Why?

Just to prove I can!

HEY! Mom's spinning again!

So I sat down this week to start spinning. Why? Because I suddenly had loads of lush fluffy ready to spin fiber in the house and ya know, it calls to you and tells you to dust off the wheel and take off the nasty llama that's full of veggie matter and really is going to be a bear to spin and start on some really wonderful soft fluffy if sticky with a bit too much lanolin left in it Border Leicester. White even. And we all know how I LOVE to spin white. ;) I'm a bobbin and a half into it, and am not even feeling any color withdrawals. Yet. So far, It's spinning up fairly smooth and even and fine enough that I'm considering a three ply ....and yes, I'm dreaming of colors to dye it. lol I've got a lot of time to consider colors looking at the size of this bag.

I started spinning this up the day before I attended a funeral. I find spinning to be a comforting habit and it really helped reduce the stress of the pre-funeral and the post funeral nerves. (Man do I hate funerals!) It's been a comfort all week. I've noticed on other blogs that other spinners call it calming, stress breaking, relaxing, meditative....many of us don't even try to dissect the reason it is. We just accept it for what it is, and are grateful. I've noticed lately that I've had a bit of a bitter and hard edge developing. (understatement) I'm feeling it softening in areas and honestly feel that it's due to the reconnection to my fiber arts and the fiber community. They are both so stress relieving and grounding. I don't think the realistic side of me is going away so there will always be a bit of a jaded edge, but the bitter seems to be fading. Sadly, I'm starting to look forward to fall. That's just not completely right! I should be enjoying to the full the rest of Summer. I think it's a combination of the funeral and the last week of mostly rain that we've had. Anyway, here it is in all it's in-progress-singles-glories. At the time of this post I have filled 1.5 bobbins and am aiming for 3 bobbins for a three ply. WOO.....we'll see how that turns out! BTW, I bought a WPI gauge and no longer have an excuse for leaving this spec out of my reports. aaargh! I'm planning on plying it up after I fill three bobbins and not waiting until I complete the bag....in... like.....2010. lol. 3 bobbins plied together should get me about 150-200 yds at the current thickness being spun. Maybe more even. So for me, that's a skein in the making and woo hooo, lets move on. ;) COLOR TIME!**

"Really, Put down the camera!"
More importantly, as far as Abbie is concerned, is that I sat down for the first time in ages and knit for a bit. What I'm working on is not important. It's the re-knit of the Jaywalker socks in the same yarn as last year. I'm hoping to complete these sometime in my lifetime and move on to another yarn in another color using another pattern. Hope springs eternal, so I hear. All Abbie cared about was that I was sedentary, playing with sticks and string again. LAP TIME!!!

I'm madly vac pacing alpaca that's been washed. Last count I needed to pack up 5 more bags full and still had an unreasonable amount out in the shed to wash. I know I may sound paranoid, but really, I haven't picked up this years yet. Could the fleece be breeding in the shed? I keep them in separate bags, in separate boxed even! And really....isn't it a bit scary to have that much?! Ah well. Maybe I'll be reckless in my dyeing this winter and come out with some FAB colorworks. (Snort!) You may start seeing custom dyed carded 100% alpaca for sale from this site. lol I did bring home 4 more rolls of vac pack bags. I need to get the box of vac packed out to the shed tomorrow though as Abbie has filed a formal complaint with the Paw that her table has too much stuff on it. :)

"Really, clean off the damn table, already!"

Ok, I'm tired and ready for bed. Time to sign off and get to it. I will try to update again soon, but if the sun comes out tomorrow, I'm on the motorcycle for a much needed ride!

**I'm sure to have a dyeing day soon as I talked to my friend with the fiber mill and she's willing for us to learn how to make batts on her machine. So! I'm planning on making two color blending groups. One is a deep navy blue, teal blue and a golden yellow. Another is reminiscent of a sunset. To get these results, I'm going to have to do some solid color dyeing to be able to do the blending on the carder. YEAH! I'll try to take pics and post. I PROMISE!

This was suppose to post last night, but for some reason was sent to the draft file. I expect it was operator error. ;)