Expanding my spinning

I am just an intermediate spinner - I'm getting better at being consistent, but I'm not yet able to intentionally choose a particular type of yarn weight I want and then produce it - still in the "let's see how this turns out" stage.

My usual style is sort of a modified short draw as I mainly spin with commercially prepared top, which results in a worsted or semi-worsted yarn. My goal is to learn to do long draw and make woolen fiber, but I'm not there yet.

Lately it has been fun to branch out into new (for me) types of fibers. I've been buying bits here and there and now that I've gotten the sweater yarn long term project finally about wrapped up, and freed up some bobbins, I'm starting to explore these new fibers. Yesterday was so beautifully sunny that I spent some time on the back deck with a bag of llama fiber. I have two colors of top, a cream and a pale tan/cream mix. Just 3.9 ounches, so I plan to spin the colors into separate singles and then ply them together and hope that I'll get enough yarn to knit something real.

The llama staple is longer than the Finn I've been spinning lately, but very soft feeling. It isn't as clean as I'm used to and there are bits of veg. matter in spots, but it is still easy to spin. I've heard that llama can be very dusty and that even pre-cleaned, the resulting yarn can use another bath when it is finished. The single so far is fairly thin, but I'm not managing to get rid of the occasional lumpy spot, which I wasn't getting with the Finn. Pretty sure it is me rather than the fiber, however. It is also a bit - hairy I guess I'd call it. I think this yarn is going to be fuzzier than what I've been spinning.

I've got lots more to play with - some merino/silk, pygora, and some baby camel/merino mix that I bought at the fair. Plus some blue faced leicester in natural and hand painted colors, and also the Jacob roving that I got at the fair. If only the pesky day job didn't get in the way of the spinning!

And then the spinning is getting in the way of the knitting. I'm not making a lot of progress on the many projects I have on the needles. Mom's cardigan is languishing because I'm afraid that it is turning out too big and I don't want to acknowledge the truth of it. My Aeolian shawl is coming along, but it is white and delicate so I couldn't drag it places like camping, which means I now have a camping-knitting lace scarf in a dark color to finish as well. And then there is the cable cardigan with the Roni-created stain that needs to be reknit partially, and the t-shirt strip rug for the bathroom that I'm reknitting in a different stitch, and that red sweater that needs sewing up and . . . and . . . and . . . I need to schedule some enforced project completion soon.

My Aeolian swal in progress. 2/31 yarn, 50% cashmere/50% linen from Colourmart. The thinnest yarn I've ever knit with! It really needs smaller than size 2 needles, but I was afraid that either the shawl would turn out too small, or I'd be knitting extra repeats for the rest of my life. So, it will be very open and airy fabris.