Found

Missing items always seem to turn up in an extremely obvious spot, or one where you have no clue how they got there. This time it was a bit of both.

I hunted for my doffer and brush for 20 min or half an hour last night, then gave up and finished the carding using a pencil and one of my hand cards as substitutes, which worked well enough.

Peeled the last batt off, and moved the carder aside, then picked up the cloth underneath to shake out all the bits of hay that fell out of the llama fleece.

And promptly felt very silly indeed, as the missing items were under the cloth the whole time. I did look under the carder (lifted it up, even), but I guess between the carpet pile and a wrinkle in the cloth, there wasn't enough of a bump showing to clue me in. No idea how they got under there in the first place, but they're found. No need to suspect aliens, or the cat, or a burglar with a fiber fetish.

Now that's solved, I think today I'll do a little spinning.