finish the present for a baby nephew... but looking forward to jumping back into the alpaca pile!