Tuesday Tune-In

I have been one fickle woman lately. I found all my old fibers in storage, and have been sampling anything and everything. I don't necessarily fill a bobbin before moving on, either. I just keep spinning what I feel like spinning.

I started with the purple variegated stuff. Purchased in 1997 from the most fabulous knit/spin/weave shop I've had the pleasure of frequenting (happens to be in Bloomington, IN). It survived 5? moves and 2 years in a non-climate-controlled storage garage in Michigan. When I tired of that (I'll finish it soon, there's not that much there) I moved on to the fluff that was calling my name, the siren call of mohair top! That would be the bobbin on the right. It's as full as it's going to get, because it's all gone. I spun it up pretty quickly.

I then moved on to some tussah/mohair top from the same source. Of course, the little tiny handwritten labels in my own handwriting are all I have to go on for fiber content. I vaguely remember standing in the store and writing on the little tags so I'd know what I was sampling. I was new, my wheel was freshly restored, and I was exploring. So I purchased an ounce or two of all kinds of things. Now I'm using that little shopping spree to explore freely and loving it!

No matter how hard I tried, I could not get a photo of the bobbin on the wheel I just finished tonight of the tussah/mohair. "Finished" meaning I ran out of fiber. My original plan was to spin both mohairs fine, and ply them together to make something I could play with some more: I want to dye the plyed mohair-tussah/mohair and see what happens. Will the plies look different from each other because the silk will take the dye differently? I'm not sure how well this plan will work, as the t/m blend required more twist than the mohair, so I'm curious how well it will balance. It's all an experiment anyway!

And look what my Little Boy brought me today!

Isn't it awesome? He and the neighbor boy found it playing outside after school! They let it go in the garden, after a great deal of convincing it would be much happier there than in the bughouse! It is by far the biggest toad he's found here yet. He found a dinky little one the size of my pinky nail last summer.

So how is it that he can find a toad the size of my pink nail sitting on tree bark the same color as its skin, but can't see his black backpack in the middle of the kitchen floor?