SHF Report #3: W00t! I win! I win!

Well, I didn't win, exactly, because it wasn't a contest. But I'm going to do a little victory jig anyhoo, because I feel as though I accomplished something. Not something big (otherwise I'd be doing a big Victory Stomp instead of a little skip-and-hop), but something.

And this is how it happened:

As you remember, we last left our heroine spending sheckels she doesn't really have on a drum carder. For charity.

You do too remember, because you were laughing and pointing - don't think I didn't notice.

I lugged the thing down the line of buildings and staggered back to our vendor's table, where I somehow managed to put it together. It is a very simple and logically put-together machine, so this was not a jig-worthy accomplishment.

After spending a great deal of time staring helplessly at my Fiber Sandwich (see SHF Report #2), I eventually came to the reluctant conclusion that Rumpelstiltskin was not going to show up. My princess license has expired, as have my baby-making days, so this particular batch of fibre was never going to be spun into gold.

Since the variegated lump wasn't inspiring me, I decided to separate it all out into its various components - or at least, into the various color/hue categories. As previously mentioned, the colors didn't exactly present harmoniously on the face of things. I decided that a great deal of 'toning down' was going to be required. So I blended This with That and The Other Thing. I did this at the table, and attracted quite a crowd of curious onlookers, all asking what I was doing and how it was done.

I truthfully replied that mostly I was making a mess, and that I was really cluelessly demonstrating how carding should not be done. But I did end up with a good number of whispy batts of fiber in various colors and shades.

When I finished with all that, I took the fibre home. I spun one singles in the various shades of gray, and the other in the colors, trying to put them in an order that made sense and kept things interesting. Then I plied them together - and sighed a great sigh of relief. I was right; the greys did calm down the other colors enough to allow them to live together in the same skein without too much retina-searing clashing. Whew!



I got the skein in to the auction before the building was officially open on Sunday morning. I was in classes all day, so I wasn't able to see what the other volunteer spinners had produced, which was truly disappointing - I would have loved to have seen how other creative (and more experienced) spinners had dealt with the challenge. And I wasn't able to observe the results of the bidding, myself. But I had my spies (thanks, mom!), and found out later that my skein had gotten the highest bid. The highest bid ever.

Way more, I'm afraid, than the poor little thing was worth - but the charitable (in more ways than one) bidder has the satisfaction of knowing that she donated her money to an extremely worthy cause. She can always do it again and unload the skein on Goodwill...

Proceed with the Noob Spinner Reel!