Yarn for Benjy Scarf

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Difficulty:

Category: Spinning

Type of item: Clothing

For: Women

Style: Romantic, Eco-Friendly

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Materials

Blue Suffolk/Hampshire Cream Shetland x Rambouillet/PolyPay Kool Aid Dog Brushes (flick card) Turkish Spindle

What was your inspiration?

Benjy was a special sheep here at Intention Hill. He was the FFA lamb of a friend's daughter, Ashley. Benjy was killed by a bear last year, as was a beautiful Marino x whether named Phillipe. This scarf is for Ashley. Only she and I will use Benjy's fiber. The scarf will be primarily the fiber from him, but the two ends will have a "palette" of cream, over which I will needle felt more of his fiber in his shape. I do not know the stitches that I will use, though I think the cream palette will be a close stitch. The Benjy fiber is flick carded with cream from one of my ewes, after dying a portion with Kool-Aid (blues and pinks). I carded these together to have a heathered look. I carded Benjy's fiber with the cream because I felt it would give it softness, strength, and extend the fiber that I want to savor and praise, and cry over.

What are you most proud of?

I am so new to spinning, but these two skeins begin to feel and look like yarn. I do also like my fat and bumpy first attempts, but with these, I have something more workable. They are not 100% consistent in diameter, a few kinks, but I still love them. I had fun with the dying, though the pink was an error, I only wanted blue... in the end, I love it the way it is. The yarn is very tender. First shearing for both sheep. I'm surprised how delicate if feels.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Take your time with spinning. Practice "quality control" with your fingers and eyes, trying to maintain the diameter of the yarn. Practice "feeling" the amount of spin you have, and check for correct spin frequently. There will be plenty of time for lumpy bouclee yarn... in fact you could go back and forth.