Spinning Goals for a New Year

January 1, the first thing I did after returning home from a New Year's Eve dance was to print out my Etsy inventory reports. The second thing was to head to bed. The next day I worked only a little on inventory costing and didn't even think about resolutions.

I'm still working on completing my inventory costing, but working on my bookkeeping always makes me a grouch so I've been playing instead. Playtime has consisted of fiber, my spinning wheel, and my ongoing resolution to spin fiber of a size like the last skein on the right.

In the photo above, the five skeins on the left are mine, and the last skein is River Twist in the Pine Creek colorway from Mountain Colors. You see the yarn in the order that I spun the skeins from left to right.

It is my goal to spin yarn of a consistent size that is the weight of the Mountain Colors yarn. It's between worsted and DK weight and it's beautiful. The Mountain Colors skein has been in my stash for several years and I refuse to use it until I can spin something similar. It is my goal skein. It is idolized and kept in a place of prominence in the studio.



These first two skeins are going to be for items for me. Both are bulky weight 2-ply yarns. The pretty one on the left is 8 ounces of rich red glory somewhere between garnet and rust. It's going to be a scarf. The wonderful 4-ounce skein of multi-colored jewels tones is destined to become a slouchy beret.



These two skeins are thinner. The pretty spring green multi-colored yarn goes from a bulky weight to a DK weight. (Achieving consistency is another goal.) The yummy peachy-orange skein is more consistently spun at a worsted weight. Both of these skeins will be for late winter/early spring scarves for sale on Etsy.

Next up is a yarn from Merino top that spun like butter. Notice that I am getting better at photographing reds.


This yarn is very close to my goal. It's not consistent yet, but it's getting very close. There are 185 yards here from 3.75 ounces of fiber--my thinnest spin yet! It's going to be a special Valentine's scarf for the Etsy shop.

Once this spinning goal is reached, I plan to purposely spin some skeins of bulky weight again so my fingers remember how to do it. The next spinning goal for this year will be to learn how to spin worsted weight singles.

There are no plans in the works to spin thin yarn. There is way too much wonderful sock and lace weight fiber on the market already and I don't have the time nor inclination to make my own.

Here are my first beauties of the yarn year. I love to look at them and pet them.