Llady Llama Fiber Co. Roving Review
Llady Llama Fiber Co. is the 2nd company I ever purchased roving from. They are a family team that started up in 2009 and is composed of a dyer (Kelli), 2 sewists (Kelli’s mom and sister), and 1 tool maker (Kelli’s dad). Kelli’s wife, Rachel, is a talented artist who is a super supporter and the genius behind their logo. Truly a family affair! Kelli, the owner, dyer and mastermind behind Llady Llama, is the primary person you will interact with if you contact them on Etsy, Instagram or Facebook. Speaking from my experience, she is absolutely lovely and I have had the most delightful interactions with her each time we chat. The shop has multiple catagories: hand dyed yarns (speckles and semisolids and gradients, oh my!), hand dyed combed top on 4 bases, hand blended rolags, project bags in a variety of sizes and shapes and patterns, shawl pins, hand crafted niddy noddies, drop spindles … it really is a fiber artist paradise. To be fully transparent, I have only purchased combed top and 1 set of rolags to date. But if the attention to detail and high quality dyeing speaks at all to the rest of the products they offer, then I suggest you get shopping!
My Experience
Above you’ll see a smattering of some of the rovings and rolags I’ve purchased from Kelli. The 4 combed top bases that she offers are Llyric - a superwash Blue Faced Leicester (BFL), Llore - a superwash Targhee, Llegacy - a superwash Merino, and Lleaf - a superwash Merino/bamboo/nylon blend. Some how, I haven’t tried the Llore base yet which is crazy because I love the feel of Targhee! Going to have to fix that and soon!
The reason I came across Llady Llama as a new spinster is because I was searching for rolags on Etsy. I had no idea what format I enjoyed to spin yet (rovings, batts, rolags, locks, etc). So I purchased 1 oz of Corriedale/Llama rolags and 1 four oz. Llyric in her colorway Southwest Succulents. Below is one of my earliest spindle spun handspun yarns. This was my first attempt at a fractal spun 2 ply yarn. It’s a bit irregular but the colors are so lovely together I could hardly stop to worry about the twist.
Llyric superwash BFL base in colorway Southwest Succulents spun on a turkish drop spindle as a fractal 2-ply DK weight.
Kelli’s dye work is very colorfast. I suspect this is a combination of working with super wash wools (which have a faster color strike when dyeing) combined with excellent post-dyeing washing practices. Her rovings are never compacted and draft very easily. Her color choices are always beautiful and often lend themselves to gradients or fractals when spinning depending on the spinner’s approach. The Llyric superwash BFL top has a lovely 3-4 inch staple. It is strong and yet comfortably soft for next to skin accessories. The Llegacy superwash Merino seemed to have a bit shorter staple length, topping out at 3 inches. This was so soft I even made a winter hat for my newborn nephew last year with this base. The Lleaf base while it contains primarily merino (60% Merino, 30% bamboo, 10% nylon), it has a completely different high shine luster and soft drape due to the nylon and bamboo in it. So supple and comfy!
When washing my yarns to set the twist, I use warm (not hot) water and Unicorn Fibre Rinse. All of these bases performed roughly the same. There was a tiny amount of bleeding, nothing that require a vinegar soak to recapture the color. There were zero changes in the color appearance before and after washing. In the future, I suspect I could use cold water for setting the twist and eliminate nearly all the bleed. None of them required a second wash.
Here is a sampling of some things I’ve knit from my Llady Llama handspun yarns. These rovings really make some fabulous pieces! One thing to note is that superwash wool acts a bit differently once it is knit up. For lack of a better description, the finished knit piece seems to grow in size when you go to wet block it. I have read that steam blocking can alleviate some of the growth but I have not yet had the chance to try it. This has not been a particular problem in my accessories since they are small pieces to begin with. I think this would be much more important to consider if someone were making a garment. Another important thing to note is these are all combed tops, they tend to make a yarn that doesn’t hold a ton of air. Yarn that can hold air tends to be a warmer yarn. As a native Atlantan who still lives here in GA, our winters haven’t been particularly cold lately <knock on wood>. So a smooth, worsted spun yarn is perfect for breathability in our chilly winter months. Just enough to keep you warm but not dying of heat.
Five of the pieces above were spindle spun yarns; the yarn for the shawl was wheel spun. Each of them was a joy and a labor of love. The colors and the texture of the wool was a thrill to work with each and every time. Kelli truly has a talent for dye work and a keen sense of color. If you’ve been looking for the right wool to try for attempting a fractal spin, a majority of her rovings would be an exceptional choice for your first try. I’m so lucky to have stumbled across her early on in my spinning journey. She has some great things going on with make-a-longs, collaborations, festivals and mystery boxes and more. You definitely should check out Llady Llama Fiber Co. on social media and for your next project needs!
Let me know in the comments below which of her products catches your eye the most!