Spinning

This weekend was filled with work that I needed to catch up on here at our home due to helping out with a emergency family situation out of town. It does not take long to fall behind on all that needs done in our own home for my own family.... but things are caught up again. Until my next sudden need to go help out of town again..... possibly this week.
Anyways..... I am caught up with the everyday things that one must do for their own household and family. And I had a chance to relax and do some spinning on the spinning wheel this weekend. I managed to spin and ply enough wool to create 6 skeins of 2 ply yarn. I hope to work on more spinning this week. I am working my way through the wool roving I bought at the last fiber event and need to order more soon. I am trying to spin enough wool to sell at the market next month and also want to spin enough wool for a sweater I have a new pattern for. I plan to make this sweater with dark blue merino wool.... which I have started spinning as of last night while watching a movie on TV. And also spinning various shades of wools for a varigated star design. I am thinking of various shades of reds, golds, off white for the stars and other design work.
My next spinning project..... to spin alpaca fiber we acquired from a recent visit to a alpaca farm. This alpaca is from a young cria..... first shearing. Really a gorgeous, soft fiber in a natural white color. I need to do some more research for learning this spin alpaca. I was told it is spun without washing as it is much easier to spin unwashed. I really prefer to wash it first prior to spinning. But.... I will have to do what is recommended. My husband is wanting a pair of socks made from this alpaca fiber. So that will be what I make once I have spun, plied and wash this alpaca yarn.
I am realizing after spinning this weekend that I am in need of a few more spools for my Ashford Traveler spinning wheel. I hope to go buy a few extras soon. I usually have the wool spun on the 4 spools that I have and then must wind the 1 ply onto the skeiner to empty atleast one spool so I can ply the yarn.
This past week I have been busy reorganizing my workspace in the basement so that I can have a place to put these yarn trees my husband and a friend made for me. These will be great for the handspun and also cones of yarns. I also have the materials to create a moveable pegboard wall for more yarn storage. I have designed this to move so that it will be easy to move without needing to remove all the yarn off the pegs. I hope to get this workspace organized and put together within the next week or so. For now.... my cats are enjoying watching me put each new skein of yarn I am creating onto the pegs on the yarn trees. So far.... they have not tried to jump up and remove the yarn to run off and hide the yarns as they have in the past with some of their favorites (eyelash yarn).
Saturday was the market.... again.... another poor sales day for all of us. It is interesting how the past several years we all have done so well..... now there has been such a dramatic decrease in sales volume for everyone. I can't fully understand it.... we live in an area that has the money to spend.... but I guess this year with the tax increases and alot of the local residents that were laid from from a major local employer within the last year or two.... their unemployment benefits have exhausted and no jobs have been found to make up for their job losses. This is my guess of what has happened and it affecting us along with all the local businesses sales volume also. All we can do is hope for the best that things will eventually turn around. For now.... this puts a huge crunch on my back to school shopping budget and other family expenditures I start saving up for once this market season begins in May. I know I few months ago I prayed for a slower pace for myself and those prayers have been answered by having a lower sales volume. It really shows that the old saying is true...... "Be careful for what you pray for"..... you may find the prayers that you really were not sincere about will be answered in a way you may not have really wanted after all. I sincerely do believe that this slower pace is the result of God watching over me to not over do things as I have in the past. I have to accept this.... and I do..... and appreciate what this means for me to have a much slower and relaxing pace for things I normally work on throughout the busier months. I would not have time to knit or spin, if sales were where they normally are. I would only be able to keep up with making the natural soaps, lotions and other bath/body products.
I guess I leave this message with everyone today..... appreciate what you do have...... and not stress over the things that we don't have. There is always a reason for everything...... even though we can't understand why..... Just believe that there is someone else watching over us and not overloading us when we need a much slower pace for awhile. I appreciate this.... and accept it.... and enjoying things that I have not had the chance to do in a long time. And also having a good time learning a few new things..... such as spinning.