You know your fiber-friends are over for a party when your bathroom looks like this:


That's some gorgeous roving dyed by the lovely and talented Jill! (please post pics when you spin it up Jill, we wanna see what it looks like!)


Jill made Terri and I these AMAZING hackles for Christmas - Terri used hers right away, but I hadn't, even though I was dying to; Jill hadn't had a chance to play with hers yet either. So last Sunday we all got together for a "fun with sharp fiber tools" party. My hackle is shown, above, loaded mohair locks, wool locks, silk, and some tencel, for my first try at hackling!


Here we are with a huge selection of fiber to play with! We had a little of everything....in all colors. I meant to take loads more pictures but we had too much fun (okay, and a small hurricane) and I forgot. Oh, none of us got injured either, which is pretty impressive, as those hackles are WICKED SHARP!
I wish I'd gotten pictures of Terri and Jill's creations as well - it was so much fun to see the textural and color combinations everyone came up with. Above are my creations- I'm really looking forward to spinning them! They are VERY textured - I did that deliberately, as I wanted to explore spinning some textured yarns. I can't wait to try this again, as I think there are many ways to create really interesting fiber, color, and texture combinations for spinning.

And now, a gratuitous kitty shot. We set up an impromptu workspace in my small living room (an old door and some saw horses), and the cats LOVED it. Boots didn't want us to dismantle it after the party. :)


oh! I also wanted to note - this whole adventure was inspired in no small part by Bonne's amazing hackle and color blending adventures, which are in the archives to her blog. Thanks for the inspiration Bonne, wish you coulda been here to play with us!!!