Alpaca lovers...

I will be spinning at Moonshadow Alpaca Ranch on Saturday, and I will have a couple of alpaca darning eggs for sale there. Hope to see you there!

Finally, the hooks are going up

Shop update going on now, not sure how long it will take to get some up, but there is one live now.

darning eggs

Darn! Darn egg!


Someone suggested I carve/burn darning eggs, and they are the new crack™

I am in love with this design. I am not sure whether subsequent ones will be burned and carved (as this was) or just burned--the 2nd degree burn on my finger is suggesting that maybe I ought to rethink. But look! Purdy!

Orifice hooks

Orifice hooks are a useful tool when spinning. Every so often (oftener if you combo or do long draw) your yarn pulls on the bobbin too fast and away from the fiber source, which makes you go on a hunt for the loose end. You use an orifice hook to pull it back through the orifice (I am not unconvinced that a 12 year old didn't think these were very funny names indeed).

So why not have a pretty one?

Most of the ones you get with wheels are pretty boring. I decided to make some at the urging of my friend snuffywump (rainy days and wooly dogs owner) and here they are (though not done yet).

These are henna-inspired. I believe they are birch handles, with copper hook ends. Copper is a soft metal but although I am toying with gauge, I think I may stick to what I have here despite the bending, because it is actually useful even if you have to bend your hook back out once in a while, to have some give to it.

I may have these at OFFF if I get in. We'll see :-)