Batt Pics!

Ok, I've had a few requests for pics of some of my batts I carded on my Kitten drum carder. First I'd really like to say that I'm not a professional and the Kitten is my first and only carder. I know there is bigger and badder out there, but I LOVE MY KITTEN! It does what I want it too, and that's all that really matters isn't it? I just wanted a drum carder that would allow me to blend my own batts, process a bit of fleece when the need arises. That being said....here are some of my recent batts. Above is a blend of http://www.thesheepshedstudio.com/ superwash wool in peach carded with silk and firestar.

This batt is from the bird's nest I found in the Big Bale Sale from sheepshedfiberstudio. It was 10 lbs of mill end rovings for 5$ a lb. Not a bad price. Only about 10 ozs were really matted up, the rest is lovely, and can be spun as is. My kitten made short work of the bird's nest and I got 2 nice batts weighing 2 ozs. I find if I put more than 2 ozs on the carder, it starts wrapping around the licker in drum.


Finally, another batt from another birds nest. I got one of these, and 2 more in black. I'd post more pics, but blogger is being stupid tonight, and it's taken me an hour to get these pics to upload. I have some churro batts, and a sari silk blend. But you can see from my pics how well blended these batts are. I put the batts through twice, and use my hand carder as a doeffler brush to help smooth and pack the fibers on denser. I use a bamboo mat like for sushi to help get the batts off too. So I hope you like my batts. I'll post somemore later. I have to get to bed now!

Addi tries on her EZ Baby Surprise Jacket

Here's Baby Addi in her new BSJ! Isn't she a doll? And of course big brother Aidan never misses a photo opt! Now we're thinking she needs some leggings!

Good God, I finished something!!!

OMG!!! I finished something!!! Addison's EZ Baby Surprise Jacket out of my very own handdyed, carded, handspun yarn!!! I'll have to wait until she wakes up to take a picture of her in it. Darn it, she's asleep at 1:00 am like a good little baby should be! I'm up because I wanted to finish her jacket before summer! I'm not that great of a knitter, but this was a really easy pattern and knits up fast. I've been working on it for a month now...off and on. The fiber is the mill end rovings I got from The Sheep Shed Studio. I blended it with lots of Angelina that refuse to photograph, but trust me...the sparklies are there. The yarn I spun up worsted weight at 12 WPI, so the jacket is heavy. It's very soft, and I can't wait to try it on her. (NO, mustn't wake up a perfectly sleeping baby!!! Her mom would kill me!)

Update on Fancy Kitty Kitten Drum Carder

I had some people ask me if I had used my Fancy Kitty Kitten drum carder on unprocessed fiber. I have now broke it in good with some churro fleece I recently bought. The fleece was pretty sandy, and I wound up washing it again. I wished I had a picker with this fleece, picking it by hand is rather slow and tedious. The good new is that the drum carder had no problems at all with it. The brush attachment came in real handy for the fly away fibers. I have sucessfully carded up my first batt of the churro and am please with the results. It sure is alot faster than trying to card it up by hand. I got 2 lbs of it, and it's a lot fiber. I'll post some pics later for sure!

I was also please with my Kitten while blending up some fiber for a swap. I used purple, white, and a bit of yellow to get the prettiest heathered batt. It came out rather a golden purple and I'm really tempted to keep this one myself! Yeah...I know...pics. It'll have to wait until tommorrow. I'm going to bed!