Everything Old: The Fancy Kitty Kitten Drum Carder

I bought myself a new baby! After much deliberation (just ask my family, I hemmed and hawed for ages) I chose a drum carder! I'm very interested in preparing raw fleece, both for personal use and to sell. I could've bought a cheaper set of hand cards, but batts are more fun to squish (and buy).

There she is, straight out of the box. I've got to mention the wonderful customer service that Ron, the owner of Fancy Kitty Products, provides. This lovely handmade machine comes with a fantastic warranty, and friendly advice is always at the other end of the phone, email, or Ravelry group. My carder shipped within a few hours my requesting a special Canadian order invoice. They were worried they hadn't put a drive belt on it in their haste to get it here, so they sent another one, just in case. I now have two! And it came with a handmade thank-you card. How sweet is that?

I love the little kitty on the logo. She looks ever so slightly posessed.

I've had a lot of fun blending some really lovely batts. There's a definite learning curve to drum carding, but I'm a very fast learner. My two biggest realizations so far: SLOW DOWN; don't over-blend, and work in thin layers of both colour and fibre type. These pics are of my first two batts, for which I dyed some roving I wasn't too fond of so I could try out some colour blending techniques.