in the ongoing story of the cottonseeds i started at winter solstice, i've got two bolls! hopefully they'll be full of seeds for next year.

i started off with 4 blooms, but then another big storm came thru and blew two of them off the plant. 馃槬

i'm gonna say, not bad for a first try growing them! and during climate change weather, too.

#spinning #cotton #diy#FiberArts #gardening#SeedToSocks

in the ongoing story of the cottonseeds i started at winter solstice, i've got two bolls! hopefully they'll be full of seeds for next year.

i started off with 4 blooms, but then another big storm came thru and blew two of them off the plant. 馃槬

i'm gonna say, not bad for a first try growing them! and during climate change weather, too.

#spinning #cotton #diy#FiberArts #gardening#SeedToSocks

Anke
Anke boosted

I am starting to get excited for Finish-or-Frog-Along running in September / October (FKA #FallFinishAlong, renamed to be more hemisphere-inclusive). I plan to host as for the last two years and I hope the Fediverse is engaged as ever! Open to crafters and makers of all kinds - anyone with works in progress (WIPs) to finish or mindfully decide to kill. Stay tuned for more! #FinishOrFrogAlong #knitting #spinning #crochet #weaving #quilting#CrossStitch#FiberArts @knitting @fiberarts

I am starting to get excited for Finish-or-Frog-Along running in September / October (FKA #FallFinishAlong, renamed to be more hemisphere-inclusive). I plan to host as for the last two years and I hope the Fediverse is engaged as ever! Open to crafters and makers of all kinds - anyone with works in progress (WIPs) to finish or mindfully decide to kill. Stay tuned for more! #FinishOrFrogAlong #knitting #spinning #crochet #weaving #quilting#CrossStitch#FiberArts @knitting @fiberarts

General thoughts: combing is a satisfying process, if a bit slow, especially compared to an electric drum carder! Probably on par with hand carding the same amount.

This fur seems much looser than the roving and top I've seen people produce in videos online. The word "diaphanous" comes to mind with some of the finer bits of sliber I pulled off, as seen in the second photo.

I guess I need to get my hands on some real wool roving/top for comparison!

I'm looking forward to running some spinning tests with this fur, both woolen and worsted style, to see how it responds. And then compare combing the washed fur mat with loose, but unwashed, stuff that remains. I suspect that the unwashed fur will be less matted, and thus quicker to run through the process. And not notably dirtier.

Side note: the color and texture of this combed top is a LOT like my own long hair, and that of my mother, from whom I got most of my genes. It's kind of disconcerting!

#FiberArts#Chiengora#Spinning

Dizzing fiber off a comb: a pile of dark brown fur sliber has coiled on the carpet below the comb where a hand holds a diz, a plastic circle with holes through which the fiber is being pulled. Most of the fiber has pulled off the comb, but a cloud of shorter fibers remain attached to the tines.
Dizzing fiber off a comb: a pile of dark brown fur sliber has coiled on the carpet below the comb where a hand holds a diz, a plastic circle with holes through which the fiber is being pulled. Most of the fiber has pulled off the comb, but a cloud of shorter fibers remain attached to the tines.

Time to talk about my new combs!

In a previous post, I teased that I got some combs from Bam Fiber Works as an alternative to carding Oni the Tibetan Mastiff's long fur. I've been testing them out, and so far, it's bee really good!

But first: a bit of a clean. I took half of the darkest bin of fur (what remained after the original 7oz drum carding test) and split it into half, which I then put into a laundry bag and washed. By luck, my random selection on Amazon returned laundry bags that perfectly fit the cement mixing trough that I've been using for washing/fixing fiber already!

I gave the fiber a good soak with mild agitation, rinse, and then took the whole back outside to dry in the sun and breeze.

The result is... a bit more matted than I'd hoped. But it's salvageable. I can pull it apart into clumps, then load it onto the combs for standard combing passes before pulling off into a sliver. It smells nicer, albeit with still a strong doggy scent. I have yet to decide if washing is worth it...

馃У ...

#spinning#HandSpun @spinning

Combing the fiber from the previous photos. There is a large comb, tines pointed upward, affixed to the edge of a coffee table, with a large brown mass of fluffy Tibetan Mastiff fiber affixed to it. Another comb sits on the side, currently not in use. Between is a clump of discard fiber, also brown, but more fuzzy and fluffy than the orderly strands attached to the first comb. On the ground to the right, the remainder of the washed fiber sits, waiting to be combed, in a flat mat.
Combing the fiber from the previous photos. There is a large comb, tines pointed upward, affixed to the edge of a coffee table, with a large brown mass of fluffy Tibetan Mastiff fiber affixed to it. Another comb sits on the side, currently not in use. Between is a clump of discard fiber, also brown, but more fuzzy and fluffy than the orderly strands attached to the first comb. On the ground to the right, the remainder of the washed fiber sits, waiting to be combed, in a flat mat.
The washed fiber in the previous two photos, now dry, is partially removed from the laundry bag onto the top of a coffee table. To the right, a bin of the original fiber, unwashed. The washed fiber is a bit of a rectangular mat, while the unwashed fiber is more fluffy.
The washed fiber in the previous two photos, now dry, is partially removed from the laundry bag onto the top of a coffee table. To the right, a bin of the original fiber, unwashed. The washed fiber is a bit of a rectangular mat, while the unwashed fiber is more fluffy.