Fiber Sandwich

My Yahoo group Spinning-On-The-Edge offered to host a fiber sandwich and I jumped in to play. A fiber sandwich is an event where spinners from a group - in our case all over the world - each toss in about 8 - 16 ounces of fiber.

The host takes each donation and layers them like a sandwich. Then they get sent back out to the participants for spinning. It is a wonderful experience for any spinner and I can't recommend it enough.

There are no wrong answers, many challenges, tons of choices and opportunity and loads of fun.

Here's my journey.

The fiber arrived and I tossed it into a basket, transforming it from a fiber sandwich into a fiber salad!

To begin with, I just grabbed handfuls of fiber and started spinning. It is very dramatic having so many different fibers to work with. Some draft easily and others are quite stiff. You never know what the next few inches will feel like in your fingers.

It was very nervous making at first. I had never experienced anything like it.

Here is what my first bobbin looked like.

I noticed one effect of pulling fiber right from the pile was that I got long strands of color.

My next experiment was to try simple flick carding to create a rolag. As you can see in the following pictures, this created a more verigated single.

Spinning was much easier this way!

Here you can see the verigated effect. I ultimately switched back and forth between direct spinning from the pile and flick carding.

While I was spinning my mind was awhirl with potential color combinations.

By now I was so excited with the unique qualities that I knew I would need more than my original 9 ounces.

So as I spun, I kept laying my original bobbins agains other fiber colors and finally came up with this combination.

It took a few weeks to spin up enough of both the plum and the lavender/turqouise/plum handpainted. This fiber is from my own flock of Rambouillet and I just happened to have it already dyed.

I think it was one of life's happy accidents but you can judge for yourself.

Here is a picture of each of the three singles. The sandwich single is on the left, the turquoise blend on the right and the solid plum in the center.

I think it allowed the multiple colors and textures to both settle and gently set themselves off from one another.

And it does set the imagination on fire!

Here is the finished yarn.

I was so surpised. I could not have preconceived this combination. It evolved through the spinning process.

Next time maybe I'll use green as a background....