There is NOTHING more rewarding that starting a new hobby (spinning) and creating something new, then to put it available for sale, have someone buy it and give you good feedback on it.
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My very nice yarn
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Last month, I spun some Dorset/Hampshire fleece to create two 100g skeins of hand spun yarn. I have advertised them both on my ebay shop, only to have someone buy one of them. Ebay does put pressure on its sellers to offer FREE postage. That's all well and good but Royal Mail won't deliver it for free so the costs have to be absorbed somewhere. I advertised the yarn at £6 each with free postage and packaging. So when I did managed to sell one skein, just how cheaply could I send it and be happy it would turn up at its destination?
The normal postage for first class small parcel signed for is £4.10. That is a BIG chunk of £6. If I could get it down to large letter size I could send it first class large letter signed for at £2.30. One of the new toys that I have is a vacuum packer. It takes out the air from the package and heat seals it to create a vacuum. Brilliant for home made bacon but how would my yarn fair? It was worth a try. I squished it down as much as I could while the air was being extracted until the yarn looked like it had melted in the pack. I recalled someone else sending me some yarn like this and my feeling of horror as I opened the package to see the contents. I parcelled it up and took it to the post office. Yes, it would go through the large letter slop on the counter top gadget, and it was sent. I hurriedly emailed the buyer to let her know what I had done and how she should pierce the package to let the yarn reinflate back to normal.
She has received the yarn, reinflated it and left feedback .... very nice yarn.
Wow!! That's something I created! Brilliant.
The other skein is still available for sale in my ebay shop.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Handspun-Dorset-Hampshire-fleece-Natural-100g-chunky-yarn-/331113021654?pt=UK_Crafts_Knitting_Crochet_EH&hash=item4d17dfc0d6
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| Spun Jacobs yarn |
So for February I have been spinning Jacobs fleece. When it arrived it came in a big bag and was transferred into a hessian sack for storage. Jacobs fleece is interesting because it comes in a variety of colours all on the one fleece. The fleece would have been picked over for big bits of straw but other than that, it is pretty much as it came off the sheep. As it had not been washed, it is called in the grease. This can make it easier to spin as it 'glues' the spin and smooths down any wispy bits. As I planned to ply this yarn, I weighed out two lots of 50g of grey/brown fleece and spun each lot as evenly as possible. Once both lots have been spun to the right, it is spun (plied) together to the left. Hopefully if all goes well, the two lots should be the same length, which they were almost.
The next job to do is to wind the yarn onto a niddy noddy to create a skein. This is tied in several places to prevent tangling and it can now be washed to remove the lanolin and grime. It is then hung to drip dry in the garage and after a day or two, it is dry enough to weigh. Amazingly it had lost 23g of grease and grime and now weighs in at 77g.
I have listed it in auction on my ebay shop starting at £3 for this skein which I can wind into a ball on my ball winder if required.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hand-spun-Jacob-wool-77g-plied-chunky-natural-browns-and-greys-skein-/331129481628?pt=UK_Crafts_Knitting_Crochet_EH&hash=item4d18dae99c
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| Jacobs Sheep |
January seemed to fly past, again. Now we are into February and so I need to choose another sackful of fleece from my garage. For this month I have decided to spin a fleece from a Jacobs Sheep. This breed has special fond memories for me as I recall first spotting them in a distance field and boldly stating that they were cows, Fresians probably. The people who were with me were far more knowledgeable than me and corrected me staying that they were, in fact, sheep. Now prior to that moment, I didn't know that sheep came in multicolours. I had previously thought that they came in either cream or black (we've all heard about black sheep!)
Hmmm. Jacobs Sheep. I was therefore delighted to purchase a fleece of these mythical creatures last year and it duly became the last addition to my stock pile.
Wiki has this to say about Jacobs Sheep ....
The Jacob sheep is a rare breed of small, piebald (coloured with white spots), polycerate (multi-horned) sheep. Jacobs may have from two to six horns, but most commonly have four. The most common color is black and white. Jacobs are usually raised for their wool, meat, and hides. They are also kept as pets and ornamental animals, and have been used as guard animals to protect farm property from theft or vandalism and defend other livestock against predators. Cool!!
