In Lieu of...
Rather than have a Monday List this week, I thought I would take a moment to formalize my official Tour de Fleece goals. - Ply my bobbin of singles made from a Butterfly Girl Designs batt. (DONE!) The poor bobbin, I'm ashamed to admit, had been sitting around for quite some time, despite it's loveliness. I plied it yesterday, and it's quite possibly the most beautiful yarn I've ever made!
- Finish reading Judith MacKenzie McCuin's The Intentional Spinner. I bought it as soon as it was released, but I wasn't spinning much at the time and so I never read it. Silly me!
- Take some fiber in for processing. Remember the 7 lbs of sheep that I recently bought? The plan all along has been to blend it with some angora that I have left over from my rabbitry days. We have a woman in the guild who apparently does phenomenal work, and so I'm going to call her before the end of the tour to see about having the fiber processed. (I have children, and limited time for crafting. Processing fiber - while something I am fully capable of doing - is not something that I really enjoy. (I also have no interest in either dying or weaving....just so you know!) For now at least, it's just better to have someone else do it - or to buy fiber that's ready for spinning.)
- Spin two unfamiliar fibers. After I sorted the stash the other day, I realized that the thing that would be the MOST helpful to me would be to let myself loosen up and experiment with new fibers. That's part of why I chose the silk. That and that it's just so pretty! Once the silk is done, than I'll move on to another new-t0-me choice, probably one of the blends.
- Familiarize myself with my drop spindle. I'm not honestly sure of whether or not I'll every truly be a proficient spindle spinner. I need to take some serious time to practice and figure out if I really want to pursue this particular branch of my beloved craft or not.
To those of you who are also persuing Tour goals, Good Luck and Happy Spinning!
Comments
I think it's good to pick the things you actually like to do AND have time for. Processing is also something I could do - but it is time-consuming and I like other fiber pursuits better, so I leave it to the mills.
We take all our fibers to Bonnie and Carl for processing. They do an excellent job. Bonnie is meticulous about getting the fiber squeaky clean. She'll always tell you honestly if there is a problem with the processing. It's worth every penny for me, lets me spend my time spinning instead of washing. I always ask for "fine spinner's roving" - needs very little, if any, predrafting.
Keep up the good work on Tour de Fleece goals!
I have some carbonised bamboo in the stash waiting to be tried, I failed dismally at it a year ago but I might be able to make it work now. Milk fibre defeated me, but I'm love trying different sheep wools.