A NEW YEAR


I know I'm almost a month and a half late with this post but December and January have passed quickly.


At the end of December I joined a group on Ravelry  call 12 in 2012. It's a group that has the goal to spin 12 pounds of fiber in the year 2012. Each month has a challenge.  The January challenge was to spin a single yarn and for February the challenge is to spin a larger quantity of fiber than I'm used to spinning.

January went pretty well! I started with a fiber that I purchased from Southern Cross Fibers; a color way called Storm on Falklands fiber. Falkland is fiber that is not a specific breed of sheep but fiber that is grown on the Falkland island and not anywhere else. The wool is grown mostly from the merino and polwarth breeds.

I spun 4 ozs. of this fiber last year but still has 8 ozs. left to spin for this year. I made a 3 ply yarn that is both under spun and under plied. It is a balanced yarn and also soft and smoochy. I will work on making a slightly tighter yarn next time.

My second January spin was one that I've started in December as a spinning demo at the Charles River Smockers December meeting. I spun 2 ozs. there and had six ozs. to spin.

It's Spunky Eclectic Tuxedo Rose on Romney a September 2010 Club fiber. I didn't think I was going to like this yarn but when I was finished I was excited. I turned out to be the best looking yarn I've ever spun.  I n-plied  to keep the colors together. This yarn makes me happy!!

Romney is a course fiber and is usually spun for outer wear as it could be itchy for next to the skin wearing. Staple length is about 6 inches. I raffled this yarn off to the Charles River Smockers who attended the January meeting and it was won by our President Vera.

Next, I spun 8 ounces of super wash corriedale from Spunky Eclectic in the Davids Gift color way. Bright vibrant color made this a fun spin. I split the top down the center and spun from one end to the other.  I ended up with 325 yds. of navaho ply yarn.

Lastly, another Romney.

Again, it another Spunky yarn. I purchased this one shortly after I started spinning.  I loved spinning this top, it practically spun itself. I ended up with 360 yds. of 2 ply, very lofty yarn.

Total for January - 30 ounces.


February 4, 2012-Did you know? It was national EAT ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST DAY!!


My husband,myself and our granddaughter, Grace, headed out a 8:00 am to Cherry Farm in Danvers for an ice cream breakfast.

Grace had a waffle Sundae with strawberry and cheerio topping. She was very excited to eat ice cream for breakfast and couldn't wait to tell her Dad.  She texted her Dad the above picture of her before breakfast and the one below as her after breakfast. She does have her mothers sense of humor.

20 in 2012

For my first spin in February I decided to take the challenge to spin more than my usual amount in a spin (I usually spin 8-12 ounces at one time). I decided to do the 24 ounces of a sweater spin I have left of a 2 pound mixed BFL. This is taking f-o-r - e-v-e-r.  It's lovely fiber and is spinning up nicely but........the natural color, while beautiful, is not very interesting for long term spinning. I'll be glad when it's done.  I have about 8 ounces left to go before plying.