Thanksgiving “Fairy Dust”

Don’t you love it when you have a perfectly ordinary day planned and something catches your eye, sending you off in an entirely unexpected direction?

Yes, it’s fiber. A lovely bit of “fairy dust”; less than an ounce, although it looks like more, being so light and airy, but OH! So magical. I had to stop everything and spin it right up. 💗

This lovely mini-batt was created by blending 50% dyed angora bunny, silk, fine pygora and just enough super-fine merino to hold together for spinning.

It’s only lightly blended … probably only once through the drum-carder.

It clearly (to me, anyway) called out to be spun thick and thin, with some intentional slubs – lots of texture.

Wow, as soon as I started spinning, I realized I’d almost forgotten how to intentionally create a slubby, textured yarn, but this really needed to be just that.

I loved the way it turned out, but at barely half a bobbin full, I realized some creativity was called for if I was going to have enough yarn to be actually useful. My solution was to spin up a 2nd 1-ounce bobbin of pure white, lustrous yearling pygora. Yes, fiber from my sweet “Yarn”. Oh my, her first shearing was wonderful. I’m so glad I still had some set aside. 💗

I plied the half-bobbin of thick & thin lavender “fairy dust” with the half-bobbin of slightly finer, more consistently-spun white pygora. I was thrilled to see the finished yarn carried all the texture and softness of the angora blend, without losing the soft, magically colors.

The finished yarn is comprised of 60% Pygora, 30% Angora (bunny) and 10% silk and merino wool.

As I’d hoped it would, the yarn fulled out more and developed a pretty halo with a hot water soak to set the twist.

It spent last night on the drying rack by the wood stove. This morning, I was greeted with a lovely 1.5 oz skein of beautiful, soft and lofty “fairy dust”.

There’s not a whole lot of it – just about 100 yards of finished yarn, so I’m think it’ll be a fun touch of magic as cuffs on a pair of gloves, or an unexpected trim on a hat or scarf.

What a nice way to start out my Thanksgiving Day. Sending loving Thanksgiving wishes to each of you – I hope you have some unexpected joy in your day!