Oh man, what a fantastic Friday's worth of creativity!  You guys inspire me with so many great ideas.  Love them all.  RhymeswithOrange, love that glimmering black bamboo.  Pmpknpunk, Bark is so gorgeous, especially with the wrapped copper thread, and the shimmering orange in Crocus gave me an idea, thanks!  Noodle Princess, how do you blend your fibers?  Do you comb or card or ?

I dyed some merino with Wilton's food coloring.  This is spun from ~4 oz of blue and purple with generous white sections to prevent muddiness.


Unplied single.  Also note the ghetto improvised bulky yarn leader hook and center-pull ball winder (aka toilet paper roll).
Yay spinning outside in the warm sun!


Plied.  Approx. 132 yards. 

I'm back at Fiber Friday once again with a single skein offering.  This one took me hours and hours to spin up such thin singles, and I've still got about 3 oz. of the fiber in case I want to make more.





Navajo-plied superwash mill ends, 306 yards and approx. 5 oz.  My first time buying someone else's hand-dyed fiber.  It bled a little bit when I blocked it, and I poured in some vinegar in an attempt to get the color to stick, hence the pinkish ties. 

Do you guys think this yarn is the right thickness to knit a pair of socks? 

Wow pmpknpunk, your batts are stunning!  Jazzturtle, beautiful yarns as usual.  Noodle Princess, I really love how you take a neutral color and add in bright splashes, like Mermaids for example. I also like knkurz's Swallowtail and nesse's ugly batt yarns and and and...

I seem to only have time for one or two skeins every couple weeks.  Although I did dye up a bunch of merino and mill ends last weekend.  Anyway, here's the latest yarn:




About 55 yards, 4.5 oz.  Made this for a friend, just grabbed a bunch of scraps of roving (mill ends, mystery pink, red, and green wool, tencel, firestar, a dash of angelina) and spun them up as fast as I could, then plied the single with pink and green nylon thread.  Ended up super bulky and fluffy.

Wowee you guys never cease to amaze me.  I made a list of some standouts:

jane doe - goth yarn-are those studs?  How'd you secure them to the yarn?
isamax - I don't know why no one bought your yarn.  It all looks very beautiful, not too crazy, well-balanced and even.  I love yarns 2, 5, and 6.
knkurz - fairies and dragons looks so gorgeous, especially in that flash closeup!
oddacity-great job!  Like the orange and the recycled "homespun".
omnisilence - Love Sheep Shed's black/white mill ends.  They can be made into such striking yarns.
sensiblytacky- Fantastic colors in Mississippi Rhubarb.
laura22-WOW! 
noodle princess- Love the colors in Fat Choy.

It's a busy time of year for me, but amazingly I managed to make two bobbinfuls of yarn this week.  Inspired by lichens and owl feathers.  They contain bits of everything: hand-carded and dyed CVM, yearling mohair locks, bamboo, merino, natural brown cotton, nylon, Romney(?) lamb, alpaca, and lots of angelina.

Lichens I, spun thick and soft (~28 yd.):



Lichens II, spun a bit more hurriedly (~41 yd.):



And a goofy family photo:


In real life the colors are a bit warmer.

Gorgeous.

I love this, it's so dark and lovely, and the story adds so much! 

Wow, nicolassa, that was incredibly helpful!  Thank you!  And thanks to the rest of you for the book recommendation.

I'm wondering--is there in existence somewhere on the internet some sort of explanation of the fiber properties of different breeds of fiber critters?  Like, how soft is it, how light is it, does it create a halo, is it bouncy or silky or ?  I'm curious about animals like alpaca, llama, baby camel, angora, etc. etc.  Most especially, the different sheep breeds--what is corriedale like as opposed to ramboullette (spelled wrong, sorry) or cormo or lincoln or cotswold or jacob or icelandic or BFL or CVM or etc. etc.

Perhaps if somebody is really bored, they could explain it to me?

Thanks for the yarn pr0n, folks.  Love that last skein, pmknpunk. 

Life has been crazy, only spun a little, yadda yadda.  Here are my yarns:



A tiny bit of "tailspun" CVM, stretched out because it hasn't been blocked.  I wanted to make tailspun yarn, but didn't have access to instructions at the time, so I just kind of drafted some fluffed out fiber and tucked in CVM locks here and there before spinning it up.  It was *super* slow, but seems to have produced a sturdy enough yarn.



My first try at actual tailspun yarn.  I used yearling mohair locks I washed myself with a core of my first attempt at navajo plying.  The thinner sections are where I spun on wisps of fluffed mohair.  A learning experience.  Only 7 yards, but very bulky.




The last pic is before setting the twist, but it shows off the sparkly bits (and the overspun bits).
Spun from a hand-carded, hand-dyed batt of CVM and hand-recycled silk thread.  I added in bamboo, firestar, and angelina as I spun.  Only about 27 yards.

Bring on more yarn!

Hi.  I've got a Babe.  I don't have a ton of experience with other wheels, but I've done a lot of research on the subject.  My Babe is not frilly or luxurious, but it's got all you need and spins yarn just as well as any other spinning wheel.  A great wheel for beginners!  If you want to spin bulky or way crazy art yarns, the orifice is too small and you'd be better off with another wheel.  I got this wheel for free, but if I'd had the opportunity to choose my own, I'd get one of these: http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=13331707.  They seem to be taking a break from selling this week.  Their wheels are so cool, completely handmade with bike wheels, fine craftsmanship, and nice bulky flyers.  And their prices are equivalent to Babe wheels.

Good luck in your search!