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Sunday, February 20, 2022

The State of the Spinning (and the Spinning Stash)

It's been quite a while since I published a Spinning Sunday post; since making the switch to thrice-weekly posts during the week, I've found I've needed the weekend to come up with more content, but seeing as this coming week will include a One Little Word update, I though I could sneak in a little spinning chatter today.

One of my goals from last year was to spin up a lot of my spinning stash, and I did do that. But I also haven't stopped my fiber club, which means there's always a bag of fiber coming in every month. That was part of the impetus for the big combo spin, and I expect that combining multiple colorways for a larger project is going to be more commonplace in my spinning practice. But before I embark on another big spinning project, I thought I should probably finish up the last one. I did finish up all of the main yarn for the matching mom-and-daughter sweaters, but I also wanted to spin for the contrast for the colorwork (as a reminder, the planned patterns are Garland and Little Garland -- both links go to Ravelry). It made sense to me, given how much color went into the combo spin, to spin up a contrast skein in an undyed, natural color. I have a bag of Ross Farm Florida Cracker roving somewhere in my stash that I'd planned to use but could not for the life of me find it, so instead I'm spinning up some smaller amounts from Ross Farm -- two 2 oz. bags of fawn-colored CVM and an almost 2 oz. bag of slightly darker brown Romney. The yarn will be marled but should be pretty subtle. I've started with one of the bags of CVM:

This fiber is true roving, and it's minimally processed, so there's still a fair bit of VM in it. I am pulling out larger nepps and clumps of stuff as I spin, but because it's roving and not combed top, the yarn is naturally going to have a little bit of texture to it, but I think that will only add to the charm.

As for the fiber stash, I just updated the last five months of the Southern Cross Fibre club shipments, all of which are beautiful. Here are the last four from 2021:

Clockwise from top left: Boo! on Comeback Wool, Coastline on Bond, Blazing Skies on Rambouillet, and Plumage on Shetland


The most recent shipment (for January) arrived late last week after the USPS lost track of it in the system. Fortunately, Australia Post was kind enough to send me an email letting me know it had been delivered.


This one is called Amethyst on South African Superfine Merino, so you can imagine how soft it feels. I am very excited about all of these shipments and the gorgeous colors, and I'm hoping knowing that they're all waiting to be spun is good motivation to finish up this last skein for the sweater project!
 

8 comments:

  1. That CVM looks interesting and is a lovely color, and those SCF colors! They're all beautiful, but I especially like Plumage. It's always a delight to hear about and see your spinning!

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  2. Such pretty fiber. They are all beautiful. I like the idea of a little extra texture and marled appearance in your neutral CVM.

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  3. That is such a great fiber collection you've got, Sarah! I really enjoy watching how that fiber spins up (and it never really looks like I'd guess it might, and always so much better!). I lack the experience - and imagination, I guess - to picture fiber in yarn-form! :-)

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  4. One thing I really loved about spinning Hipstrings Base 12 batts was the little tweedy nepps. They were lovely little surprises to spin and you are reminding me the magic of spinning... it never ceases to amaze me how the braid changes when you spin it!

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  5. What glorious shipments. Captivating color! Couldn't stop thinking of Honore's One Word from last year here... :)

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  6. yay for Spinning Content! (and I LOVE Carolyn's thinking about Honoré's OLW here!) ... the colors from Southern Cross are gorgeous and I look forward to seeing them become yarn. and also to cheering along the mom-and-daughter sweaters!!

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  7. I wish I could reach in and smoosh it. Love!! I'm glad you were able to squeeze in a spinning post - they are so much fun :)

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  8. I really have no need for more fiber, but I stay in the SCF club because David's colors always blow me away and on the off chance that I don't care for a particular shipment, there are always plenty of other spinners willing to take one off my hands.

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