Spinning Consistency & Randomness

Cyndy tapped me to post a random eight. If you haven't seen her great use of odd and ends of yarn and wool check out her May 24th post.

For a look at an odd looking creature scurry over and check out Esmi on Celtic Memory Jo's May 24th post.

Before posting random stuff here're some details of a recent spinning experiment:
Remember the Chocolate Bar roving I've been spinning for sock yarn. It seemed to take me forever to spin the 3 ounces I'd started with. The first 1.5 oz ball went fairly quick but about 1/3rd into the second batch I hit a lo-o-ng section of murky light brown that didn't spin as smoothly and became psychologically hard for me to keep spinning. This week I determined to finish it. My speed picked up when the dye job varied back into the richer browns.

While spinning I've often wondered how many spun yarn I average out of one yard of roving. Thursday evening as I neared the roving end I measured a yard in from the end, tied a piece of yarn at the 1 yard spot then measured the roving to the 2nd yard point and tied another piece. When I reached the piece of yarn marking two yards remaining I looked at the clock and timed how long it took to spin one yard to a fairly thin single. Thirty five minutes. Hmm, a bit faster than I'd thought. It was past my bedtime so I stopped for the night. I was also curious to see what my consistency would be on two different spinning days.

Saturday morning I grabbed the spindle and remaining yard of roving, checked the clock and started in. It was one of those mornings where it felt as though it took awhile to get into a rhythm. To my surprise it also took 35 minutes!

Using the warping board to unwind the single I counted out the wraps as I circled the spindle around and around the pegs which are set one yard apart. Hmm. 1 yard roving = 18yds,26inches of spun single. Not too shabby. What would the second yard yield? Imagin my immense astonishment as the last of the single came off the spindle at:
Yes -- 18yds 26inches!!! I am blown away by this. I figured that if my singles measured within a yard of each other I'd be spinning pretty consistantly but this is phenomenal. I believe it is a fluke. I'm real curious to find out what the two 1.5ounce balls will measure once they're each plyed.

Random Stuff:
1. I've always loved water. My first memory is an image of a picnic beneath a bridge near a lazy river. I was 2.5 years old.

2. Blue is one of my favorite colors, but I have to be careful which tones I wear. The brighter shades with warm undertones are good - Turquois, cornflower blue, sapphire...

3. We've owned two blue Rambler cars. The first was a 1969 station wagon that we owned when it was 15 years old, the second was a 1966 classic sedan like this one, except blue:
We loved that car until it started having more problems than Ed could keep up with. Hey, it was 30+years old and over 200,000 miles.

4. I once hitch-hiked with a bike. A friend & I had riden our 3-speed bikes ten miles towards our 25 mile destination when my front wheel had a severe mishap which resulted in a twisted wheel. We'd arrived at the main highway and so stuck out our thumbs and waited for a driver in a pickup truck to stop. At the destination of a gas station/small shopping complex where my brother was manager we were able to get the tire fixed and ride home.

5. I like to bake, especially bread. I don't enjoy cooking.

6. I have written a children's book. It isn't published.

7. Irises are among my favorite domesticated flowers.8. They bloom in this area throughout the month of May. There are vast acres of Iris fields, this is only a small section of one.


Lots of bloggers have already posted their eight randoms so I won't tap anyone. Please post yours if your haven't been tapped.