In Which the Pirate Spins.

This weekend was mine to do whatever I wanted to do. On Saturday after the niecelets’ birthday party I cleaned the house, ran laundry and stayed up very late watching movies and playing with the cats, and on Sunday when I got tired of watching cooking shows I went up to my room to see what craftsy thing I felt like doing. I turned around in circles and the wheel caught my eye first, so I oiled it up and sat down to spin.

I put in two or three hours over the course of the day, and the bobbin was almost full by bedtime. I haven’t weighed the remaining fibre, but I don’t think I’m even halfway through it yet. I started spinning this stuff back in 2010 for Spin in Public Day and while I admit I’ve not kept to a regular spinning schedule, it seems like I spin and spin and spin, and the pile of unspun fibre never grows any smaller. I know I’m not the only spinner who feels this way, and that eventually it’ll be done… but meanwhile, it’s taking forever!

I’m planning to chain-ply these singles to maintain the striping in the finished yarn. I have another full bobbin of orange and yellow rambouillet singles in about the same weight that’s also destined to be chain-plied. And then, perhaps, instead of putting them away in my basket of handspun yarn, I’ll list them for sale in my Etsy shop.

The fibre is eight ounces of merino pencil roving from Pucker Brush Farm that I bought at Maryland Sheep and Wool in 2010. Most of it drafts very smoothly, but some of the darker sections are matted and felted. I’m not even trying with those, I’m just pulling them out and discarding them. They’ll be good stuffing if I ever make any amigurumi or cat toys.

Unfortunately this morning I woke up quite stiff and sore across my back. I’m going to have to be careful to watch my posture when I’m back at the wheel tomorrow! Following the Yarn Harlot’s example, I’m going to set Tuesday as my day for spinning. While I doubt that an hour or two a week will make for very productive spinning, I’ll certainly get more done than if I just don’t spin at all. I’d like to finish this merino, ply the rambouillet, and move on to some of the other fibres in my stash.