When I'm out at an outdoor market or craft fair with my spinning wheel, people often ask me, "What are you making?" I try not to sound sarcastic, but the answer is, as a matter of fact, "YARN." The truth is, I'm not always spinning to knit or weave something in particular.. Sometimes I spin yarn to sell, sometimes just to use up some bunny fur, dog hair or sheep wool that has been accumulating. Sometimes I have something new like raw llama that I just want to see spun up. Sometimes I spin just to relax or to keep my hands busy.
It takes 3-4 times as long to prepare and spin yarn as it does to weave with it. I rarely have the time to do that. I get to spin here and there, in odd chunks of time. I do it just because I like it and want to keep my shelves full of yarn. Weaving takes up great quantities of yarn and when I'm weaving it's full steam ahead.  It has been said that in the days of homespun clothing, it took 7 spinners to keep one weaver busy! No way I can keep up with that!

Llama yarn

I just made my first skein of llama wool. It's a longer process than usual because llamas are double coated animals.



If you look closely, you can see fuzzy down and longer guard hairs. These need to be separated.
I just hold a clump of wool and pull the guard hairs out.




The coarse hairs can be used for rugs or even ropes. The soft down can be spun as is, or blended with another fiber.

I carded the down. Some folks might just spin it as is, but I find I do a better job if it's carded first. My carding drum is in storage at the moment, so I used my hand carders.

Finally, I got to spin some gorgeous tan yarn. It's not my best spinning effort, but I love the color and texture.