I’m having another one of those weeks when deadlines are all-consuming, work and home and wedding things are being juggled every minute, and there is very little time for crafting (or relaxing, or sleeping, etc.). At such times, I tend to lack the brainpower for knitting and prefer to spin during spare moments when I can snatch them. I also tend to stash enhance (if you can’t knit ’em, buy ’em?) so a little bit of that has happened, as well.

Capar spindles large Turkish in teak and maple.

The last of my Great Spindle Splurge of ’14 has arrived. This is a large size Turkish spindle made by a relatively new spindle seller, Wayne Capar. People on the Spindle Candy and Spindemania boards raved about these spindles and compared them favorably to Jenkins turks, which are much harder to get right now, so I figured I’d give the large size a try.

Jenkins Aegean on left, Capar large on right.

The two spindles spin quite differently. The Aegean is tinier and lighter and does not have a very long spin. It is also more of a mid-whorl spindle. The Capar large is heavier but has a much  longer spin and I feel like I get a better flick with the longer shaft. I like them both very much and look forward to seeing how differently they spin the same fiber in the spindle experiment I’m working on with Louet merino/silk fiber.

Gorgeous braids from Three Waters Farm.

More fiber came to live with me recently, too. Every quarter the Completely Twisted and Arbitrary spinning group on Rav hosts a spin-along during which a talented indie dyer comes up with special colorways for us and there is much stash-enhancing, spinning, prize-awarding, and reveling in handspun awesomeness. It’s generally impossible to resist joining in. This quarter’s SAL with Three Waters Farm ends this month and while I tried to resist, I failed, and obtained the lovely Teal Tonal colorway on a BFL base, the Dark Sweet Cherries on Merino/Superwash Merino/Silk base, and a gorgeous undyed ecru braid of Merino/Silk top.

Teal Tonal on BFL, begun.

Which, yes, means that I’m going to attempt to finish spinning 4 oz of BFL in Teal Tonal by the end of the month. HAHAHAHA oh my ambitions. Luckily, BFL is usually a nice and easy spin for me, so I’m still harboring delusions that it will happen.

What have you been working on this week? Check out more WIPs at Tamis Amis!