Category Archives: Fiber

My Hero in Blues and Greens

September 1, 2017Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Knittingbam huey, fiber, hero, spinningCheryl

My Hero in Bam Huey 60% Merino, 40% Bamboo

My Hero has landed! August’s theme for the Spinning Box was My Hero. My first thought was to pick comic book hero Green Lantern, but wasn’t getting excited about it. Other participants mention using their personal Hero which got me thinking…… The last 2 1/2 years have been a big challenge in changing our direction in life. My husband has been amazing through my wild ideas, and has blown me away with how hard he has worked to get us through the transition. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much he has walked beside me through all of our adventures, good and bad, during our 30+ years of marriage. Who else could be my hero other than the man who picks me up when I’m too tired to go further, and lifts me even higher when I’m riding high on success. My favorite feature of my husband is his eyes. Technically they are green, but they change to blue quite often, depending on what color of clothing he wears. My Hero in Bam Huey combines both the greens and blues of his eyes, with a little charcoal black pupil. Spun up, My Hero quickly changes from green to blue and back again just like Will’s eyes………..seemed like a nice way to to say thank you to my Hero.

First up we have the Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Scarf…….

Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Scarf, August’s My Hero!

Per usual I’ve spun the My Hero colorway end to end then did a Navajo 3ply chain. I’m really enjoying knitting with the nice round smooth yarn the Navajo ply creates. As you can see the results are several short color changes of greens and blues between the charcoal black pupil streaks.

Next up is a cowl using 3 different spun versions of My Hero.

I began with a hefty 2 ply DK. I split the fiber in two, spun each randomly on 2 bobbins and did a pretty low twist for me, creating a nice puffy fluffy yarn. The greens and blues still stand out, but the charcoal muted out leaving just a hint of grey shade over the greens and blues. I spun another ounce into a 2 ply fingering with a nice tight ply. I stripped the fiber into 8 strands and spun them randomly and plied random. This created a much darker finished yarn than the fluffy DK. I knit these two together using a slip stitch pattern.

One of my goals in life is to encourage knitters to not only use handspun yarn, but to successfully use multiple weights of handspun together. This particular slip stitch pattern is excellent for multiple yarn weights. This next picture shows the DK and Fingering on the right side and the Fingering used alone for the same stitch pattern. Using the 2 different weights gives the knitting so much more depth and squishy-ness.

slip stitch pattern, fingering weight on the left, Dk and Fingering weight on the right.

Last but not least I did a nice hefty 4 ply cable. Spun and plied randomly. Talk about thick and squishy!

I haven’t been able to do a video of this month yet, but hope to next trip over to our new house. I have videos almost ready from the past 2 months, they were pretty sloppy and I’ve been trying to clean them up a bit…..I’ve figured out that wind is NOT my friend while filming outdoors…sigh….

Until next time….Happy spinning and yarn-ing,

Cheryl <^..^>

Psychedelic 70’s Bam Huey Style!

August 4, 2017Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Knitting, SpinningCheryl

Bam Huey spinning fiber — Psychedelic 70’s in Bam Huey

Did Psychedelic 70’s blind you?!?! I have to admit, dear club members, that the July installment of the Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Fiber Club is a wild one. When I took on the theme for the July Spinning box of Psychedelic 70’s I went all out, no holding back. We are talking bright pinks and oranges all the way….with just a little black to bring things together. Don’t worry if these colors scare you, I’ll be showing you some ways to tame this wild one….well just a little bit because, really, the 70’s could not be tamed….I know, I lived through them!

Bam Huey Cowl — Cowl in Psychedelic Bam Huey spun 3 ways

Ok, I admit, Psychedelic 70’s didn’t mellow out that much…lol. I knit up this month’s yarn samples into my Baa Baa Huey Handspun Cowl (one of my free patterns on Rav.)

Starting off at the top, I spun up a 2 ply sport weight. I split the fiber in half length wise spinning each half then plying together.

The colors pretty much line up when spun, with just a bit of barber polling. When knit, the black frames the colors nicely.

Next up is another 2 ply, but this time I split it 36 times, spun it up randomly on 2 bobbins, then plied together.

As you can see, the colors pop up randomly in short spurts, giving a lively action to this cowl. Fortunately the black shows up to once again give some framing and a little bit of order to this wild child.

Last, but not least, is the Psychedelic 70’s cable spun in a fingering weight.

Bam Huey Handspun — 4 ply cable of Psychedelic 70’s in Bam Huey

I was a bit surprised on how much the black streaks diluted in this 4 ply cable. It is a nice round yarn with plenty of cushy factor, and the most blended example of the Psychedelic 70’s colorway. The pinks took over on this spin, but there are still plenty of shots of orange peeking through.

I haven’t forgotten the July addition of the Psychedelic 70’s to the Year Long Scarf, but did save it for last…..for good reason… This yarn sample was spun from the first dye batch, while it is wonderful in it’s own right, it was a bit darker than I wanted this colorway to be. It is amazing how much difference one little streak of black dye can make. Here is the Navajo 3ply chain lace yarn taking it’s place on the Year Long Scarf.

Psychedelic 70's added to the Bam Huey Year Long Scarf — Psychedelic 70’s added to the Year Long Scarf.

If you focus in on this section of the scarf you will get a better idea of the current colorway.

Bam Huey Handspun Year long Scarf — Lighter section and lower shows current colorway best.

I do have a video that is uploading to You Tube and will add the link later…some nice close ups of the knitting, but sad to say I’m pretty bland. The video was done just a few hours before having to leave our new home and go back to Portland to work, which always depresses me. Someday I won’t have to go back to P-town, but for now I think I will make it a point to do all videos much earlier in our visit home when I am bubbling with excitement!

Until Next Time,

Happy Spinning,

Cheryl

1 of a Kind Sunset Bam Huey Style!

July 6, 2017Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Knitting, SpinningCheryl

Sunset is here!

Bam Huey June Sunset — Bam Huey 1 of a kind Sunset samples

1 of a Kind Sunset is the June colorway for the Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Fiber Club. I blended 14 different dyes creating this colorway. I allowed the colors to bleed into the next without any control so while each batch is painted the same way, each is unique in how it combines……thus the name, 1 of a Kind Sunset.

This month’s gradient sunset colors were spun end to end then done in a Navajo 3 ply chain and added on to the year-long scarf.

The Year Long Scarf now has 1 of a kind Sunset!

Not everyone is fond of such bold colors. To mellow out the colors I separated the dark color fiber and spun it on one bobbin at a lace weight. The yellows and oranges I spun up on another bobbin in a light fluffy fingering weight. I then plied the lace around the fingering weight single. The resulting yarn is a barber pole that knits up “tweedy”.

I experimented with different ribbing while knitting this sample. The cuff end starts with a 2×2 rib, then changes to a 1×1 rib, followed by 1×3 rib and lastly a 1×7 rib. It was very interesting to see how the handspun yarn behaved differently. The 2×2 showed the yarn to be reasonably smooth, yet when switched to the 1×1 every little bump in the yarn showed. the 1×3 was the smoothest, and the 1×7 made a nice smooth flat material with a little bit of interest.

The next section is a 2 ply fingering weight. I split the fiber length wise spun and plied randomly. The seed/moss stitch is one of my favorites to show off short stripe yarns, the bumps give it texture that breaks up the straight lines of color.

2ply random spun and plied 1 of a kind Sunset.

I’m still working on the lace portion that is a 2 ply gradient. I have been using these samples to play with stitch and yarn combinations. I’m trying to expand to writing my own lace patterns so all this experimenting is slowing down my knitting speed….the good thing is that I am learning lots! Most important lesson so far is BE SURE TO WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU DID!!!!! Are you like me and tell yourself “I will remember this, it’s so simple I couldn’t forget”……..lol yeah right. Do yourself a favor and just write it down 🙂

The fun part about these sample knits is that they are turning out to be thigh high leg warmers….kinda cute, but there will never be a matching pair…should be fun to wear some day! Once I get my legs into shape I will have to show some of these finished leg warmers off. In a few months I will be living here full time…give me a few week of walking to the mail box and these legs will be ready to rock these colorful knits!!!

this is only 2/3rds the way down to the mail box!

Hope you enjoy spinning the Bam Huey 1 of a kind Sunset! More will be

available at New Hue Handspuns Bam Huey Listing soon!

Some of you may be asking “what happened to May’s Marionberry Blueberry Swirl blog? The answer is I DON’T KNOW! I’ve somehow lost it and all the pictures too. The video is up but I will have to re-do the pics and blog in the next few days….

Until next time….Happy Spinning!

Cheryl

Purple Memories For April

May 8, 2017Dyeing, Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Knitting, SpinningCheryl

Purple Memories is the colorway for April in the Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color fiber club. The theme for the Spinning Box for April is Memories. We were asked to dye fiber in a colorway based on a memory. I couldn’t single out a memory, but one thing in common was that all memories involved the color Purple. I am a Purple Girl through and through. From the time I could identify color, all I ever wanted was Purple! It was never hard for people to choose things for me, as long as it was purple I would like it. I decided to use as many shades of purple this month as I could fit on the fiber. I split the 3 oz into 2 pieces. One piece is gradient dyed dark purple-light and white purple-dark purple. the second piece is layered with 4 purples. By the way, I do give purple a wide definition….basically anything that is remotely close to any shade of purple 🙂

Dark to light to dark purple gradient — Dark to light/white purple, to dark purple gradient

Layered multiple purples 1/2 of Purple Memories

I started off with my usual spin. I spun each roll end to end then did a Navajo 3ply chain. You can see in the picture that the Purple Memories yarn is thinner than last month’s. I am intentionally using multiple thicknesses of yarn on the scarf to encourage spinners to combine their yarns, and not be afraid to use yarns of different WPI (wraps per inch) together in a project.

April Purple memories added on to the scarf.

Besides the scarf addition this month I also spun the fiber four more ways. First up is the 2 ply yarn. I spun the multi purple fiber end to end, then spun the gradient end to end, and plied them together.

Purple Memories Bam Huey. Multi purple plied against purple gradient.

Next up is some 2 color work. I spun the multi purple fiber into a 2 ply and spun the gradient into a 2 ply dark to light. I started off using each color for a few rows and did a slip stitch for some visual interest. I then switched over to using both colors at once and got some good practice in making even floats. I didn’t follow a pattern, just did what I felt like at the time.

color work with Bam Huey Purple Memories

I’m still enjoying and experimenting with a cable yarn. I’m pretty sure I will be making a coat with a nice thick 4 ply one of these days! I did this cable a bit thicker than last time. I spun the multi purple into a 2 ply, spun the gradient into a 2 ply, (light to dark) then plied the two yarns together for the cable yarn.

April video is up on YouTube HERE There are some sound problems and I am still learning how to deal with the changing light…..BUT I think you might enjoy seeing a bit more of the fiber and knit samples.

Until next time, Happy Knitting and Spinning,

Cheryl

The Green Comet

April 1, 2017Fiber, Handspun Yarn, Knitting, SpinningCheryl

March has blown by, here at last are the spun samples of The Green Comet!!!!

Greetings Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Fiber Club members and followers. I’ve spun this month’s The Green Comet colorway in 5 ways. Be sure to check out the Youtube video on The Green Comet. My video making skills still have room for improvement, but the colors in the outdoor filming this time around make it worth checking out. Bam Huey 2017 Year Of Color Fiber Club, March.

First up as usual is the spun one end to the other, then Navajo 3 ply / chain ply. I’ve added this on to the year long scarf. Kinda looks like a little comet 🙂

March's Green Comet added to the Year Long Scarf. — March’s Green Comet Navajo Plied added to the Year Long Scarf.

I’ve knit the 4 remaining samples into this leg/arm warmer.

2ply drk/Lt, 4ply cable, 2ply matching, 2ply random.

This is a pretty bright colorway this month so I’m focusing on ways to “tone down the brightness”.

I started knitting with the dark/light 2 ply. I folded the fiber in half and split, ending up with the darker colors spun on one bobbin and the lighter brighter colors on a second bobbin then plied them together. This still gives you all the color, just a little mixed. Does also make for a very barber pole yarn, and gives a tweedy look when knit up. A simple pattern works better, a complex pattern will tend to get eaten up with all the color.

The Green Comet in 2 ply. Dark plied with light.

I had a request for a cabled yarn this month. I hope to have a new spinning video done once we finished our move that shows all these yarns being made, but for now here is a close up of the Green Comet done in a 4 ply cable. I spun 2 matching singles, plied them together matching up the colors. I then wound that off into a center pull ball, plied in the opposite direction the dark end with the light end. This makes for a round solid yarn, great for outerwear, or projects that may take a lot of abuse when worn.

Spinning matching singles and plying them together is another way to keep the colors matched up if you don’t care for the roundness of the chain ply. There usually ends up with a little more gradual blending with the 2 ply than the chain plying.

The Green Comet, 2 ply, with matching singles.

Last but not least the way to mix the colors up the most! Split the fiber length wise into strips. The more strips, the more blended the colors. I did about 8 strips on each bobbin. I did keep them in the same direction, if you want even more blending, mix up which end you start spinning from. Ply the 2 bobbins.

I hope you have enjoyed The Green Comet, if you have any questions, ask away. I’m having a grand time playing with the April Colorway. April is my birth month, the theme is memories…..that means it’s going to be all about ME, which means there will be purple involved!!!! Be sure to check out the March video if you haven’t already. Hopefully the corrections will show for you on the video, some phones it will not. if not…. at 3:45 I really mean to say CABLE ply not chain….. at 6:50 the words I am searching for are knit and garter stitch……I really need to drink more coffee before filming…lol.

Until next time, Happy Spinning,

Cheryl

Chloroplast Blast!!!

February 23, 2017Dyeing, Fiber, H, Handspun Yarn, Knitting, Spinningbam huey, fiber club, handspun, spinningCheryl

Chloroplast Blast! is the February colorway for the Bam Huey 2017 year of Color.

How about a nice close up Chloroplast Blast!

The Spinning Box theme for this month is Fruit Orchard. I always try to think a little outside the box when following a theme. I figured many of the contributions would be bright and juicy colors. I thought about what fruits would make a good color combination…….I thought and thought and thought…… but nothing came to mind that I had not done already. Finally it struck me, what is in EVERY fruit orchard?!?!?! Leaves! Yes those every-shade-of-green-under-the-sun leaves. Those beautiful leaves do so much of the work to produce those juicy fruits I figured they deserved the spotlight this month.

I used 5 greens in a streak dying method, meaning that all color is painted on with the grain of the fiber. This is done mostly random with a little control….you know me, I can’t give up ALL control 🙂 The colors are then bled into one another to create even more shades of green. When the Bam Huey Fiber is spun across the top, one end to the other it creates a blended color. The well blended multi single can then be plied with bright colors to tone them down, or match one of the many shades of green with a solid green which will result in a slightly tweedy look once knit up.

Bam Huey Hat with random spun Chloroplast Blast in Sport and DK weight yarn.

The hat was knit with a DK weight for the ribbing and the body of the hat with a light sport weight. When spinning the yarn used for the body, I picked out the darker shades of green and spun them on one bobbin then spun the lighter shades on another bobbin and plied them together. The ribbing yarn I tried to spin larger sections of a color at a time rather than blending them while spinning. If you look close at the picture you can see some color difference, but not a whole lot.

This light weight Bam Huey Hat is only 1 1/2 oz!

I found the best way to show the different colors in Chloroplast Blast! was to spin the fiber one end to the other and Navajo ply. Here is the continuation of the Bam Huey 2017 Year if Color Scarf using the Navajo 3 ply.

Chloroplast Blast! added to the Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Scarf.

On of my favorite yarns to make is a 2 ply consisting of 1 ply very thin and colorful, and the other muted and fluffy. I forgot to take pictures of the yarn before knitting, but here are the tail ends which shows what I mean.

I also love knitting little purses in one piece on straight needles. I think what I do is some type of double knitting but have never looked it up to check. On this little purse I used the Chloroplast Blast with a thin ply of Burning Bush on one side and the other is the Chloroplast Blast with a thin ply of Calm Waters.

Chloroplast Blast! plied with lace Burning Bush

Chloroplast Blast! plied with Calm Waters

I’ve done a video again this month, you can check it out here on youtube.

Hope you enjoy spinning the Chloroplast Blast. It will be listed in the shop Tuesday 2/28/17 for those of you who missed out on the Club!

Until next time, Happy Spinning and Knitting,

Cheryl

January BamHuey Year of Color Fiber Club

January 17, 2017Dyeing, Fiber, SpinningCheryl

January....Forever in Blue Jeans. — January…. My Haute Couture will be ……..Forever in Blue Jeans.

January Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Fiber Club shipments have been sent out. All January members should have their fiber in hand by now, unless you are in an area with weather issues delaying delivery.

The colorway each month is based on the colorway I develop for my monthly contribution to The Spinning Box. Each month has a theme and January’s is Haute Couture. High Fashion isn’t something I give a whole lot of thought to, so this theme required a bit of research for me. I started with looking at the hot colors for the coming year. A blue/grey caught my eye. I’m a country girl and my first thoughts when it comes to blue/grey is faded blue jeans. Blue Jeans are always in fashion, and about as high fashion as I ever get, thus what better name for January’s colorway than “Forever in Blue Jeans”.

I wanted to use a stripe and bleeding dye method for January and this blue/grey color works great for this method. I broke it down into 2 color groups, blue and grey. I chose 3 blues and 3 greys and did alternating stripes. Each color is then bled into the next creating shades of blue/grey. To see the color repeats on your fiber, unroll the fiber and fold into thirds length wise. This is demonstrated on the video this month.

http://https://youtu.be/BCr-sLDRGHQ

I spun Forever in Blue Jeans 4 different ways using 1 oz for each sample. First off I spun from one end to the other, spinning across the top. I then Navajo Plied the single.

Navajo plied Bam Huey, Forever in Blue Jeans.

The 3ply/chain of the Navajo makes a round yarn. I did this in a high twist lace of about 18 wpi. In the knit sample you can see how this ply keeps the colors together.

Navajo Plied, January, Forever in Blue Jeans

My second oz of fiber I split the top length wise, spun each half on a separate bobbin then plied together. The colors are mostly kept together, with some barber-polling at the color changes. The knit sample shows the gradual color change of this fingering weight yarn on the top half of the Boot Toppers. The bottom half is done with the 3rd spinning sample.

Boot Toppers, top half 2 ply gradient, bottom half 2 ply light against dark.

The 3rd oz of fiber I split in half, width wise giving me a light half and a dark half. Spun each half on it’s own bobbin, then plied together. This is a very barber poll yarn that when knit up gives a tweedy look.

The 4th and final way I spun up the January Forever in Blue Jeans was to strip the fiber length wise as fine as possible.

January Forever in Blue Jeans, multi striped

I ended up with 72 strips from the 1 oz of fiber, spun half on one bobbin and the other half on another bobbin then plied together. The resulting yarn has some areas where the colors match up and others where they barber poll. This is a 2 ply lace of about 22 wpi

2ply lace, approx 22 wpi. fiber striped into 72 pieces spun 2 singles then plied. random matching and barberpolling of color. — 2ply lace, approx 22 wpi. fiber striped into 72 pieces spun 2 singles then plied. random matching and barber-polling of color.

knit up you get a combination of short burst of color, and muted blends.

There are as many ways to spin a fiber as there are spinners in the world. I hope that these four samples you give you some inspiration for spinning your January Bam Huey Fiber. Please feel free to share other ideas for spinning and pictures too!

The Forever in Blue Jeans colorway will be available to all at New Hue Handspuns by the end of the week.

Until next time,

Happy spinning,

Cheryl

What do you get with A Year of Color?

December 16, 2016Dyeing, Fiber, Knitting, Spinningbam huey, bamboo, merino, woolCheryl

The Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Fiber Club is about to begin!

Dreaming, Planning, Waiting for the Color Explosion of Bam Huey.

I’ve extended the sales dates by special request until the end of the year. Midnight New Years’ Eve is the absolute end of the sale prices. This gives a chance for those of you who receive cash gifts for the holidays to get in on the huge discount on Bam Huey fiber! Starting January 1st 2017 you can still buy into the club, but it is at full price except for a small discount on the One Month at a Time listing.

So, what do you get with a Year of Color???? Each month I will be developing a new colorway in my Bam Huey line, (60% Merino 40% Bamboo). The colorway will come from my monthly contribution to The Spinning Box. On each Shop listing you can find a basic description of color and style of dyeing for the year. Your fiber ships by the 10th of the month. Each month I will spin samples of the colorway in several ways. About the 15th I will post pictures and details of how it was spun. I will also knit samples as time allows to show you how differently each yarn knits up.

This club isn’t about exclusive colorways, it is about giving you the best possible price on Bam Huey Fiber. The only catch to getting the best price, is purchasing it here at New Hue Handspuns before the end of the year!

Here is an outline of a month’s posting using my latest colorway……

First off, a picture of the new colorway, this one I developed for The Spinning Box’s December box, BollyWood.

This is where I would tell you the story of how I developed the colorway……..

then show the BollyWood spun 4 different ways…..

This is where I would explain how I used the fiber for 4 different results….

I’d probably throw in another drool worthy yarn picture just for the heck of it….

Then I would show pictures of the samples knit up…….well hopefully mostly knit up as time allows….

Last but not least this is where I will tell how I knit each sample up and sometimes I will even have a free pattern to add 🙂

Come join me for Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color for a month or two, or take on the whole year, it promises to be an explosion in color!

Until next time,

Happy Spinning and Yarning,

Cheryl

Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Fiber Club

November 16, 2016Fiber, Home Lifebam huey, bamboo, fiber club, merino, spinningCheryl

Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Fiber club is now open, even while we are in the process of moving…….a VERY long slow process!! We sold our house almost 2 years ago and moved into my Mother-in-Law’s basement apartment. The plan was to help MIL through her two knee replacements and search for a new house. Our goal was to be back in our own home in 1-2 years. June 2nd 2016 we purchased our new home!

The Newhouses' New House! — The Newhouses’ New House!

We are taking a year to fix up the house and move in. Only 6 more months to go. The painting is 90% done, some kitchen tile, and a load of gravel to spread for walk ways/fire break to go….then it will finally be time to have my studio put in! Once my studio is in, it is good bye Portland, Hello Richland 🙂 The best new is that I have been able to keep up with my dyeing and spinning though out it all. Which brings me to the title of this post…. Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Fiber Club!

Sign up for this year’s fiber club is now open. This year it will be an explosion of color. Each month of the Bam Huey 2017 Year of Color Fiber Club will bring a new colorway to the Bam Huey line. There are HUGE savings for joining early. Purchase your membership before the end of day December 15th 2016 to get the best savings.Bam Huey Cub purchase options here.

Each month, after shipping club orders I will post pictures and samples of how one can spin up the new colorway. When I develop a new colorway I have a plan in mind as to how it should be spun to achieve the outcome I am looking for. Of course you can spin the fiber ANY WAY YOU WANT, but I thought you might be interested in seeing my intent. I plan to spin each colorway in 4 different styles, and hopefully knit up into a sample so you can see how different one colorway can be. My hope is that club members will experiment and share pictures of their spinning. Postings will be made here on my blog, New Hue Handspuns Facebook Page. and New Hue Handspuns Ravelry group

SPINZILLA Prepping

September 7, 2015Fiber, SpinningCheryl

SPINZILLA sign up has begun! I am on Team Knot Another Hat again this year. I’ve almost finished planning out my SPINZILLA project, and I have a special yarn package I am working to put together. Next posting will be about the SPINZILLA spun yarn special. Recently I’ve had several requests for speed spinning pointers so today I will cover spinning while I finish marinading on my SPINZILLA Spun Special.

I’ve often compared spinning to bike riding. You can take a quite meandering bike ride through the valley, or you can start from the top of Pikes Peak and pedal down hill at top speed. Stopping to smell the flowers is nice, but I am more of a “Wind in my hair” flying downhill type of spinner. I’m really not the competitive type. I’ve never entered my yarn or knitting in any type of judging or competition. BUT speed is what I love, and SPINZILLA is one competition I simply can NOT pass up. 2013 I was awarded Grand Champion Individual Spinner, 2014 I placed 2nd, 2015………we will have to wait and see, but I tell you, I am aiming for that top spot!!! The following is a collection of things I’ve learned about speed from the past 2 SPINZILLA’S and 20 plus years of spinning.

Newhouse spinzilla champ — Spinzilla Grand Champion 2013

There are 4 major areas that will determine your production during SPINZILLA week. Fiber, Method, Time, and Environment.

FIBER

New Hue Handspuns — Bam Huey spinning fiber in Ancient Roses

Pick the best fiber you can! Every spinner has a favorite fiber that “spins like butter”. GET THAT FIBER!!! If it is a new to you fiber, do a test spin before SPINZILLA, make sure it is your “butter fiber”. If your fiber needs any prep, do that ahead of time. Prep more fiber than you can possibly spin. Last year I made a mistake in designing a yarn that required each hank of fiber to be split into 16 strips. I prepped up the first day’s spinning fiber prior to the start. Sadly I did not consider how much time splitting fiber was going to take away from spinning. I lost hours over this last year. Needless to say, this year there will be no splitting of fiber!!!! I’ve decided to use a mixture of Bam Huey and Baby Camel Down.

METHOD

How you spin is a major factor in how much you can produce. You don’t have to be genius to know that if your spinning style causes pain, your body is going to give out. If you are going to be putting in long hours spinning, you need to be comfortable. Take these next few weeks to figure out what chair or chairs work best for you. Learn to relax your hands. Much of spinners hand pain is caused by a death grip on the fiber. Find your way to RELAX! Repetitive motion does a number on the body too. Don’t forget to do hand stretches at least each time you change a bobbin. Experiment with the way you spin. I’ve developed my own style of spinning that uses the least motion for the most production. Over the next few days try making some of your movements, longer or shorter, moving your hand placement, etc. Find what feels good to you, DON’T worry about anyone’s rules about how a particular type of spinning must be done, do what works for you. My style takes a little from several types of spinning, and has best been described as a very short supported long draw.

TIME

Clear your calendar!!! Plain and simple, you MUST set aside time for spinning. We all have different things that claim out time, some can be ignored for the week, but some have to be dealt with. Pets and family must be fed and cared for, cleaning can usually slide for a week. Be sure to let the family/friends know a head of time that October 5-11 you will be busy. Assign as many must be done tasks to others. If you have a job outside the home or work from home, take as much time off as you can. Prep up meals for quick fixing, stock up on your favorite snacks and drinks. If you have kids, take these next few weeks to teach them a new task/chore that frees up more of your time and makes them more independent. This could be anything from fixing their own meals to laundry.

ENVIRONMENT

I highly recommend setting up one or two spots to spin. I like one spot in front of the TV and the other in a quiet corner. Spinning outside is refreshing too if the weather co-operates. Be sure to have a side table within reach to hold your needed spinning tools, snacks, and beverages. I know not everyone has the luxury of space just for spinning, but do as much as you can to have a spot where everything can be left out and ready to go. That way if you have 5 minutes to wait while dinner cooks, the kids are getting ready for school, or any other event that leaves you twiddling your thumbs for a few minutes, you can sit right down and spin while you wait! Line up lots of things that entertain you. I love to do movie marathons or season upon season of tv shows. Books on tape are a favorite of many, music is helpful too, and sometimes complete silence while I spin is wonderful. Find something that keeps you in your seat, awake and energized!

Planning ahead is the best road for a successful Spinzilla. SPINZILLA is my Olympics and I plan to put every ounce of effort I have into spinning. For others this is a chance to focus on improving their spinning, while others take this as an opportunity to learn to spin. What ever your level of spinning, SPINZILLA is for you! There are still spaces available on teams, come join in the fun and support spinning.

Until next time, Happy Spinning!

Cheryl <^..^>

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