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Sunday, August 23, 2020

On Meeting -- and Exceeding -- My Goal

I wasn't too worried, if I'm honest, but I'm happy to report that I did indeed meet my Stash Dash goal by finishing up that skein of Finnsheep yarn. Here it is after washing and drying:

It made for an interesting spin. The fiber was in roving form and very minimally processed, so there was still quite a bit of lanolin still in the wool and a fair amount of VM that I pulled out or that fell out as I was spinning (I had to make liberal use of my lint roller after each spinning session). Although it was roving, a carded preparation, I decided to spin it short forward draw, which I typically do with combed top, mainly because I wanted it to be a little more consistent and I knew I'd be faster spinning with my default style. It's still a bit lumpy bumpy because the fiber was a mix of different colors, and it's not uncommon for different colors of fleece -- even on the same animal -- to have different textures. I wasn't aiming for perfection, so I'm quite happy with the more rustic finished look. I did give it a good long soak in hot water with some dish soap to get out the lanolin, and it puffed up very nicely.

The finished yarn is, I'd say, in the range of fingering to sport weight and approximately 350.8 yards/320.8 meters. With the way handspun is counted for Stash Dash, it contributed 962.4 meters toward my total, more than enough to get me over my 15K finish line. In fact, my final total was more than 15,800 meters! Even though I did all the work on the projects that got me there, I'm still a bit surprised at how high my total was! More than a third of it was due to my Rambouillet fleece spin, and that's probably what I'm most proud of among my finished projects this summer.

I have since started in on the second bobbin of purple Rambouillet singles, but I haven't gotten very far on it because I've done almost no spinning this weekend. Since late yesterday, I've been feeling strangely under the weather -- no COVID-like symptoms, thank goodness, but I've been tired and my leg joints have all been achy. Last night I didn't sleep very well, and this morning I had a little incident (I'm pretty sure related to an IBS issue; I'll spare you the details) where I actually passed out very briefly in the bathroom. Thankfully I didn't fall this time, but it was scary for a bit there. I spent all today resting in bed, curled up with a cozy blanket and my knitting. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'm back to normal tomorrow; I can tell it's nothing serious because I was able to knit for most of the day (I have learned from past experience that if I don't feel like knitting, something is really wrong!). Thankfully even if I need another day of lounging, I don't have to worry about it because I am taking this week off from work! Rainbow and I have a list of things we'd like to do, but mostly the goal is to spend some time together before she goes back to school on September 1. And I am very lucky that she has been used to me knitting all the time for her whole life, so she thinks nothing of it if my hands are busy while we're talking or playing a game. I may not get as much reading time in this week, but you can be sure we'll be doing a lot of crafting.

11 comments:

  1. How pretty! I'm so glad you met your goal!

    I'm so glad you have this week off to rest and recuperate from your scary situation yesterday. Yikes! I hope you get plenty of quiet time and time with Rainbow this week. Take care!!

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    1. I'm feeling a lot better this morning, but I'm still very happy to have the week off!

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  2. Yikes, I hope you are feeling better soon! (and isn't it sad that we now describe not feeling well as COVID or not-COVID)

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  3. I love the nubby, almost-tweedy look of your Finnsheep skein. Not so much the near fainting and feeling poorly. I was glad I got to see your lovely Hitofude in your first link. It's beautiful and I hope you are feeling better soon!

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  4. Love the spinning!
    You take care, light headedness and passing out----listen to your body! Good to hear though that you can knit while this is going on, not an emergency yet;-]

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  5. Congratulations on meeting your goal!! The new yarn is so beautiful and you have really excelled!!

    I hope you don't get sick with whatever it is and feel better really soon. Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

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    1. Thank you! I think I timed this vacation very well in that I can really relax -- no more big goal to worry about!

      I'm feeling much better today. Whatever it was seems to have been minor and fast moving.

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  6. Oh my gosh--passing out. I've never had that experience and can only imagine how unsettling it is. You sound remarkably calm & cler that you know your body. So it's good to hear you know what you need & what to look out for. (I love that litmus test, BTW!)
    Big congratulations on your big finish And, wow, that Finnsheep is gorgeous. Enjoy your crafty week with Rainbow!

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    1. I've fainted a few times before, and in most cases it's my body reacting to a shock or pain. It's very strange, but it's happened enough that I know not to worry about it too much if there's a logical reason for it.

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  7. Congratulations on ALL THAT SPINNING! If it's not too much effort, I'd love to see all the skeins together for a quick cameo :-)

    and gosh, Sarah, I hope you're 100% tomorrow, because time off from work should be 100% fun, no "incidents", no "laying low", and for sure no passing out. Take care of yourself!

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  8. Beautiful yarn and impressive work on the stash dash. I hope you are feeling better.

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