Discovering the Joy of Fibre

I've done a bit of needlefelting over the past couple of years, mostly round beads to incorporate into jewellery, and so I've accumulated a stash of small balls of brightly coloured roving (combed sheep's wool).

Just before Christmas I purchased a drop spindle to try spinning some of this roving into yarn.  My family and I went on a fabulous trip to Peru over the holidays and the Andean women are expert spinners and weavers.  I was hooked! I bought a whole lot of alpaca fleece to comb and spin into yarn.

 This is one of the Peruvian women in our hotel, with her lamb...that's milk in the Coke bottle.

 This is a display of some of the plants and insects that the natural dyes are made from.

I also purchased some natural Corriedale roving from an Etsy friend, Uli of KnittersNook, and spun my first roving into a chunky yarn single.  Using the Andean method I plied it back onto the spindle..woohoo!!

Well, excited as I was, this little bit only measured 16 yards...not enough for knitting anything yet. So....spin, spin, spin.
I bought some acid dyes from Dharma Trading Company and dyed my natural yarn to a rich brick red.

Finally, I knit a simple hat using a free pattern from Ravelry, crocheted a scalloped edge around the brim, made a chainstitch flower and a matching handmade lampwork glass button, and voila! ....my first, handspun, handyed project was complete.