so much fiber, so little time

i've been a fibery whirlwind for the last week. so much i feel like posting, but i'll try to break it up over the week.

i've been spinning orangey yarn that will eventually become a sweater for Big Orange. I've got that orange and gold/yellow fleece from Winterberry Farm, and also extra red roving. I'm hand carding them and then spinning from the rolags. I'm not blending them completely together because i'm going for that variegated, heathered Noro-ey look. I'm seeing Fitgerald in my mind.



I spent three evenings of movie watching carding rolags, spinning two bobbins of singles, and then plying. The product? 300 yards. If i estimate 1500 yards for a men's large... 8 more skeins to go. for the spinning alone. I am beginning to understand the origins of that sweater curse. its all about the time and energy one puts into a gift like this. As i sat carding more rolags, i started to get a little hostile. This is why these things are cursed. its about the time. Can't you just see some poor knitter spending 100's of hours lovingly knitting a sweater, only for it to be mistakenly tossed in the washer and ruined?

"What are you going to make for me that would be this involved?!" i asked (accused even), brandishing a hand carder his direction.

He inched towards the other end of the couch, looking more than a bit scared.

"if this sweater ever gets within 100 yards of a washing machine, so help me, i will strangle you". ('this sweater' - the two skeins of yarn on the coffee table are already a completed sweater in my head.)

At this point he decided it was best to go to another room for a while.
smart boy.