Spinning through 2022

My handspun round up for 2022: only slightly belated! I did a post like this last year and found it both useful and satisfying to sum up a year this way. So here we are!

For this coming year I’ve embraced the joy (and utility) of spreadsheets, and built a spreadsheet to track my handspun as well. I’ve found myself increasingly frustrated by misplacing the 3x5 info cards I’m in the habit of using to provide pertinent details, by needing to jumble through the studio to find my yardage record when determining prices, and more. So, precise record-keeping it is!

Donna Nobis Pacem: the 2021 Inglenook Fibers 12 Days spinalong fiber, plied with a commercial grey lambswool. I’m looking forward to weaving this.

Lichenology : merino/tussah/flax dyed by Inglenook Fibers and plied with sewing thread. This found a home as weft on Bequeath.

After the Rain merino/silk/sparkle batts, spun as a two ply fractal for a complex self-striping effect. Approximately half of this found a home as weft on After the Rain.

Independent Study by Hipstrings on Targhee/Bamboo/Silk, 2 ply. This will find a home on an upcoming warp this year.

I spun one bobbin-full of singles of this locally Fairbanks- grown and locally Fairbanks-milled Shetland wool this year. It is waiting for a second ply!

I’ve a few concurrent spins on spindles, all of which are on-going and on which I made only slight progress in 2022. Peacocky and Snow Leopard, both by Hipstrings are being spun on drop spindles. White Birch by Classy Squid Co. is on support spindles. And I’m currently on Day 2 of Woodland Pixie’s 2021 12 Day set.

Forest Ride, one of Inglenook Fiber’s 2022 Tour de Fleece colorways, is soooo divine in Merino/Camel/Silk/Faux Cashmere/Firestar. I found it challenging to spin, I think because of the staple length difference between the fibers in the blend, until I gave it a try from the fold, and then it spun beautifully!

I FINISHED IT!! Winter’s Journey 2018 12 Day set from the Woodland Pixie in two ply spindle spun laceweight.

This skein was PLIED this year. It is a collection of left over singles from many many many projects, all plied together into a two ply yarn that I intend to use on an overshot warp.

Wintermint Chocolate Chip: Merino/Mint/BFL/Shetland. One small skein of this is up in the shop!

This is “Pick of the Patch” by Fossil Fibers on BFL. I spun it for a fractal complex self striping effect and am really looking forward to seeing it plied!

And finally, during the holiday season I spun up the singles for these two spins, both of which will find homes this year as weft on Baby Fox. SW BFL/Ramie nettle and Alpaca/Cashmere/Soy, both from Hilltop Cloud.

Handspun 2021

Spinning is the fiber craft that is honestly the most process oriented, meditative craft for me. I can talk some good talk about weaving and sewing and knitting being a meditative process, and it can be! I often get lost in the rhythm or the focus of the handwork, but for me they are very much product-oriented all the same. I knit because I want a sweater, I weave because I want a towel or have a vision of cloth, I sew to make a thing or fix a thing. But spinning! Spinning is a joy and a solace. Its about the whims of texture and color. Its about the rhythm of hands (and sometimes feet). Adding twist untangles my brain. My breath slows. I fall into the process.

2021 was the year of reading words instead of making yarn. It was lovely, and an indulgence I’d mostly given up on in the oh-so-young childhood years. Which is to say that very little was spun, my spindles got dusty, my wheel neglected. (Can you tell I’ve been picking them up again, since I’m waxing poetic about it?) But I did get a bit of this and a bit of that spun up: here’s 2021 in twist.

Twinkle Lights and Christmas Market are two colorways from Inglenook Fibers, on two of my favorite bases: targhee/bamboo/silk and merino/tussah/flax respectively. These were a pure indulgence and spun on a whim in the aftermath of the holidays and to bring in the new year for 2021. They’re both destined to find homes on the loom, and I cannot wait to see them woven up.

These spindles are full of Jacob wool from a bit of a fleece that was part of the Guild’s program about the Shave ‘em to Save ‘em program. I’m collecting a whole pile of spun yarn from various undyed fibers and am only beginning to dream up what they might become.

Turning Leaf Lichen is another Inglenook Fibers- a combination of two different batts, each spun as one of the two plies. I really enjoy spinning from batts, the textural variety between different wools, silks, and viscose fibers is a delight. This recently migrated into my “possibly a sweater” pile from my “probably to be woven” pile. But we’ll see.

This skein of superwash wool was an impulse purchase at the Fairbanks Fiber Fest a few years ago. It was spun and knitted up into a shawl for Miss 3 this year. I think it was for her birthday?

This bit of Corriedale is the Witches Brew colorway curated by @1764Shepardess for #spin15aday. Some year eventually I’ll do a Halloween themed warp, and in the meantime some of this might find its way into a doll shawl or three.

These skeins! These are 2 ply lace weight skeins in The Woodland Pixie’s Red Fox colorway and I am as proud of them as I am of anything else I have ever spun. They’re destined for the Baby Fox warp. Once upon a time when I began spinning them, I was wearing my little foxy girl on my back nearly every day and these skeins were going to become a baby wrap. But we’ve since outgrown our wearing days, so they’ll be a for a couple of the specialest shawls ever. As you may have guessed, I began spinning these YEARS ago. And they hovered over me as an unfinished spin that I owed my attention to for the entire time, even as I set aside the bobbins and spun on something else. Part of it was the determination to spin fine a enough for a true two ply laceweight (I’ve just got a new whorl with higher ratios that should make such a thing easier or at least faster in the future), and part of it was that I was spinning for a product rather than for pure delight. The became a slog. The actual spinning was enjoyable, but my relationship with the project ceased to be, somewhere along the way. This is the spin that taught me that its not worth it to place expectations of productivity on my weaving. We - the yarn and I - are both better served if I flit from spin to spin on the whims of joy and indulgence.

I’m not sure what that means for the two sweater spins and the beginnings of a blanket spin sitting waiting on my shelves, nor for my firm preference to knit and wear sweaters of handspun, but I suppose it will all work itself out so long as I give myself permission to enjoy every bit of the process and release the expectations that make a meditative and indulgent practice into a job.