New tricks

Warning – this post is strictly about fiber for spinning. If you don’t spin or reading about my latest revelation in the fiber arts doesn’t interest you, I suggest you move along.

I’ve been in a bit of a rut lately as far as my fiber has been concerned. In fact, this rut was more a ditch… a deep ravine of a ditch. Plain and simple, I was getting tired of carding fiber that always looked the same. I couldn’t get a ton of texture from my drum carder (I knew that when I bought it – it’s designed for finer fibers) and if I haven’t been spinning thin singles to ply up, I’ve been spinning bulky batts full of locks, pieces of novelty yarn, and chunks of silk. I’ve either had to do this with piles of locks sitting around me in bags or I’ve had to buy batts blended by fiber artists with drum carders designed for such a thing.

Well – no more!

Thanks to Jazzturtle’s tutorial she posted on Ravelry and her blog, I can now card chunkier, more textured batts.

I honestly feel like I just got a degree in carding chunky batts, and it only took a few minutes. I hope she knows how fabulous she is for posting a video like that. It was an awakening and my bank account will thank me when I can start carding these on my own (but really, if I’m honest, I know my bank account won’t thank me because I’ll still buy them from other people, I’ll just be able to sell them myself!).