Tag Archives: hand spinning

My new lazy kate

Posted on January 23, 2013 by cliffhousealpacas

Apparently Santa objected to my rather bojankity lazy kate solution. And here I thought I was innovating! A lazy kate is simply a device that holds your bobbins while you ply. It just has to let them rotate freely and … Continue reading →

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Yarn – Baby grey

Posted on January 4, 2013 by cliffhousealpacas

I wasn’t completely unproductive over the holiday break. In addition to a whole lot of sleeping and eating, I spun a few hundred yards of this lovely grey yarn. It’s 50% baby alpaca, 25% Mikayla’s fiber and 25% Loredo’s fiber … Continue reading →

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Yarn – Graphite

Posted on August 28, 2012 by cliffhousealpacas

Long time, no post! Here’s what I’ve been working on: It’s the first yarn from little Marseille that I’ve ever spun, from her baby fleece.  The color is really hard to capture, but it’s a dark gray, almost black, shot … Continue reading →

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Artist show recap: 2012

Posted on August 6, 2012 by cliffhousealpacas

Phew! The Cimarron Sky Dog Artist Show is over, and it was a blast. Good food, good friends, and good wine made for a memorable day. We had much more inventory this year, and a wider variety of items. Dad … Continue reading →

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Units of measure

Posted on August 3, 2012 by cliffhousealpacas

Yarn is sold by weight or by length, but these days I prefer to think of skeins in terms of minutes of time invested. Each yard of finished, 2-ply yarn took me 2.1 minutes to spin (including spinning both singles and … Continue reading →

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Spinning wheel review: Schact Sidekick

Posted on July 2, 2012 by cliffhousealpacas

After talking to many starry-eyed spinners at the Estes Park Wool Festival, we bought the new Schact spinning wheel model, the Sidekick. Everyone we spoke to loved this wheel, and though I only spun on it for 20 minutes, I … Continue reading →

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Portraiture

Posted on June 25, 2012 by cliffhousealpacas

Given my generally high, er, “self-esteem” (I look awesome with a tan), it may surprise you to learn that I’m not a huge fan of having my picture plastered all over everything. I mean, who’d want to look at me, … Continue reading →

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Frustration

Posted on May 31, 2012 by cliffhousealpacas

Generally, the yarn and I are one with each other. We can compromise between what I want it to become, and what it wants to become. But I’ve spun hundreds, probably thousands of yards of beaded yarn, and I can’t seem … Continue reading →

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Gifts of fiber

Posted on May 29, 2012 by cliffhousealpacas

Our shearer Scott, who also has alpacas, just gave us a car full of fleeces! There were so many stuffed in the back of the car that they were crowding the head space in the front seat. I’m excited, not … Continue reading →

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Now THAT was a spinning marathon

Posted on April 16, 2012 by cliffhousealpacas

Over the weekend we were busy folks. Mom, Dad and the Bro had some manure adventures, which I’ll detail tomorrow, and I spun a whopping total of 621 yards of yarn. How many CSI episodes? Only 24. Twitch. I haven’t … Continue reading →

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