the end result

I think one of the hard parts about being a crafter who blogs is that, while I'd love to share the process of my work, every minute I spend blogging is a minute away from my spinning.  When push comes to shove, what I want to do is spin.

In other words, I may not have been blogging much these last couple of weeks, but I have gotten some spinning done.  The end result of my challenge was 8 skeins of yarn:

In addition I had about four bobbins full and just needed to finish a second bobbin in order to be able to ply.  The two days of the festival I did some spinning in the evening and yesterday I plied three more skeins:

So the end result is I could have been a little more productive, but I'm pretty pleased with what I accomplished.  Of course, I just had to be masochistic and add to my stash at the festival.  So I guess I better get spinning because there's a whole pile of stuff waiting in the wings to get done.

Off to a good start...

So I haven't been posting much.  I'd like to say it's because I've been spinning non-stop, but that would be a lie.  I've been busy.  Some spinning, but also some just general "Pretending To Be A Grown Up" stuff.  But I knew that when I started and all things considered I think I'm doing well.


After getting off to a darker start I decided to lighten things up a bit.  And of course, I wouldn't be me if I couldn't sneak in a bit more green.  Then, because I'm trying to be good and add some pink to my life, I did a little pink.

I was staring to run a little low on available bobbins at that point, so I decided to finish another project that was in the wings and now I have two more skeins done.

So that freed up a couple of bobbins but a package arriving in the mail distracted me from my challenge pile.  I couldn't resist spinning up some Wensleydale real quick.  (Lucky for me, Wensleydale spins pretty quick.)  I also finished a second bobbin of the pale green to tonight I am planning to do some plying.  By the end of the evening I will hopefully have three more skeins, four if I play my cards right.

And now to my Wensleydale....

Annnnnnnnnnnd they're off!!!

Or I'm off.  Or something.

So I got off to a pretty good start, I think.  After posting last night I spun for about another hour and filled a bobbin:

Today found me contemplating my bobbins.  I had an empty one, but I also had a few projects in process that I would like to finish:

So I decided I'd finish the easy one, that only needed plying.

Ha!  One skein done.  (Is that cheating?)

Then for today.  I decided to start on the wool that has intrigued me since the first time I saw it for sale: "Party in a Bag."  Basically the seller just stuffs bits and pieces of stuff, mostly black wool, into a big bag.  You can buy it by the ounce or (as I did) by the pound.

It is turning out not to be an easy spin.  I could have carded it first, but I thought that would take away from the character and spirit of the wool.  So I'm running into lumps and bumps and curls and slubs.  I filled the better part of a bobbin, but now I'm not sure what I want to do.  Part of me thinks that maybe I should leave it as a single ply.  (Someone I know is jumping up and down in excitement at that statement.)  But there is plenty of sections that have been easy enough to spin and have ended up being quite thin.  I'm always a little nervous about the stability of a single ply.  So I will have to think about it.

Luckily I have plenty of other things to work on in the meantime.

The pile, the challenge

So here's the deal.  I was chatting with someone at work yesterday.  "Are you ready?" she asked.  "The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is going to be here before you know it."  Oh hell, yeah, I'm always ready.  But then she said, "I haven't quite finished with all the sock yarn I bought last year."

Finished?  Whoa, wait.  We're supposed to finish things?  I thought I was just supposed to buy and buy and buy until my stash took over the house, named itself and evicted me so it could watch Animal Planet and drink brandy uninterrupted for all time.

I got to thinking about it and realized that maybe I should be finishing some stuff before I actually brought more home.  So I went down into the basement and stared at my stash.  I selected two bags and brought them upstairs.

So here's the challenge.  I know there's no way that I can possibly spin this much yarn between now and the first weekend in May.  But damn, I'm going to give it my best shot.  I've taken pictures of the wool I brought up to work on.  You can see it all here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregoryroad/sets/72157626438305682/

I will try to take pictures and post regularly as to my progress.

Here's to a significant reduction in stash and a guilt free MSWF 2011! *raises brandy glass*