"Yummy" Fiber Sandwich!

I have joined that group of people that offered to me a share of a Fiber Sandwich.  After initial reservation, I accepted.

"What?" you say. No, it's not really food, but it is creative food for the soul.  Especially if you love texture and colors, and don't mind trying new things.  And you would like to try some art yarn.

No two Fiber Sandwiches are the same, since it is composed of the wool / fibers submitted by each participant in the group. 
The jist of it is that you get the same share of the sandwich as you contribute to it -- so if you bring 2 ounces of wool, you get 2 ounces of sandwiched fiber back.  Depending on the rules of the group, you can bring wool, silk, firestar, mohair, etc.  I believe our group excluded bobbles / ribbon enhancements, and encouraged color and wool varieties, but otherwise had no specific rules.  It could be raw, batt, or rovings.  So, I brought several ounces of black washed raw alpaca.

You build the sandwich on a table by equally layering each contribution across.  As you layer, the sandwich gets taller and taller, so you need to consider your width versus the height.  Ours was on a relatively small table so it was quite high and needed to be steadied.  It also meant that this sandwich was amazingly resistant to separation! However, you would be surprised how tenacious women are when trying to get their share back!  You are not allowed to pick n' choose or unravel it out, so it can be a battle of wills -- you and the fiber.  The one man in our group stoically held the fiber in place as we attacked it, one by one, like wolves worrying our prize.  He must have had a good workout!

I waited towards the end, so maybe my  'selection' was less as things do get pulled out, but my effort was also less. I still ended up with a wide variety of wool types -- certainly more than I could identify!  Colors abounded -- Christmas green, cherry red, mustard yellow, gentle purples, blues, celery green, white, browns and firestar!  Textures ran the gamut from very fine to actually pretty rough, downy fiber to hair, light and airy to dense and thick.  It was very interesting!  Then, it was stuffed in a gallon ziplock bag, dutifully brought home, set on my counter for a while, and then eventually relegated to the basement with the rest of my overwhelming alpaca fiber.

But like with the Velveteen Rabbit, this is not the end of the story.  I walked by this fiber several times before I suddenly veered to it and began carding it haphazardly together with some washed alpaca.  Cares to the wind, I just had to know what it was like all mixed up!  I found out why a lot of mills like to mix wool in with alpaca fiber as it makes it so much easier to card.  The wool actually 'holds together' better and really wants to make a batt!  It was crazy carding, fun and confusing (sometimes, things got 'stuck') and I quickly generated a few batts.  Then, the batts emerged into the daylight of upstairs to sit momentarily until time opened a window for me again.  

Later, in another spurt of energy, I began spinning it.  I let the wool itself guide me a lot.  Most of the time it was just 'regular' with some thick/thin.  Then, every once in a while a slub came out or I decided to place a large bubble to allow some fun stuff with plying.  The color spun was remarkably muted, mostly a heathered grey / brown with glints and suggestions of color.  Every once in a while a shot of color would develop and I would smile to see it like a comet streaking by in my yarn.  The Firestar was mostly blended in, with just glints here and there.  I might have treated it incorrectly while carding, but I also thought it was a nice accent to the grey/brown without overpowering it.  

The real definition to the character of this yarn seemed to be expressed once I plied it with a strand of handspun black alpaca.  Now, I really saw the movement of color, in and out of the blues and reds and greens.  It was still subtle and very organic looking, though.  I really felt it was a nice fulfillment of the mixed fiber.  From a distance, it appears fairly reserved, but as you get closer it shows you how its is unique and creative.  I also had the most fun with the plying.  Every once in a while doing something quirky like a cocoon or a coil, sometimes a granny knot.  Depending which strand was thick or thin, I moved one or the other to the side to produce a nice raised twist (I cannot remember the name of this style).  It was great fun!

In truth, the finished yarn still is a bit 'wool-y' to the touch, even with the alpaca mixed in, so I don't think I will be making a scarf out of it.  But I think it would make a great knit hat.  A friend suggested kid's mittens -- but I only have boys and mittens are 'not cool'.  So, I will have to think about it.  I will have a bunch of it, I believe, when I am done.  I spun up a full bobbin on my husbands e-Flex spinner and that's quite a bit.  I have plied off one hank and I have 2/3s of the bobbin left.  I also still have about 2/3s of the Sandwich wool left! 

Of course, I don't have any pictures yet, so I will need to follow up with that!  Hope this inspired you to take part in a Fiber Sandwich!