Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Category: Spin Page 48 of 69

October Batt Club

(Or, I’m a Loser.)

Since I don’t have anything worthwhile to show you for the Tour de Fleece, I’m going to show you something else that I finished instead…

October Batt Club Spun

Yarn Specs:

Source: Abby‘s Batt Club, October, 2007
Fiber: First Frost: 33% Extra Fine Merino/33% Baby Alpaca/33% Silk/1% Firestar Nylon
Plies: 2
Yardage: 22 wpi (after wet finishing)
Weight: 3.5 oz.

Tour de Fleece

Yes, as I said earlier. I’m a Loser, with a capital “L”. The combination of a busy life and fiber that I’m not all that thrilled about, makes for a lousy combination in terms of progress. Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with the fiber nor the prep from Spinderella. I just don’t enjoy spinning it because I’m not fond of spinning worsted weight yarn. And it has a little too much glitz for my taste.

Wait a minute, you say.  The October Batts have glitz too, but you love it, right?  Yeah. But it’s the amount of glitz.  And the glitz in the October Batts are much finer than the one used in Spinderella’s thrums, so the effect is more subtle.

Normally, what keeps me spinning a particular fiber are the daydreams of what I can make out of it. But the combination of the texture and the glitz, I knew that there isn’t anything that I want to make out of the resulting yarn. Since I’m not enthusiastic about the end game, the journey isn’t all that thrilling either.

What did I get done? So far, 2 bumps out of the 8 are spun onto 3 bobbins. I plied 2+ of the bobbins for a whopping 278 yards of worsted weight 2-ply yarn.

Instead of spinning for Tour de Fleece, I found the time to finish plying some leftover Chasing Rainbows merino/silk singles (58 yds, plied from center pulled ball), and the above lace weight yarn.

This is not to say that joining the Tour was a waste of time. It did get me moving again on this roving. 2 out of 8 batts completed. I will continue to work on these until they are done. But there may be other spinning in between.

My eyes are too big

Bump of Spinderella ThrumsI overestimated what my free time looks like. Since I signed up, I have only been able to spin just under one bump (1 bobbin full) of the Spinderella Thrums. Of 8 bumps. Less than one out of EIGHT.  That’s less than 12% of goal #1.

What have I been doing? What haven’t I been doing might be an easier question.

Take yesterday for example.

I was out of bed and in the pool by 0800 for my SCUBA lessons. Then it was off to storage to locate my ancient golf clubs.  A quick stop at the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions that have been waiting for me for 2 days.  Another quick stop at the deli counter to pick up a sandwich to eat on the road, but snacks for the cruise out dinner.  Home to wash/wipe down the golf clubs (haven’t used them in 15 years).  A quick shower to get the clorine off. Then it was off across the bay to meet up with the cruisers for a 9 hole round of golf.  (Did I say that I haven’t used my clubs in 15 years?)  Followed by dinner and awards.  I was home by 2200.

I was out of the house again this morning by 1000 and didn’t return until 2100.  I just finished up some laundry.  I hope the towels and swimsuit will be ready to hit the pool again tomorrow by 0800.

I still have to squeeze in some reading on the manuals of my new SCUBA gear and a few chapters of the PADI book.

The rest of the week doesn’t look much better.  I have more PADI lessons, doctors appointments, oil change appointment, plus planning, shopping, cooking and decorating for a Greek Island Time party that I am co-hosting at the club this Saturday — for 100 people.

As people keep commenting, where did I ever find the time to hold a full time job that required a minimum of 60 hours a week?

I’m In…

Tour de Fleece Badge

Seriously, how can I not? I looked at what I want to accomplish, and of course I should. The challenge will be as listed in the previous post. Both of them. Either one of them wouldn’t be much of a challenge, but both? Yeah. What’s the tour without the alps?

Hmm. I guess I’d better go dig in the garage and find all the Crosspatch Creations/Three Bags Full fiber.

Page 48 of 69

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