Let there be yarn!

Yes, I've been quiet. It happens. February's always a busy month, with the Florida Renaissance Festival and its accompanying four-hour-one-way drive every weekend. I also did one craft show — well, technically an antique show — a few months ago, as a favor for a friend who works for the antique shop that hosted it. And finally, I decided that this is the year I'm going to really put effort into the hobby business; this is the year it stops being just a hobby and starts being something I might be able to support myself on. The inspiration: I want my soul back, and I'm not going to find it in a nine-to-five office environment where out-of-bounds behavior and micromanagement are the rule.

So. June was crafty research-and-development month. To kick-start my fiber machine, I spun up an ounce of Bransonas Shetland kindly sent to me in a swap package.



Then, to get into the habit of spinning larger amounts, I spun some Lapoli hand-dyed mill ends using the short-draw spinning style, which took about a week of spinning after work, for several hours some evenings.



I learned the long-draw spinning technique and made some funkyfluffy white yarn, which took me under an hour to make, including plying (but not including washing/soaking).



And then I went back to the abandoned Crazy Corriedale. I excavated the bobbin of Crazy Corriedale singles and plied it just to see what came out.

Before...


...and after.


It looks much prettier as yarn than it did as fiber — at least, I think so.


Today, I also re-carded about 3 ounces of the above Corriedale and am working on spinning that long-draw style. The finished yarn will be compared to the short-draw-spun stuff.

In my wicked fiber arts frenzy, today I also bought a used Schacht Cricket loom from Meridith of SweetKnits, which is coming to me with a copy of Creative Weaving.

And I have a test knit coming from Phoenix Bess, plus I've volunteered to put together the 2009 EtsyFEST catalog.

Don't I seem terribly productive? For me, to me, compared to recent-me, I feel pretty productive. The trick will be to continue being productive until something good comes of it.

Then, I'll be myself again.

:D