I has mail!

more animals

Fiber mail at that! I got the order of roving from Copper Moose via ebay for Holiday gifts, and also 5 1/8 pounds of raw llama from Tareena, a friend of mine who lives in Orlando.

Tareena, until very lately, worked on a llama farm, which is having to shut down due to hard times, and Tareena would like me to get this fiber processed and make her something to remember the llamas by. I certainly will do that. It's lovely long-stapled stuff. There's about 2.75 pounds of gray/brown, which is very soft with very little if any guard hair, and a little more than 2 1/3 pounds of white/gray, which does have some guard hair, but I'm sure the processors can take care of that.

Now, I just need to find a processor who can clean it... I may send off the alpaca Ilana sent me several years ago and the pound of clean but uncombed lambswool I got from Yarns Etc. earlier this year at the same time, if they can process that at a good price too. We'll have to see... I've never sent fiber to a processor before, and I know some places won't take small lots unless they can process it altogether at the same time or they charge extra. I wouldn't mind the lambswool being blended with the others, but I'd like the alpaca, each to be kept separate, and each of the llama lots to be kept separate as well... So I'm going to have to do some searching... I wonder, is there's a group on Ravelry about fiber processors??? *makes mental note to check*

From Copper Moose, I got 8 ounces of Falkland for presents (and it is very white for natural fiber, just as I had hoped), 4 ounces of sky blue European Merino for myself, and he sent me a sample of the Shetland that I wanted and might not be able to use. A very generous sample, I might add! Almost 2 full ounces, according to my scale... I really do adore him because he's so very accommodating and is all about the customer service... something I very much appreciate because there's always a question about whether or not one is getting good fiber when it's ordered through the internet. Something so tactile and prone to veriations in quality and hand not being able to be touched before it's paid for... It can be sketchy. A lot of people are very understandably nervous about buying spinning fibers via the internet. But I've always been very confident about what I'm buying from Copper Moose. The only place I'd trust more is what is now Gate City Yarns in Greensboro. But in this case, speed was a necessity, so Copper Moose...

First impressions on the Falkland: It's not silky like Merino usually is, but in ever other respect it is just as soft. I can't wait to spin it!