Thursday, January 31, 2008

Spnning "Anna" Into Gold

(Click on any photo to enlarge.)

It truly wasn't hard at all, turning Anna, the Golden Retriever's GoRgEoUs hair into gold - well, golden yarn that is.

On Thursday, January 24, 2008, a fat, yellow envelope arrived in my mailbox from a charming lady associated with the Golden Retriever Rescue of Southern Maryland. Upon opening, I discovered the most beautiful hair I'd seen from a golden.

Bag of Anna's hair:

Anna's Gorgeous Locks:

As you can see from the beautiful, creamy-golden color, I had a treasure to behold. And I simply could not wait to get started. So, Thursday night I prepared the fiber. And Friday, I spun my heart out. I could not believe the color!!! It was like oatmeal with faint, soft, subtle golden undertones. There is no way on earth that I could ever make such an amazing color with that much depth in a dye pot!

Saturday, I finished spinning and plied the yarn. Sunday I washed the yarn to set the twist. It was cold in the house so it took two days for it to dry. And when it did, I went picture crazy! The yarn was just beautiful, with a slight halo starting to develop similar to angora.

Here's a close-up of the finished yarn.

Handspun "Anna" Yarn piled up into a work of art!

I finally put the camera down and twisted the yarn into a skein. I put a label on it making for a lovely decorative keepsake. Handspun "Anna" Yarn is on it's way home!