Testing My Limits

 As a spinner, I always like to test my limits on how full I can fill a bobbin or drop spindle.  My new Hansen mini pro e-spinner is no exception.  While plying my first bobbin of Tour de Fleece 2024 I got to within 1/8 of an inch of the flyer.  I was plying a worsted weight yarn.  I had o problem at all getting the bobbin filled with my first 7 stages plus a coordinating color.  I am spinning up the rest of the coordinating color to use as a break between the stages for knitting my new shawl.

I am still experimenting on where I want the bobbins that I am plying to be. I think I have ruled out having the bobbins adjacent To the e- Spinner, it is just too awkward to pull the yarn out smoothly from the bobbins. Right now I am experimenting with having the bobbins on a step stool which is about 12 inches off the floor. This seems to be working because I am not using my spinning chair. I am using a regular office chair. This seems to be a good distance and an easier plying experience. I also think the yarn looks better. I will have a better idea after washing the yarn to set the twist. 

I am projecting that I will not finish all the stages on time.  This is my current priority spin so I can get the shawl knit up.  I am not sure if I will use an existing pattern or design a new one.  It all depends on the yarn and what it wants to be.  

Plying Yarn

 I took my Hansen mini e-spinner pro on another test drive today.  I set things up to ply yarn.  It took me a few minutes to change the direction of the spin to clockwise.  There were a few bumps that were soon fixed.  The e-spinner is very intuitive.  I finished a skein and 1/2 of art yarn plying.  The only other way that I have gotten my plying so consistent is with a Golding or Forrester drop spindles.  I have not managed that level of consistency with either of my spinning wheels.  

I find it very interesting that I can achieve great results in plying with very old school spinning equipment and very new school equipment.  Just not on the middle ground of equipment.  I will have to ruminate on this for a few days to try to figure this out.  If you have any ideas or opinions, I would be very interested in hearing from you.  

My only regret with my Hansen mini Pro e-spinner is that I did not order 5 bobbins, I only ordered 3 purple ones to match the wood.  I am sure that this is easily fixed when I have time.  

I do need the input from my younger readers.  Today while shopping at Sephora.  I was checking out and the sales person who I did not know called me mom instead of ma’am.  Is that a new thing among younger people to call older women mom or was she just not sure of the etiquette of the situation.  I was really taken a back by this.  Then probably spent too much time overthinking it. If this is a corporate thing, just stop, it’s rude and some people who are older have never had kids so they don’t want to be called mom. Please feel free to weigh in on this.  

TTFN

Life Happens

 Well this week has been interesting to say the least. Friday I dropped my favorite tea cup when my silly arthritic hands lost my grip on the cup. Apparently it dropped at the perfect angle to fracture into many pieces. The fantastic news is that is was empty at the time.  I will also never have to wash it again. The question remaining, is will I be able to “Keep Calm and Carry Yarn”? The cup has permanently retired from carrying tea. I think it will be hard for me to stop carrying yarn.

Speaking of tea, yes I was speaking about tea. I have discovered that at my current age I will no longer be able to drink caffeinated iced tea with dinner. It called for Tums tonight. Maybe I should just carry some herbal tea with me and ask for hot water and a cup. Otherwise it will be iced water with lemon. 

I also figured out while I was having trouble with my spinning wheels. The very good news is that is was not me. It was a positioning problem. With my Cubii2, I needed a 2 inch cushion on my spinning chair to be in the best position. The only problem is that my spinning chair is the perfect height to spin with , without the cushion.  Yes, that’s why they call it a spinning chair. So today I removed the cushion. I filled 1 bobbin with merino wool. I then plyed that bobbin with raw silk for a beautiful skein of yarn. 

This is my first skein of yarn for Spin Together 2022. Since I used a commercial raw silk yarn for the plying I could only count the 366 yards of the merino.  You will notice that it is a thick and thin art yarn. I have 2 more bobbins to ply that won’t count for Spin Together 2022. The yarn will be a Shawl with the pattern  Count 1,2,3,4. Yes it is one of my designs. You can get the pattern from Raverly, LoveCrafts.com or your local yarn store. Have a good rest of the weekend. 

Changes and Progress

 Today I decided to reorganize the kitchen including but not limited to moving things around on the counters to make room for my birthday present from John.  He got me an air fryer.  I am hoping to make things like taquitos and sweet potato fries.  There are just so many things I miss on a low fat diet.  I also flipped a couple of cabinets around, no not the cabinets themselves, but the contents.  Some things went to the trash. Other things made it to the Goodwill box.  I hope that the countertop will give good visual clues as to where things have moved.  

I also finished up plying the yarn left on 4 bobbins from Tour de Fleece 2021.  The art yarn all looks good.  Tomorrow I will skein it. Wash and thwack the yarn before I leave it in the garage to dry.  

Maybe the above activities will inspire me to get more projects finished.  Speaking of projects, I really need someone to remind me to call Vicky about ordering a new drive band for my Louet Victoria.  Who is going to volunteer.  It is for the large plying band.  I should also order a smaller drive band too. Also none of the above was on my to do list, so that was only half done today.  

See if you can spot one of today’s major kitchen changes.  From left to right our toaster, my beloved Kitchen Aide K-5 bought in 1977 as a present for myself, our tea set up and John’s MK.  The colorful squares on the counter are my hot pads from Trader Joe’s.