Spinning and more spinning

 My friend Kai went visit her family in Japan.  She brought me back this lovely gift of fermented Japanese Indigo leaves and the chemicals with which to process the dye vat!  I'm so excited about this.  I'm researching the how's right now because I don't read Japanese and the terminology in the translation of the instructions is different that what I normally use, so there is a bit of a disconnect with procedure.  It will happen though and it will be lots of fun.  Plus of course there is the research part, which is fun in itself.

 Merino in a colour called Beansprout.  It's very pretty and was easy to spin.  There was supposed to be 4 oz of it, but I'm wondering if there really is.  While Kromski bobbins are supposed to hold 4 oz, I've always found it to be completely full or even sometimes just a tad over full to get the full amount on.  This is just not quite there in my mind.  I'll weigh it after it is plied.  Yes, I'm going to ply it from a centre pull ball, and no I won't get any pig tails happening, because I've found keeping the tension even is all you need to keep pigtails at bay from any plying method.

More spinning, this time a Merino/silk blend.   Apparently it's supposed to be super slippery and hard to spin.  I've found that it drafts nicely and spins easily.   It's so pretty too, with a lovely mix of brown colours and the white silk.... and soft... lusciously soft.

Demonstrating spinning at the local Renn Faire on the school day.   My kirtle is too large by several inches around.  If I'd assembled it with opera seams as I'd intended, it would be an easy adjustment.  I like to write a little list of assembly steps when I make a garment.  However, I missed ready that particular item on my list of instructions and sewed the bodice together by rote, so instead, I'll have to rip the bodice half apart to make the adjustment.   It's way too much work for right now.