Black and White Challenge

Here are the Black and White "yarns" I spun today for the challenge with the Fiber Artists and Spinners on Facebook. Really, they are black and white. The photo turned out blue and so I changed it to black and white in Picassa only I forgot to save it, so here it is in BLUE!

The piece on the left is black and white tissue paper, spun, and then core spun with a commercial black single. I haven't measured the yardage yet.

In the middle, I have 15 yards of recycled silk fabric, spun, and then plied with the same paper yarn.

And finally, on the right is six yards of the paper yarn spun with some black and white silky thread, hand knotted and then waxed.

A whole package of tissue paper will make a lot of paper yarn. I filled one bobbin and still have some strips left over.

Learning To Spin

It is damp and grey here and I have a bad cough. So I am using this time to learn to spin on my new spinning wheel. I am reminded of learning to bake bread. As a young woman, I was determined to make all the bread for my family. When I brought some to my Mother (the master bread maker)to try, it was a bit heavy and she said, "Never mind. It will make good toast." While reading up on spinning wool, I read that your mistakes can always be used as "Art" yarn. So that is what I feel like I have been doing--making bread for "toast".

I am grateful to my Mother and Father who taught me that all things are possible. They made materials available to me and encouraged me to try things. So, I grew up knowing that I could do anything if I wanted to bad enough. Well I might not be a Master, but I could certainly learn to do it. Practise makes perfect.

So I will keep spinning and learning and having a good time. Maybe eventually, I will make bread that doesn't have to be toasted!