Sandalwood Merino

Ever since last weekend's fiber festival in Murfreesboro, I've had the urge to spin. I finished up some corriedale, that I've had on the spindle for a couple years (yes, years!) This is the roving that my dog, Brownie (may she rest in peace), thoroughly trashed. So that tells those of you who were fortunate enough to know Brownie how long I've (not) been working on it. I finished it up this week and plied it. I soaked it last night to set the spin and it's drying. I'll calculate yardage when it's dry. I don't remember where I bought it or how much I purchased. It's been too long.
Next up: 8 ounces of 100% merino wool in Sandalwood. This is absolutely lucious fiber! It's spinning up into a very nice heathered dark tan. I purchased it in Gatlinburg a couple years ago during our annual January weekend trip. There aren't many shops in Nashville (not any) that sell roving, so when I see it while on vacation, I have to buy buy buy! I bought a total of 8 ounces for $17.00. Was that reasonable? I guess it was since I didn't have anything to compare it to. The shop is called Smoky Mountain Spinnery on 466 Brookside Village Way in Winery Square. For those of you familiar with Gatlinburg, she's right near the winery and above Dominoes Pizza. The shop is husband-friendly as her husband has a flyfishing shop right next door. You have to walk through the fishing shop to get to the wool. She doesn't have a web site and the shop is quite small. (Her phone is 865-436-9080.) She also carries a few spinning wheels--Majacraft if I recall correctly. She also has a great line of silk--unspun roving, hankies, handspun, etc. I did some major damage there last year--a skein of handspun silk and some hankies...very nice!

If you get to Gatlinburg, stop in for a visit. She's a lot of fun to talk to (I wish I could remember her name!) and will let you browse at your leisure. She also carries small looms. It's a neat place. When I go back this winter, I'm going to pick up more roving...I think I'll ply this sandalwood with a chocolate brown. Yum!

Quick note on my spindle of choice. I made it myself with a wooden toy truck wheel and dowel purchased at Michael's. I tapered each end of the dowel with a pencil sharpener and then slid it through the hole in the wheel. It was a tight fit, so I sanded down the shorter end until I could get it through the hole. I carved the notch in the top of the spindle with a jack knife. Then I took some fine steel wool and smoothed it all down so there wouldn't be any snagging. It probably cost me all of $2 and took about a half hour. I'm going to make a top whorl spindle next.