I need to acknowledge some comments that were posted while I was in Wisconsin for a time this winter.

On February 3, in response to my “I’ve Been Spinning” post, Jody wrote:
That yarn has a nice looking sheen to it. I knit alot with my alpaca handspun yarn. Do you make anything with yours? I seem to remember you were actually knitting some socks?

Thanks, Jody. That fiber is from Anna, and she has some really good brightness.

I do make things with my handspun yarn – mostly hats, some scarves, some small scarves that I call neck wraps, and various other projects. I do more crochet than knitting. I have never made socks with handspun yarn, but I have knit socks using yarn that was millspun using fiber from our alpacas.

I really enjoy spinning. Most days, I prefer spinning to knitting or crochet. Of course, the finished product of spinning is yarn which is really only an intermediate, and knitting needles are so much more portable than a spinning wheel.

And, on February 6, Amy wrote in response to a post on spinning suri:
I recently saw your post on spinning suri and have been dong some of my own over the past few years. I’ve skipped the whole carding and combing process to find that I just like picking the fiber to loosen it into mounds of fluff and spinning it from there. This gives the fiber some body where it might be lacking if completely combed. It still drafts easily. I’ve since made several projects.

Thank you Amy, and I see some very pretty items on your website.

Your comment about just picking suri is very interesting. I don’t have a picker – yet – so I haven’t tried that approach. I think it’s interesting that you’re achieving some body that way. I have a picker in my plans and I think that’s an interesting approach.

I do have a question about prickle, because I know that when I spin stronger suri fiber, I have to avoid hairpin bends in the fiber, because those bends really add to the prickle of the yarn. Have you any experience with increased prickle when you use this technique, or what do you do to avoid it? (It may be that you’re simply using a much softer suri fiber than most of what I have had the opportunity to work with.)

I’m a great believer in taking what the fiber gives me. Really good suri fiber is silky, has sheen, and has excellent drape. I’ve had only limited opportunities to work with really good suri, and I have chosen, mostly, to accentuate the strengths of suri in spinning. The suri in the article in question is VERY low-grade. I found the best thing to do with it was to blend it with huacaya. I have a lot of experiments in mind for spinning from picked fiber – when and if I get that picker. I’ll have to add your suri technique to the list.