Silvergrrl Arts

It took me a few minutes tonight to get settled down when I started my spinning. Long, busy day at work, and too much to do this evening at home. But nothing keeps me from doing this, my spinning practice, every day.

I finished the second bobbin, so tomorrow I’ll start the third.

Until then.

Not as much time spinning today as some weekend days, but I made excellent progress on my current bobbin. As usual these days, I dropped right in to that meditative space that is so calming.

I also got started today on the Callicarpa scarf that I am making with this very wool that I’m spinning more of now. The 3-ply is a delight to knit. I swatched yesterday, which is ALWAYS a good thing to do. Because as it turns out, the needle size I need to match the pattern gauge is WAY different than the one listed. Maybe it’s just a difference between hand-spun and commercial yarn.

Until tomorrow.

I love weekends, because I get to spin earlier in the day and if I want to go for a longer time, I CAN without impacting my sleep or the stuff I need to do after work.

Today I finished the bobbin I started yesterday, and got a good start on the next one. More and more, I appreciate the meditative quality of the work. Letting my mind wander as my attention stays focused on the present moment.

Now I’m going to go swatch for the Callicarpa scarf, to determine the needle size I need. Fun!!

Until tomorrow.

I have to admit, I was a little worried about that last batch of yarn. After I wound it off on the niddy-noddy, it actually about 25 feet longer than the previous batch of 3-ply. For the same weight of wool. That goes back to that mystery I was talking about yesterday. So I was worried that if I was spinning THINNER, the plied yarn would no longer be DK weight, and I wouldn’t be able to use it in my beautiful scarf. BUT to my relief when I did the WPI test tonight, it came out just fine at 11 WPI, which is perfect.

So, that actually confirmed for me my suspicions about what’s going on. Because I’m watching the wool as I draft, and I can see that it’s more or less the same amount every time, so really I can’t be getting thinner on an overall basis. BUT what is happening is that I am getting better and better at staying even at that diameter. In spinning, when you have a fat place in your singles, it’s called a slub. Now, slubby yarn can be very beautiful. But right now it’s not what I’m trying to make. I believe I am getting fewer and thinner slubs, so that my yarn is more and more consistently the same diameter throughout the singles, and as a result is getting me more length for the weight. Yeah. I like that.

I got a good start on today’s bobbin, as I start on the next skein of 3-ply with this lovely Falklands wool

Until tomorrow.

OK, here’s a mystery. When I am spinning separate bobbins to ply together, like I’ve done this week, each time I weigh out the wool for that bobbin so they are equal. Since I’m spinning pretty consistently now, it makes sense that each bobbin would end up with more or less the same length of yarn on it, right?

So here’s what happens: the first two bobbins are, yes, within a few feet of each other, like 3 or 4 feet difference. When you consider how far even one gram of wool spins out, that’s a very small difference. But the THIRD bobbin, for some reason, ALWAYS is more like 12-15 feet longer than the other two. I know which one is which because of the order I put them on the kate when I finish each one.

Weird.

So yes, I finished the last bobbin tonight and plied the yarn. In today’s picture, it’s still wet, it will fluff out as it dries.

Until tomorrow.

Lovely but short spinning session today. It really calms my mind. I enjoy it so.

I’m in a great position to finish up this bobbin tomorrow and ply it, just as I’d hoped.

Until tomorrow.

As expected, I only had enough energy and time for about 20 minutes of spinning tonight. But that’s enough, I made more progress on the current bobbin. I’ll most likely get about the same amount done tomorrow night, which is ALWAYS my late night, and the night I’m the tiredest.

My goal for this week is to finish this bobbin on Thursday evening and ply it then.

Until tomorrow.

I finished the second bobbin of the 3-ply in progress, and started the third. I am content not to push myself too hard, now that vacation is over and I’m back at work. That first 5-day week after the holidays is a killer, isn’t it?

I’m also sure I won’t finish this 3rd bobbin tomorrow, I’m getting my hair cut after work and won’t get home in time for that. But I’ll spin some, you can be sure of that. In today’s photo, you can see the fiber that I’m spinning. I’ve split it out into thin strips, which are easy to work with.

Until then.