Plodding along, or why being a Process Person isn't a Bad Thing...

As I write this, I haven't done any spinning yet today - which might put me behind schedule. You see, I made another decision that might end poorly - I opted for contiguous yardage over speed. Here's how far I've gotten, in 8 days.

(I might be halfway through this HALF of the braid... this is not ideal.)

What makes it worse, is that I need to spin some of the contrasting colour too - so that I can make the intended 4-ply. This braid will be chained, and I'll combine it with a similar-grist singles in a coordinating polwarth/silk.

It's a different ratio wool/silk, but getting a reasonable match should be do-able.

I'm fighting my own physical limitations and stamina on this, as much as anything else. There's just enough strain, even with Scotch Tension, that my hands are feeling the hours of drafting required to add a few new 'hills' to the bobbin. 

I'm trying to mix it up a bit, and do some exercises to help, but this is a BIG departure from the last few months' spindle spinning - and my body doesn't like all the 'sameness' as much as the variety of movements required for spindling. I can *definitely* marathon spindle better than wheel-spin.

This is a good thing to know - especially if I plan to work up to more spinning this year. I'll have to look at the decisions I make, and decide whether the result is worth the cost of admission. I think it mostly is - I'm certainly learning a few things about my body, and its limits.

Now, the GOOD part of being a process person, is that I'm not finding ALL this time 'boring'. I'm reveling in the look and feel of this colourway, and it's a very bright spot in a dreary 'January grey' existence. I'm hoping the same will be true - eventually - when I get to cast this on, and start knitting the planned shawl.

The current plan is to get through this half of the fibre, and see how long THAT takes... if it's past the 15th, then I'll *have* to ply the first half, so I can start knitting the shawl. I think that's a good tradeoff - because I can't spin full-time, so it'll be nice to have the option of switching gears.

I've also committed to tracking for the #15forSCA challenge - so every day I work on an SCA-related project, I can count it... Apparently there are going to be coins minted for participants who get over 30 days tracked.

It's a good way to get a couple motifs done on the purple tape. Here's the one session I got done this past week.

I may be eating some elephants, but at least they're pygmy elephants - so the 'one bite at a time' stretches a bit further.

Three steps forward, two back...

 ...or, just use the right tool for the job, already!

When I started the #SMAL (that's the SpinTogether group's Selfish Make-along), I was feeling lazy, and used the wheel that was closest, even though it wasn't ideal.

It was working - mostly.

Only the Thumbelina is a low-ratio, double-drive wheel, that pulls like a small pony, even at a tension low enough to make it occasionally throw the driveband... so my hands were crampy and unhappy, and the yarn was a bit undertwisted in places... and I was concerned it might drift apart if I wasn't super careful with handling it.

...So I took a deep breath, grabbed a handy spice jar, and gently rolled the contents of that bobbin onto it. 

It only drifted apart twice at that stage, but there were some dodgy bits, and I expected it to be... interesting. It was! In all the ways implied by the old curse. I know it doesn't look like much, but the process of winding it off, and adding twist as I ran it onto my Lendrum (joining it together a few EXTRA times, of course) - took several hours. I was being fussy about trying to get a good foundation on the bobbin, so took more time than I could have - but the first couple layers are the most crucial to how a bobbin fills.

...Ended up with this:

 My Lendrum is OLD - like, it has a bolt holding the footman on, old... and I'm at least the 4th owner - I haven't invested in the newer fast flyer - so I'm using the ancient, hooked (rather than sliding hook), 'fast' flyer - with ratios of 10 and 12:1. This makes it about twice as fast as the previous wheel - which should help. It also has offset hooks on both sides, so I have more control over how to fill the bobbins.

I also own the Very Fast Flyer, but I'm spinning this for a shawl, and figured I would get as much of it in one piece as I can - the VFF bobbins are comparatively tiny. 

With that done, I settled in to my second Zoom meeting of the day, and got this far before I needed a break. My hands were still tired from the work of spinning everything on the wee pony, and I was getting sloppy with my technique.

I'm hypermobile, and I got into the TERRIBLE habit years ago, of rolling my thumb back when managing twist. I'm working on changing that habit, but it's always gotten me results, and it became somewhat ingrained.

I stopped for the night because my thumb knuckle was getting grumpy, and I wasn't having a lot of success focusing on NOT hyperextending it, because my hands were fatigued. Making it worse wasn't going to help things proceed. (it's a part of my process that needs to change, because it's going to be harmful in the long run)

Now I get to see what sort of progress I can make on a better tool. I hope there's time to do what I want - this will be a lovely yarn when I'm done. (most of the credit goes to SweetGeorgia Yarns though - it's one of their old Club Braids)

Resolutions, or another idea? (Word of the Year, 2021)

 One of my friends has inspired me (after another too-long hiatus from blogging)... 

Here's her post:
http://blog.cayswann.com/word-of-the-year-2021/?fbclid=IwAR1SGWBPyy4KM9qmtLgRP9O-KgOcFRAsVmbS3WAnQj9jDX9-0J4glh0gbuo

I love the idea, and when she started talking about it over the past while, I realized that maybe this would work better than traditional goal-setting, or resolutions, for me too.

I keep paying for my business license, I keep plodding along making things - but I don't document things enough, and I don't finish what I start - almost ever. A lot of GREAT words that I might use are already on her list - so for this, first go, I'll make sure I find something that doesn't duplicate hers (but still fits).

I know, that whether or not the things I envision and create get done - there can be no product, no end result without

PROCESS

There's a process to building physical strength and stamina - and I'm re-starting a 100-day movement challenge today.
There's a process to getting enough inventory together for the web storefront I keep dreaming about - and it starts with more than just opening the webpage.
There's a process to growing my core textile skills - and I'm grateful for the opportunity to study with Abby Franquemont, and chat with the other students on her Discord.
There's even a process to getting my scattered thoughts onto some page, somewhere - whether it's here, or my Facebook business page, or some other venue. I've started, slowly, by trying to post more on the Loomacy and Lace Facebook page. 

...and once there's more widespread vaccination, and the world opens up? There will be a process to that, too.

I have thoughts, and goals, and dreams - I always have. Maybe by recognizing that I'm a PROCESS person, and honouring that, I'll get further than I have by ignoring it.

I did finish a small item or three last year, and started some that were real firsts for me. Here are some pics.