My Weekend Challenge - Art Yarns!

It seems that as much as I love spinning and knitting full-time, even I face motivation issues at times. I love spinning art yarns, but they also need to happen a bit more "organically" than some of the other yarns I do. I often need to choose the fiber, partially prep it, but then leave it alone for a few days. Then, I may return to it and find the yarns that I will use to spin in with the fiber. Then it may need to "simmer" a few more days. Until, finally, I take the fiber and yarn and just SPIN IT. I guess this is my "creative process" of sorts, but when I'm trying to get a certain amount done in a certain amount of time, this process doesn't always yield the results I need, or want. So, I am issuing myself a CHALLENGE for this weekend (well, starting today) and that is, I will SPIN ART YARNS ALL WEEKEND! This is actually a shot of some of the fiber that has been "simmering" this week -

There are 3 different colors shown here, in addition to another one off to the side, not in the picture. The 4 piles at the top are "Sprucewood", and the bottom sets are "Parade" and "Boho" - all merino wool hand dyed by the Yarn Wench. By Monday - these piles will be magically transformed into art yarns! :)

To get myself ready for some art yarn spinning, I spun up this beauty last night. It was spun from a Spontaneous Spinning Batt from loop. This one is mostly alpaca, but also has bamboo, Tussah Silk, cotton noils, locks, and angelina. The alpaca makes it feel very warm. I added in some novelty snippets and even more angelina for additional sparkle, and then plied it with two colors of thread - light purple and light green. It is a pretty heavy skein - 5.2 oz - and 100 yards. I'm calling it "Garden Fairies" -


So with that as inspiration, it is now time to begin my challenge . . . starting with "Boho" - the brightest of the batch!