After a full weekend of playing with fibers, the bobbin is full and needs to be emptied. It seems that spinners are a very organized bunch. They make and keep sample cards – a large card is made to hold all the fiber info – what it is, how it was prepared, method used to spin it, all the various plyings along with a little piece of the unspun fiber. I suppose this is to go in some sort of album or something.
I cannot imagine ever referencing the album again, but nonetheless I spent part of today making samples from my bobbin. Of course, this is all hindered by the fact that I neglected to keep snippets of the unspun fiber …. but I did what I could.
The first order of business is to become familiar with Andean Plying. This is an organized way of getting the yarn off of the bobbin to access both ends for plying.
The thrill of being an Andean Plying natural was quickly diminished by my first f-up. We were supposed to spin a bit of colored fiber in between each sample fiber so that we could distinguish one from the other later on. I misunderstood the direction and spun the colored fiber in between the spinning groups.
Thus my Combed Man-Made fiber samples look like this:
Within that heap, lies ingeo which is a corn fiber, soy silk, tencel, nylon, polyester, acrylic and rayon. The only one I know for sure is the Ingeo because that is dyed. oh well, spin and learn.
Moving on, here are my Thrown Silk Waste Samples [degummed dyed bombyx waste, undegummed bombyx]Carded Silk Samples[bombyx, tussah, tussah noil] and Combed Silk Blends Samples [wool/bombyx, camel down/tussah, cashmere/tussah]. Hard to believe that all of that is in there!
so there you have four of the twenty four groups we did – I have a lot more cataloging ahead.
in other news, I am rejoining WW tonight. It’s about time – the year of quitting smoking is behind me and the time has come to pull my shit together.
I hate pulling my shit together. As most of you know, I have been very successful on the WW program and worked for many years as a leader. This is both a blessing and a curse – I know it is a good program and that it works as long as you work it. I can’t believe that I have to do this again and I just wish it were easy.
Why can’t I have my cake and eat it too? In large quantities, with lots of icing???
purlingswine 
But — once your shit is pulled together, you know you’ll look and feel better. Says the WW drop out.
I just sprung for the WW Spring Season Pass, so I guess I’m committed for a while… WEEKS! I like my leader, but I keep wishing she was YOU — ever since I learned that about you, I’ve thought, “Oh, I KNOW Ann was the BEST LEADER EVER!! I wish SHE was MY LEADER!” Maybe if I close my eyes, I can imagine…
Anyway, WOOHOO. I’m so glad there’s someone else I can bitch, too, um… I mean, look to for support. And help support, too, oh yeah, I’ll be very supportive. ; )
Lots of fiber samples – yum! A diet high in fiber is good for you and more filling :-)
I just learned Andean plying about ten days ago. I *love* it, though I haven’t tried it with my wheel, just my drop spindles… I guess I should add that to the list…
Well crap.
I just restarted WW too. I’m at the “all I can think about is eating” stage with that. And as far as organizing the spinning, I think I’ll just let the moths get the roving and go out and play in the dirt. 50% isn’t bad, right?
Aren’t we all wondering why we can’t have our cake & eat it, too – in large quantities with lots of icing???? :-)
Finally! A reason NOT to become addicted to spinning! The cataloging/ sample cards – that stuff! Now, if I could just find a reason not to become addicted to dyeing yarn….
Pulling my shit together too! Heading to WW tomorrow. So wish we lived closer. I HAVE been eating my cake..oh boy have I been eating my cake! Great spinning too Ann.
You know I joined WW about 3 months ago. I’ve lost 17 lbs so far (added to the 20 I lost last year on my own that’s 37lbs yay me). Damn I feel good about it to. It’s amazing how I’ve avoided WW for years thinking it was too touchy feely for me.
You really must rock as a leader though…
So this means I shouldn’t be drinking Pepsi while eating chocolate covered pretzels for breakfast? Yeah, I think it’s actually WAY past time to go see the folks at WW. Or possibly search for more excuses instead…
I love the spinning, Ann. You’ve really been productive lately!
I’ve never done WW, but I know people that it has worked wonders for. I do try to walk everyday, though the weather here in Northern CA has not been cooperating much just lately.
Anyway – I’m a spinner – I don’t have notecards, or handy reference guides – heck I don’t even know where half of my fiber came from. Usually I pull it out and guess… erm… I think this is the Blue Faced Leicester that I bought to dye, but maybe it’s that Corriedale? I’m really not very organised though.
So if you want to spin – spin, if you want to keep copious notes and samples, have fun, and make scrapbooking albums to feed another addiction, go for it! But it’s not something that you “have” to do.
Abi