Finally some time to sit down and update my blog journal.  May 5 was our Stitches day up at Storden.  It was a small group consisting of Connie, Candy and myself.  I had spent many hours prior to this day carding and pre-drafting my wool so that MaryB and I could spin all day.  I did spin the majority of the day, and made a big dent in my prepared wool.  MaryB was experiencing some tension issues on and off and Connie showed me how to adjust my drive band and we ended up cutting it and retying.  Then it was a matter of adjusting my brake tension throughout the day as I spun.  I felt that I was becoming more familiar with MaryB and making small steps in improving my spun yarn.

Connie was weaving on "Little Sister" and Candy spun and knitted some of her beautiful peony bush fiber.  She also brought along an adorable pink baby hat and booties that she had knitted.

I had an enjoyable day with the ladies and look forward to June 2 when we get together again to work on our projects and visit.  I'm hoping to be able to show them some more improvement in my yarn spinning.

I have been spinning every evening and my yarn is starting to show improvement.  I've finally got the hang of spinning along smoothly and controlling the size of my yarn more consistently.  I have been sitting out in the screen porch on these lovely evenings and have had to make my self stop and go to bed so I can get up for work the next day.  I'm finding the spinning to be so relaxing and a stress reliever.  I have a looooooong way to go but I'm having a blast as I practice and learn.  Last weekend I ended up replacing my brake band and drive band on MaryB and this has helped with her tension problems that I had been experiencing.

I purchased some natural brown roving that came from a ram lamb named Nate.  He is a Coopworth/  Border Leister breed.  The roving spins up beautifully and I'm hoping to spin up enough of this and the white Corriedale to make a sash to wear with my frock coat when we do our period re-enactment.  Here is what I have done so far, the white I spun right after our May 5th get together and the brown is what I have been spinning on every evening.  It will be interesting to see if this holds up when warping my loom and attempting to weave my sash.

I purchased a jumbo flyer for MaryB in the hopes to use it to ply my yarn and I would like to try spinning up some art yarn to make some funky, fun scarves to wear.  Right now I'm out on Etsy looking for fancy fiber lots that are scraps that can be used to spin the art yarn with.  It's been 92 degrees here today and I'm thinking about making funky winter scarves!!!!  lol

Last Saturday Roy and I spent the morning with our daughter, Holly and her husband, Dan in Estherville, IA.  Dan was going to run his first 5K race and Holly and I did the 1 mile walk for the Team Amy Benefit.  Dan did fantastic for his first race finishing in 33 minutes.  Holly and I cheered him on as he crossed the finish line!  We are all very proud of you Dan!!!!!  Here they are before the race started.

I've also been busy preparing for the Family Fun Fair this coming Thursday.  Our office participates in this every year by having a booth and an activity for the kids.  I volunteered to take the lead this year so I have been preparing scrapbook paper which we are going to make pinwheels out of and put them on a straw for the kids to take home.  I needed to have supplies ready for up to 150 kids so I have been busy cutting the pinwheel patterns out of the scrapbook paper!  Going to be a busy week!  Right now I'm looking forward to being able to spin this weekend and relax.

Until the next post, thanks for stopping by and come back soon to hear more about my journey into learning how to spin!