March 9: Daily Photo

In which I have some regrets…

Today’s photo is not a breathtaking view or amazing adventure. It’s me, facing the reality of a project that sounded like a good idea at the time. I am spinning yarn for a sweater. And I am not just spinning the yarn, I am preparing it, too.

Today the tools I used included a spreadsheet and a kitchen scale. Because I am blending together fiber that I am hand carding with fiber that came back from the mill (like the leftovers from the processing. Not roving). And some fiber from a NY State farm that I love, because I am little short and at some point I need to put down the hand carders and move forward.

So, today, it’s on to the drum carder! And all those bags are the precise mix of the three fibers. I needed a spreadsheet to figure out a lot of math

• How much yarn I need for the sweater depending on a) size and b) thickness of yarn

• How much fiber I have

• How much fiber fits on the drum carder at once

• How much of each of the 3 fibers goes into each batch on the carder.

All the bags in the photo are batches that I have weighed out. And it’s about a third of the total I need.

So, who had this brilliant idea? And could she please take a turn here?