Fiber! Fiber! Fiber!

In my slow but steady (well, not always steady, but steadier lately) way, I'm putting a dent into my stash and doing some necessary fiber-related stuff. No pics right now, but a short list:

*Talked to doctor about my hands. This had really been preying on my mind. Would she take me seriously? Would she just put me off and tell me to wear a brace for a while? Would I have to fight for proper care? As it turns out, she took me quite seriously and I have a diagnostic test for possible nerve issues (as in, carpal tunnel) next Monday. Wow! What a relief!

*Just finished a long-idle project: some woolen yarn spun from roving. It's not my best, and during plying, the yarn on the older bobbin was clearly too weak to ply. I opted for the low-hassle approach and scrapped it, making do with what I have left, which is a nice fingering weight. I have a lot to learn about spinning long-draw and am trying to be happy with what I produce with this method, since it's rarely even. This batch is at least usable, and is a nice 276+ yards of what will probably be fingering weight when all dry. I have more of the fiber left and plan to spin it all up this way, except for the whole throwing-out-half-a-bobbin-of-singles thing. That's not actually part of my spinning technique.

*In re: the above, finally tried out the new plying head on the Fricke. I am somewhat ambivalent; it's heavy, awkward, and the bobbin shaft is a little narrow and the finishing on the brake groove is very rough. Nevertheless, if you want to ply a lot of yarn, and you have a Fricke, it's a nice thing to have.

*Found a fleece I didn't know I had. Oh dear. It's got quite brittle tips, too, so I'm trying to gather advice on whether I should snap those tips now, before washing, or whether they'll comb off. I guess if I snap the tips off first I can change my mind and card them, which would be harder to do if I waited until after they were washed. But I think I want to comb them.

*A pretty Shetland fleece from Kev's Korner Shetlands was, I decided, too small to make a full sweater for me. Plus, some of the fiber was quite short, and I want to comb this; maybe I'll reserve the shorter, finer stuff for a different project. This required the addition of another Shetland fleece, naturally, which is on its way; I will wash it and comb locks of it along with locks of the first one, producing a heathered yarn. Since the new fleece is brown and the first fleece is a silvery gray, I might reserve some of the new fleece to spin all by itself, providing a border. Oh, and perhaps do the same with the silver, but overdye it, maybe with natural dyes, and do some kind of striping or other color-work type stuff on the cuffs and bottom edge.

Whew.