Bear in mind, though, wintertime is not the best spinning time for me. My craft room is usually cold at this time of year (unheated apart from the sun) so I need to move my wheel into the living area. I don't like spinning in the lounge (because of the way our furniture is arranged I feel as if I'm sitting in the middle of the room) so the dining room it is, but the light is not particularly good later in the day. Yes, I'm awkward! Having the wheel so close at hand does have the advantage of it being a constant reminder, though, so not all is bad here.
On to the good stuff, though! What do I intend to spin this year? Well, rather a lot, actually.
From the left - 500g Romney from Chilko Fibres; 100g ball of 21micron Merino from Heavenly Wools in Bluegum; 100g braid of 22 micron Merino also in Bluegum (I will be plying these together despite them being from different batches; 100g braid of charcoal 24.5 micron Haunui Halfbred in Barrier Reef shade from Heavenly Wools; and at the front a 200g circular braid of Perendale in Kawakawa dyed by myself.
Day One is now over and after spinning flat out I have finished the first 100g of the green Perendale:
I am quite pleased with it so far. No felting and the fibre is reasonably soft, for Perendale. I'm aiming for a reasonably heavy DK/worsted weight. Let's see what happens!
I'm also happy with my wheel's performance - I bit the bullet and finally changed the drive belt for the first time since I bought her some 17 or 18 years ago! The belt was a little stretched then, too. I have cut a piece out of it at least once, but not bad going. I thought I have better change it now rather than wait as the join was stretching rather badly and looked as if it could give out at any time. I carefully unscrewed the joiners at the foot pedals - scary but not at all difficult. Why did I wait so long?
So...onto Day Two. Will I be able to keep up my progress?
