I’m not sure what the issue is but for the past few days my whole body hurts. This means that I spent a huge amount of time trying to distract myself (and mostly failing). Washing the goat is time consuming but also has a lot of down time while you let the stinky fiber soak in hot water. I knew better than to start with that. Uncleaned fiber is not something you’re able to stop and start. Once you put it in it’s first hot bath your whole afternoon is accounted for. Once I feel better we’ll get back to the goat. My savior turned out to be my drop spindle. It takes constant attention to keep progress moving. This is prefect when you need to distract yourself! There’s no room left in your brain to think about just how badly your back hurts. I’ve had my turkish spindle (my first spinning tool) since 2011.

My first yarn with the lovely Aegean spindle!

I was in college at the time and $52 was an astronomical price for the minimum wage income I earned. This was more than we spent on groceries in a month, but with much saving and cutting back I managed to work it into our budget. Now Jenkins Spindles are impossible to get. They’re forced to hold lotteries for every batch they make! My spindle is beautiful and irreplaceable. I would love to have another. Every project I work with this spindle is a dream, but this last batch of fiber was the itchiest I had ever used. It’s just scraps from Newbury Yarns in Boston, MA. I think I paid $3 for a fist sized lump of fiber and it’s not their fault. They had a beautiful selection of yarn, but we were on our mini-moon after essentially eloping and what I really wanted was something that could act as a souvenir. At least it’s a fairly pretty color, and it spun evenly.

It is a pitifully small amount of yarn though. I spun it thin (light fingering weight) to make it stretch and when I had my finished skein I had an “ah ha!” moment. It’s the perfect amount for a few hexipuffs!

Perfect size for a hexipuff! (not that I swatched…)

Once I complete my Beekeepers Quilt (and I’m in no rush) these few itchy puffs will be the perfect mini-moon souvenirs!