Fiber Friday

I've been struggling to get much done with my fiber arts. Life gets busy between work, family and the farm, and sometimes something has to give. But the problem with dropping fiber arts is that is something I greatly enjoy doing. It rejuvenates me and helps me be able to tackle life. I decided to try a new system by making Friday evening my Fiber Arts time. Often J works on Friday evening, and it's the one night the kids have free time on the TV (so they take full advantage of that and have a list of shows they want to watch). This often leaves me alone all evening, after a full and busy week.

Last night I decided I should make the most of this time, but being tired from a busy week it was hard to know what to do. Then I saw my spinning wheel, and knew that's what I really wanted to do.

On my wheel were two strand already spun, ready for plying. So I plyed:



The bobbin got very full:



Then I made a skein using my swift:



I have my swift set to created skeins 2 yards long. This way I can measure the length of the skein. This skein is 174 yards long.

I washed the skein in hot soapy water:



And rinsed the skein:



I also started flicking a new batch of fiber. I expected this would take enough time that I wouldn't even finish this step yet that night. These are big batched of fiber. Much to my surprised, not only did I finish flicking it:



I also started spinning a bit:



I was amazed at how much I got done! It reminded me that too often I spend a few minutes here or there on fiber, but I don't often dedicate a few hours to it. Even if I were to set aside 2 hours twice a week, I would get a ton done.

Being a holiday weekend, I want to set aside more time this weekend to finish this skein. Wouldn't it be wonderful come Tuesday morning to have 2 fresh skeins of alpaca yarn?