A new year. A time for new projects. In other words, pulling out the bags of alpaca fleece and diving into them. Look at them. Sitting there in that basket. Calling.
Cinnamon Bliss
What this means is that you take a lock of fleece and bend it over your left forefinger so the tip end and the cut end are even. So it’s in sort of an inverted “U” position with your finger running up the middle.
I have officially finished spinning all of the Rebecca wool into singles, and I’ve even started plying it! I have two nice skeins done already.
The First of the Bunch
I’m not sure how much they weigh, or how much yardage is in them. I’ll find out once they’re all done. And, once they’re all done I’ll just have the two drop-spindling projects left to finish up.
Ha ha. Just two drop-spindling projects. I spun a little on each of them today and managed to remind myself that they’re good for leisurely, enjoyable spinning. Not so good for speed work.
Once again I didn’t get this up last night. I have an excuse, though! I was busy plying this wonderful skein of sock yarn.
Four-Ply Sock Yarn
Gawain is done! I absolutely love it when the seemingly endless thread you’ve been working on for the past who-knows-how-long comes together and makes yarn. It’s amazing.
That makes three things checked off my list. No, four. Well, I guess three. Gawain sock yarn, the lumpy yarn, the sparkly black stuff, and if you want to count it separately, this little skein from the leftover turquoise.
Look what is showing through my once-enormous pile of turquoise fiber.
I Can See The Bottom!
This is all I was able to make before running out of purple locks to stick into the thin single.
The Finished Lumpy
In my humble opinion, the last minute gifts are best. Not the “Oops, I forgot. What should I get?” kind, but the unexpected, “Oh, by the way, here you go” kind. And I’ve gotten so many “Oh, by the way” these last few days I’m about ready to dance on a rooftop.
In my last post I mentioned that I was way behind schedule, and that I probably wouldn’t get any more spun on Christmas Eve. Well, we got home from the Christmas Eve service around nine, and by nine-thirty Dad decreed a late-night movie! We all trooped down to the TV room and spent two and half hours watching It’s a Wonderful Life. Do you know how much you can spin in that amount of time? In a word, a whole spool full of the black wool silk mix, which left me with a strip of roving a little over a yard long.
I’m definitely behind schedule today. Christmas cookies took up the morning, and I was tired the rest of the afternoon. I did, however, play around with a little of the red cookie dough. Here’s my three-ply, peppermint yarn ball!
Cookie, Anyone?
I’m ahead of schedule! Two and half hours on my feet running the Great Wheel has paid off in these five little beauties. They’re right around one ounce apiece!
Five Marvelous Spools
I spun two of them this morning, and the other three while we watched Miracle on 34th Street. I’m so happy that I got ahead! It means that I might not fall behind in the next couple days. I’ll just forget about the fact that my arms and back and everything else are complaining loudly.
And I added two more big fat skeins to the unnamed yarn.
More and More
It looks like I’ve spun the necessary five and a half ounces today. One ounce of which finished up the Gawain batt! I now have five spools full of it. And that means that the wheel is freed up for either spinning the Rebecca wool, or plying the Gawain.
The First Finished Project!
Waves of Fiber
I’ve been having lots of fun spinning up the Gawain batt. The colors are turning out gorgeously!
Despite the progress I’ve made on the Rebecca wool, I don’t think I can get it all ready to go in the next two weeks. I’m up to nine spindle-fulls, though!
So, I decided to take a quick break from Rebecca and tackle the Gawain batt.