Eight luxury fibers: 1/2 oz. each!

Totaling 4 ounces!

FIBER PARFAIT

By Chameleon Fiberworks

 All packaged in a clear plastic cup…It looked like an ice-cream parfait with fudge and caramel sauce! When you opened the lid, the top fiber (angora) “poofed” up and it looked like a whipped cream topping!

Start at bottom left and go counter clockwise:

1) ANGORA (white)
2) CAMEL (TAN)
3) TUSSAH SILK (sheeny cream)
4) BABY CAMEL/TUSSAH SILK – 50/50 (blended tan and cream)
5) 80’S MERINO/CULITVATED SILK/ANGORA – 50/30/20 (off white)
6) ALPACA (med. brown)
7) OPTIM (whiter than merino blend, but darker than angora)
8) YAK (dark brown in center)

I placed each fiber into a separate Ziploc bag, wrote the name of each fiber on the bag, then put the bags on a ring holder.

I numbered the fibers and did each one separately, dividing the 1/2 ounce in half (2 – quarter ounce pieces) then I spun it on small bowl supported spindles.

(As shown on my Spinning Cotton page here:

http://www.siskiyouknits.com/cotton.htm )

Here is the camel/silk ready for plying.

I put 1/4 ounce on each spindle, and then plied it on my Ashford Traveler spinning wheel. I used a small plastic box with 2 holes cut in each side as a lazy-kate, slipping a small rubber grommet onto the end of the spindle (outside of the box) to keep each spindle in place.   About 30 w.p.i. -- a fine lace-weight thread!

SOME OF THE OTHER SPINDLES

THE CAMEL SKEIN

THE SILK SKEIN

THE "COLLECTION"!!

AND FINALLY…….

BEGINNING THE SHAWL!!!

A pattern from Wrapped In Comfort
By Alison Jeppson Hyde

The angora goes first! Softest closest to the neck!

{The needles are laying on a silk hankie that Wanda Jenkins dyed herself!}

THANKS FOR EVERYTHING, WANDA & ED!!!!

Here is the second layer, the baby camel.

All coming along nicely. The Jenkins hand turned hardwood needles are making this a total dream to work on!

By April I tangled with the idea of entering the shawl in Black Sheep, so I put my Wedding Shawl aside and concentrated on the Fiber Parfait Shawl. I have made great progress, and now (May) I am on fiber #7, the Optim. Nice Fiber!

Here is a close-up of the progress so far! The last line will be the very dark Yak fiber.

DONE! May 19, 2009. Not blocked yet, but done!

Though the pattern called for a larger size needle,  I used a size 6. This made the neck opening a bit smaller in diameter, which I prefer as I did not want a low neck line. It is an elbow length (cape) shawl.

I bound off with a size 11 needle.

Here is a close-up of the front edge. I added 2 stitches of garter stitch at the two front edges of the shawl.

The angora section, around the neck!
Finished dimensions:
Back of neck to bottom edge: 21 inches
Diameter (across): 45 inches

WAH LAH!!!

(5/09 Grannie Linda)