Nope, it's not a cloud - it's Pokey Fluff. Pokey is an whitish alpaca that lives on a farm near Montevideo, Minnesota. I purchased his four-pound fleece at the North Country Fiber Fair last fall, but I was waiting until I found my drum carder to do anything with it. I finally found the carder around Christmas time. (It was hiding in one of the few unpacked boxes in the garage.)
When I found it, I remembered the drive band was broken and years ago and a few moves ago, when I packed it away the manufacturer, Clemes & Clemes, was into skateboards instead of drum carders so I had no idea how to get a new one. Shortly, after I found the drum carder, I discovered Clemes & Clemes was back into drum carders, carders and spinning wheels and a new drive band would only cost me $20. The rest is history.
Even though Pokey's fleece had been picked and washed, there is still quite a bit of guck in it, so I'm guessing I'll have a little less than three pounds of batts. I originally planned to dye the batts and then spin them, but since the batts are so fragile, I think I'll spin them up into a two-ply lace/fingering weight and then handpaint it. I'm only doing two batts a day, so this is will be a long-term project.
