A bobbin with lavender handspun yarn is placed on a batt of lavender coloured fibre and 2rolled batts in same lavender colour #handspinner

Drumcarder with pink and blue fibre on it; 2 finished lavender coloured batts are next to it #drumcarding

I love blending fibre in my drumcarder; look at that lovely lavender! I bought the pink and blue tops cheaply, at my local woollen mill, as discard fibre. It’s so handy to experiment with, lucky me! #handspinning #fibreprep

Prepping for a mermaid coloured spinning session. Mostly alpaca, some handdyed merino fleece, and really old fibre stash from Bendigo Woollen Mills #fibreprep #drumcarder.

These handdyed batts were so much fun to make, but I’m back to processing my monochrome fleece again! #handdyed #fibreprep

#handspunyarn #handspinner #spinning #handspinning #fibreprep #fiberprep

Raw fleece in multi browns to cream tones on floor with hand combs to open locks. #fiberprep

I’m going to make yarn to weave a rustic looking lap blanket. Spinning in the grease then scouring the skeins. #handspinning #fibreprep #rawfleece

A big box containing a big plastic bag of Zwartbles fleece on a wooden deck, my crocs are visible in the bottom of the photo, and my husband’s legs are in the top of the photo.

Sooooo…… We bought a fleece.
~4.4kg, very greasy, a bit dandruffy, a bit poo-ey Zwartbles.
This is our first time processing a fleece, wish us luck!

🧶 #HandSpinning #FibrePrep

Heavenly soft Corriedale fleece, this is much softer than usual. Batts are mixed with dyed locks of the same fleece. Love tweedy yarn. #handspun #fibreprep

Bought this super gorgeous Corriedale fleece from our sheep show yesterday it’s a spinners delight, has at least 5 different colours ! #rawfleece #fibreprep #handspinner

Basket of grey combed fibre nests , 2 full bobbins of grey handspun singles and a skein of grey handspun yarn. #tourdefleece #handspunyarn

Is it Day 4 of Tourdefleece? I spent most of yesterday combing and blending 200g of Corriedale locks, ready for my next bobbin but today I’m just meh; need a break. So far I’ve spun 400g of singles. #tourdefleece25 #handspun #fibreprep

Back to it- here are some examples of yarn I’ve made from my scrappy batts.

Cotton adds tweediness
Locks make slubs/add texture
Yarn ends add texture depending on how carded they are
Silk threads add shine, colour pop and a scribbly effect

🧶 #HandSpinning #FibrePrep

Batt making supplies and equipment on a wooden table. On the left are base fibres: dyed merino, merino/silk blends and natural wool tops from Wingham Wool Works, dyed braids and fluffy bits from SpinJones and some acrylic arm yarn from the thrift store. On the right are add ins: a box of various things from CraftyCat, locks from Barn2Yarn, sari silk thrums and denim waste from YarnYarnYarn and thrums and yarn waste from my own projects. In the middle is my blending board with a pair of hand cards, a pair of dog brushes I use as wool combs, a paint brush and a pair of knitting needles.

Going to do some batt making today as preparation for #TourDeFleece!
Seeing all this fibre piled up here on the table makes me realise I’ve got a lot - I’ve got a main project for the tour but it would be good to work through some of this too.

🧶 #HandSpinning #FibrePrep

A black merino fkeece spread out on a white sheet in a garage.

High fiber "Quinoa" for breakfast anyone? 9 pounds of yummy black merino goodness. #rawfleece #fiberprep #spinning #fiberarts #fibreprep #artistlife

#Fibreprep Hand combed tops are the bees knees! #fleecetoyarn #handspun

I've been washing a fleece today. It was given to me last year and I've only just felt like I have three energy to do it coinciding with the right weather. . . .

#FibrePrep #SheepFleece #WoolPrep #ShropshireSheep #HandSpinning #SpinnersOfShropshire

#handspinning #fibreprep

Just finished drum carding! It’s sooo soft and shiny ✨

#fibreprep #carding #batt

Processed some Icelandic tonight!

#fibreprep #icelandic

Linen soup

#scouring #linen #handspinning #fibreprep

Planning a fibre farm road trip to Vancouver Island! Does anyone know of any farms that sell fibre? Wool, alpaca, mohair, chiengora, plant fibre, anything goes really.

#vancouver #fibreprep #handspinning #localwool #canadianwool

Forbidden Cotton Candy 🙂‍↔️💕
🌸103g, 76 yards or 69 (😏) metres
🌸Worsted/bulky weight (varies between 12 and 6 wpi)
🌸Spun with distaff, low whorl, and high whorl
🌸Cable plied (2x2)

#handspinning #handspunyarn #fibreprep #wool #fibreart #artyarn #cableply #sarisilk #canadianwool #distaff #dropspindle

SHE’S DONE! Distaff spun, spindle cable plied, Andean plying gauntlet, and steam finished 🥰! 101 metres of Valentine’s vibes!!!

I’ll take pics of the finished skein tmr, but today, I rest!

#handspunyarn #fibreprep #handspinning

I just need to ply (which is my least fave part 🥲)

#fibreprep #handspinning #handspunyarn #distaffspinning

Working on a chunkier spin! This is on my distaff and low whorl spindle. It’s so nice to give spin and not worry about consistency 🌸💄💕

#handspinning #handspunyarn #fibreprep #batt

Progress shot on my distaff! Such a fun spin 💕

#fibreprep #handspinning #distaff

Okay, done!!! So satisfyingly large

#fibreprep #handspinning #supportspindle

I will finish this tonight. It’s only an ounce… it’s only an ounce… #fibreprep #handspinning #supportspindle

Gamifying my abandoned WIPs this month lol
#fibreprep #fibrearts #handspinning #knitting #discoelysium #wip

In the foreground there’s a scale with a plastic basket on top, inside the basket is some loose fibre tops. Behind the scale is a pile of fibre already weighed in little bundles.

Another less glamorous side of indie dyeing is Fibre Prep, it is tedious and time consuming so I try to do it in batches 😅

Today I listened to a Times Radio interview with Stephen Fry in which he retold a joke: “Musk is not a Nazi, Nazis made really good cars.” 🙃

#fibreprep #indiedyer #wool #joke

Got into woodworking today! The maker space I go to has a laser cutting machine so I just had to make one of these!!! She a little crispy, but totally useable

#fibreprep #handspinning

#CrochetandKnitting
#handspinning
#fibreprep
#SpinnersofBluesky
#YarnSpinning
#fiberArts
#Knitting
#handspunyarn
#spindlespinning
#SpinningFiber