The Details

2.75oz of Blue Faced Leicester, Banana Silk, Border Leceister, Costwold, Merino, & a shit ton of vm

7wpi/Bulky Weight

approx 60yds

This yarn languished for what feels like forever on my wheel. I really wanted to love it because I felt so good about buying it from a local artist at a wine and wool festival. The batt was soft, nicely packaged, and had a dizzying combo of cool fibers. The colors also gave me a total 80s kid nostalgia moment because it immediately made me think of the Barbies of my youth.

how many other mid-late 30s women just had a “I remember playing with those!!!” moment?

I went to the fiber festival in the morning and that evening, as soon as the kids went to bed, I started in on the batt, eager to make something cool. However, once I started spinning things started going downhill. Fast. I bought it knowing that it was an art batt, and that things will be chunky, but as I started drafting sections I realized that almost all the chunks are because the fiber is tangled around hay, grass, burrs, or seeds. Determination kept me going, but as I went on I got more and more frustrated. I paid WAY more for this than I normallly do for fiber to support a local “artist”. But by the end my only though was “I would have been able to dye and prep this myself so much better than they did.”

It went from a very nicely presented batt to a fairly pedestrian, thick and thin two- ply yarn. Kinda like how Barbies, when they are bought, are all poised and awesome in the box, but within 24hrs of being left in the care of a 7yr old girl look like this –

everyone knows that it’s easier to giver Barbie a haircut if you take the head off the body first

I have some more exciting projects (knitting, spinning, and weaving!) in the works right now, so I’m ready to move on. I’ve learned that you can’t love everything you make, so sometimes it’s better to just finish it, hang it with the other skeins of shame, and move on.