Necessity is the mother of invention

Yesterday I continued to spin the lovely Ashland Bay Merino/Tussah roving.  I am not having the trouble I initially had with spinning this now that I’ve had a chance to work with it more.  The more I work with nice fiber, the more I really believe beginners should start with nice fiber…it’s so much easier to draft and I feel like it inspires me to better spinning.  I’m really happy with the way it turned out.  It’s well balanced, soft and the color variation is lovely.  I’m still  just soaking and then giving the yarn a couple of good whacks in the bathtub…no weighting the yarn for me. 

Now to figure out how many yards I have!  This turned into a little obsession today.  I’m not ready to shell out $160 for a yardage counter, so I began to do a little research.  There are several ideas online about how to make one using a measuring wheel.  It seemed like a good rainy day project so off to Home Depot I went.  Then another hardware store.  Then Walmart.  Save yourself some time.  If you decide to do this project, just order the damn thing.  I found the perfect one (CST – MeasureMark 31-108 Single 4-Inch ABS Plastic Wheel Measuring Wheel in Feet/Inches) at amazon for $24.  Sure, no instant project gratification but it’s pretty hard to a project without the main ingredient.  If all goes well I’ll have it Tuesday and my very own yardage counter shortly thereafter.  Of course, there will be documentation.

FPS Stole Update:  Halfway through tier 7…31 hours.