Good Morning and Happy Sunday! Looking out the window with the blue skies and sun shining it's hard to believe that it's November. The wind swirling and the cooler temperatures are really the only indicators of the time of year. Unless of course you consider the time change. Have to admit I'm not a fan of 6pm feeling like 8!
What have we been up to this last week? To say that our nation has had a tense one is an understatement. Serra can finally relax from checking her phone to watch states go from red to blue. Spinning is one of those crafts that I find soothing when I need to slow down. I spent the week plying some previous spindle and wheel spinning.
The top skein is one ounce of bison down and silk spun on a John Galen tahkli. The two middle skeins are each one ounce of yak and silk spun on Captain K's spindles. I used 120/2 silk from Treenway Silks to ply with. Okay, stop here. I know some of you are saying "Ply?" When you spin or put twist into a fiber it's generally in a clockwise direction and creates a single. Which can certainly be used on its own. Trust is an example of a single yarn. When you twist 2 or more singles together in the opposite direction it's called plying. You can ply the single back to itself or with another yarn as I have done with these skeins. The larger bottom skein is four ounces of merino and silk from Lambspun that I spun on my wheel and then chain plied. This creates a 3 ply yarn that is worked similar to chaining in crochet. It's a great technique to keep colors together in striped rovings or to work from a single bobbin. What am I going to do with all of these? The two middle ones are part of a four color set from Greenwood Fiberworks so they might become something together. The bison silk is talking to me about being a small cowl so we'll have to see how much yardage I have there. As for the merino silk we'll have to wait and see.
I also got a wonderful package in the mail this week!
Peggy of The 100th Sheep was thrilled with the spinning and Ray of Sunshine Shawlette and sent me another braid as a thank you. Don't know what it will be yet or what spinning technique I will use but I'm sure it will talk to me soon.
Max is finally tied on and ready to go so this week will see some time in the studio with both him and Susan. The silk I ordered for Rapunzel will be here this week so there's some math and planning to do for the Masks project. Considering it needs to be delivered December 5th it's time to get in gear.
As for me, how do I describe this week? Rebirth and connection. I know that many in our country disagree with the results as they voted for the current administration to continue. For me, for my girls HOPE was reborn yesterday and I feel that life can breathe again. It doesn't mean that the work is over, truly it's just beginning but we have a place to start from and people that truly want to make things better. What did I learn of connection? That I connect to myself through my hands and my creativity. That I connect to others through my thoughts and my words. That connection to myself and others takes time and I wouldn't trade that for anything.
This week!! Drinking more water! Happy, joyful tears make for dehydration. Breathe, keep believing, take care of you and I'll be back next week ;)
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