On track for TDF-though I did have to modify my goal. Originally, I hoped to fill a bobbin a day. However, spinning very fine takes FOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEVVVEEEERRRRRRRR!! So, I decided that as long as I spin steadily daily, then I’m good. Our little Facebook group was presented with a mini-challenge by our awesome hostess-to look up the number one hit song on the day you were born, and spin a yarn to represent it. Luckily, I just missed “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye, and had “Delta Dawn” by Helen Reddy.

At first, I thought I would end up with a crazy, wacky yarn that would be one of those things that you keep and have just to say you did it. But after listening, really listening to the song over and over.. (yes, the kids all asked over the course of two days “is that your new favourite song, mama?”) I felt sad. I pictured her walking barefoot down Main Street, peering into quintessential small town store-fronts, with mannequins on display wearing high fashion from decades past, shops with sticky candy melting in the sun shining through the window, the drug store with empty seats at the soda fountain.. She wears a lacy, crochet dress that was once white, now tattered at the edges and a charming shade of ivory. Her hair is sun bleached “yellow” blonde, curling wildly around her head, silver streaks glinting in the sun her only betrayal of her true age. A faded rose pinned to the front of her dress with one of those tiny brass safety pins, drooping sideways, but petals and leaves still intact. Her suitcase is a brown cracked leather with shiny brassy clasps that she keeps clean and polished. But it’s her eyes, blue and wild, that stop you in your tracks and make you wonder: what lost love made this beautiful girl lose her mind..

I decided that I needed to dye! Shocking, I know. I think dyeing is one of my most favourite part of the fiber arts process. I selected squishy soft Cormo for the base fiber, and knew I needed a handful of Henry’s locks as an add-in.

Ooooh.. steamy. These are the locks as I kettle dyed them. I LOVE how silky and shiny Henry’s locks are!! And the colors came out *exactly as I hoped. I didn’t take pics of the Cormo as I dyed it-I worked too fast to think about it when the baby was quiet for awhile. After everything was dried, I decided to separate the cormo into color segments-the brown was pulled out and set aside, and the blue/violet was blended with hand painted silk and silvery angelina with my awesome two-pitch hand combs that the Muscle made me. The blue/violets are for her eyes, the silver her hair, the silk for her beauty.

I knew the locks would be the “faded rose”, along with a deep dark red silk thrum. The locks would be tail spun, and the silk thrum wildly added right after. I used a natural colored blend of merino/alpaca/tencel to transition from the blue/violet to the browns of her cracked leather suitcase. Throughout, I had metallic thread autowrap, except for over the blues to not take away from the silver angelina. This is my second ever core-spun yarn, and first real “art” yarn. My tiny bobbins/wheel and flyer to not allow for much and it was a labor of love as I struggled to make it happen! Stopping and starting often to uncatch the fibers on the hooks, on the orifice, on each other! In the end though, I am SO freaking happy with the results. This will be something for me that I will cherish forever.

That’s my Quality Control inspector. She is also my sneaky little fiber thief! I could not for the life of me figure out how my fibers kept ending up scattered outside my bucket when nobody was around. The kids said it was PollyAnna, but I didn’t believe it. Then I caught her.

I didn’t get a ton of yardage, but I’m ok with that. My eyes were far bigger than my bobbin. This is what my wheel could handle. 24 yards. WOOt!
I didn’t use the vintage wooden beads yet-I will though when I turn the yarn into a wearable-they just go too well with it.

I am glad for mini-challenges, for meeting like-minded people who pose challenges to strangers and friends alike to help them broaden their minds and experiences, for no reason other than to wish for all to have fun, and for how through the grace of the internet, we can share in each others’ successes, failures, joys and losses, holding each other up through it all. Til next time, hug someone you love. =^..^=