In Which the Pirate Cards.

Yesterday I had a chunk of time; Pirate-Husband was working late and I had already eaten dinner. So I decided to haul out the drum carder. In three hours I was able to card 25g of alpaca; I plan to do some more tonight. I’d like to have a bunch of it carded before I sit down to spin any of it.

I’m working with gratis seconds from the friend of a friend with an alpaca farm, and I have about eight pounds of the stuff. The fleece I was working with last night came from a tan and white animal named Valdir. I’m sorting out the white stuff first, and I’ll do the tan later. Other bags of fleece are darker, so I’ll keep those separate as well.

It takes three slow passes through the carder to get a batt I’m happy with. If I went faster I’d get neps and nubby bits, so I force myself to turn the crank as slowly as I can and I try to remember not to shove too much fiber in there at once. The 12g and 13g batts I made last night seem a little on the light side compared to the first few I did. Tonight I’ll weigh out 15g before I start carding and see how well that works.