I finally spun the Romney-X roving I bought last autumn at Oregon Flock and Fiber. I ended up with about 375 yards of 2-ply, so rather a bit thinner than the 250 yards of 2-ply I spun from the previous year's Romney-X roving.
It's pretty. It drafted well. It was fairly clean, very minimal VM that was easy to pick out. It was an enjoyable spinning experience, which is pretty much all I ask for most of the time when I sit down at a wheel. It's a nice medium heathery gray, in case the color in the photo isn't clear.
The vendor I got it from is Island Fibers, from Lopez Island in Washington. The first time I bought from them, I think they said that this was milled by Skagit Wool. They said it was from the local sheep, who had mostly Romney genetics with random other breeds in the gene pool. Whatever it is, I like spinning it. I have no idea if what I bought last fall is from the exact same bump as I had bought from the previous year, or if it's a new batch from a later clip.
Part of why I spun this is because I got inspired -- I went to Black Sheep Gathering with some friends last weekend. It was fun. It didn't seem to have as many people and animals and vendors as I had remembered, but it's always possible I'm getting it confused with Oregon Flock and Fiber since both are in the same location and are similar in a lot of ways. Or it's just completely random and the day/time I went are not as busy as other days/times.
As always, it was great to see the critters and explore the vendors' offerings, and as always, it's great to run into friends and acquaintances while I'm there.
This time I bought some horned dorset roving, about 4 oz. I asked the vendor, and they said it's somewhat resistant to felting, which is what I'd heard is a breed characteristic. So maybe I'll make socks from this. Or something else that I don't necessarily want to felt easily. I've spun roving from crossbred merino-dorset, but not purebred dorset. It should be interesting.
I brought some handspun over to a friend who weaves. It'll be their first time weaving with handspun. I look forward to the results. If it works out, I'll bring over more. I love using my handspun, but I don't mind if some of it gets used by other people. Also, maybe it'll inspire me to weave some of my handspun in addition to knitting with it.
There's not much to report on the knitting side of things. My slowly growing projects are slowly growing and I haven't started (or finished) anything new. I've been doing a lot of tablet weaving and braiding and what-not, but I don't really write about those things in this blog.
Hmm, what shall I spin next? Or knit, for that matter? Though I really do want to finish the sweater I started last year, so the recipient can wear it later this year. For spinning, I have a bunch of 4 oz batches of roving bought at various fiber festivals as well as some larger batches. Hmmm.
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