Spinning To-Do List + Playing Catch-up

One of my Überlist goals was to spin a pound a month. January and February, check. But I only got 4 ounce of March done in March. But this week, I instituted a rewards system for my To-Do list. I knock tedious tasks of my list, I get little prizes (spinning an ounce, carding a batt, making a skirt, playing Scrabble). This week, I earned 4 ounces of spinning, a couple games of scrabble, plying the rest of my March yarn, and writing this post. So far, I haven’t spun the 4 ounces I earned, but I did ply what I’d already spun.

This was my first go at combining two different colorways for a large project. Last year after Yarn School, Jen made Adrian go through her stash and group up all her colorways into projects. Inspired by that (but without Adrian’s instinctive color sense), I made a tentative stab and combining two coloways that weren’t totally matchy-matchy. I picked these, Funky Carolina Forsythia and Hello Yarn Habit, both BFL. I had 8 ounces of each, enough for a sweater.

Which became these singles:

And then this yarn:

I am very well pleased with the result, and I can’t wait to spin the rest!

I meant to hijack Adrian after this past yarn school and make her group up my stash, but maybe it’s best for me to have to do it myself. I know I won’t be as bold with my choices, but I should still get some good yarn out of it. Then I’ll just have to figure out when to knit it.

Hey, does anyone know of a good master spinning checklist like the knitting one? I’m making my own little list, but I don’t think I’m experienced enough to know what I should add. This isn’t exactly a master check list, because a lot of the items are unique to my life (stuff from my own animals or shop).

But for my part, I’d like to do these things. I think to call them done I should spin enough for a project, though it doesn’t need to be a sweater’s worth. A lot of these things I’ve given a cursory try at Yarn School, but not a serious, concentrated go. I’m going to add to this as I think of things. And of course, for a boost, I had to add a few things I have done.

Spinning To Do List

• Hand-combing
• Spinning worsted from hand-combed top
• Hand-carding
• Spinned woolen from rolags
• Carding and spinning a 5-level  color progression blend
• Spinning and plying a 5-level plied progression
• Spinning and plying a 10-level plied progression
• Card, spin and knit a projec
• Spin and knit a whole sweater from batts
• Spin and knit a whole sweater from combed top
  
• Spinning pure angora from fluff
• Spinning alpaca from fluff
• Spinning wool from uncarded washed fleece
• Spinning a sweater’s worth of floor bats
• Spinning a whole project of mohair
• Spinning a whole project of pygora
• Spinning a whole project of llama
• Spinning a whole project of alpaca
• Spinning a whole project of wool
  
• Spinning a sweater’s worth of 3-ply
• Spin and knit handspun socks
• Hand processing and spinning an entire fleece from one of my animals
• Spin and knit a single project from everything in my Natural Color Sampler
• Video my carding techniques
• Spinning and knitting a cowl from each of my animals
• Of course, photographing them in said cowls
• Spinning and knitting a sampler garment from each year’s wool clip
• Spinning enough Optim for a shawl
• Spinning a 3 Feet of Sheep tube into one big chain-plied skein
• Spinning a project on each of my wheels
• Spinning a project entirely with unsupported long draw
• Spinning a large project on a drop spindle
• Andean plying
• Carding and pulling a project’s worth of roving
• Master Spinner course
• Spin a full project from silk hankies
• Dye, spin & knit top for self-striping socks
• Spinning a sample skein and knitting a mini sock for each fiber I carry in my shop