Review of Week 1...

Well, tonight is the end of week one of the challenge so I thought I'd assess my accomplishments and see if the my goal is doable....

• 6/21 - 15 minutes of wheel spinning
• 6/22 - 55 minutes of wheel spinning, 30 minutes on the drop spindle
• 6/23 - 45 minutes of wheel spinning
• 6/24 - 45 minutes of wheel plying
• 6/25 - 40 minutes of wheel plying
• 6/26 - 65 minutes of wheel spinning

That gives me a grand total of 4 hours and 25 minutes and I haven't sat down to the wheel or the drop spindle yet today. My goal was 3 hours per week, figuring it best if I could get at least 30 minutes of spinning 6 out of 7 days a week. It has been no problem this week, but I think I like Lisa's idea of averaging the weekly totals over the course of the summer since things such as vacations and the like can get in the way.

I have come out of this week learning some stuff.... Even with the heat it is bearable to spin in the mornings and in the late evenings so hot weather should be NO excuse. Spinning regularly makes for much more regular singles. Spinning outside under the shade of a tree can be a nice change of pace, and it reduces the stark whiteness of the inside forearm, LOL! The singles I produce when aiming for a sock weight yarn consistently yield me about 310-325 yds from 4 oz of fiber.

I had another three ounces of this blue superwash from Brown Sheep when I started to ply. I wasn't planning on spinning it right away, I was going to move to something else. However, I had forgotten until I had a fair bit plied that I was going to try using some wooly nylon (serger thread) as a 3rd ply and see if that increases the durability of the yarn. So, once my bobbin was full of 2-ply I split the remaining 3 ounces in half and am spinning more singles onto the leftovers on the same two bobbins and hopefully I will remember to use the wooly nylon when I start to ply this next time around. I think I got through about 3/4 of an ounce last night, but that included a double pass of pre-drafting in addition to spinning.

It has been wonderful hearing what you all are up to spinning-wise. Do any of the rest of you have Flickr accounts and if so would you be interested in having a Flikr group there so everyone's summer spinning results can be viewed in one location? It's just an idea I thought I'd bounce off of you all.