Time got away from me

I guess a few days got away from me!

On Wed, I had a quick eye appt.  Ironically, the power at the mill went out 5 mins before I needed to leave and came back on about 5 before I returned.  I actually stayed out running errands longer than anticipated due to the power outage. 

I wish I was more mechanical and understood physics or something a little better.  My brain is clipping along slower than I would like.  Mulling over questions and issues seems to take some time.  Of course, everything seems backwards of intuitive.  Or as Jeff from Belfast said - I all makes perfect sense mathmatically.  Until you add the fiber.  Up is down, more is less, Barb gets confused...

Wed we tested our yarn singles to get what we wanted size wise and twist wise.  All was well.  Until I did something that I had asked about before and that did not cause problems that day (different day, different fleece and yes, it does matter).  I turned up the motor.  But we did not test size and twist after this.  And the change seemed inocuous...Until we tried to ply.  You can not control over energized yarns and get a nice yarn! 

Thurs Craig had errands most of the morning so I finally got around to weaving a couple of rugs someone ordered.  We needed to make the rug yarn for them.   I started playing with the spinner about 3.  Oh, I love a tachometer!  Started seeing how the motor speed affects the spindle speed and therefore the size yarn and the twist.  It was something of a eureka moment that had to end as kids needed rides at 4.

Fri Craig was out again in the am and I wove a test rug from the yarn he has been making with a different core yarn.  I like it.  Then more tachometer fun.  i have been telling Craig that one of the spindle heads makes a different size yarn compared to the other 7 and according to the tachometer, that is right.  One is clipping along at 8 rpms higher than the others.  Now I need to figure out how significant or insignificant this is. 

Yesterdays yarn seems nice.  Today, we try it again. 


Feb 4 yarn.  Bottom skein washed. 
The goal was a DK, about 12-15
wraps per inch (WPI). 



Someone was playing in the
dusty tumbler room....