Didn't this year go quickly? Last time I checked, I was moving into a new flat and it was barely August. Now, four months have flown by and we find ourselves on the 31st once again.

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Have you ever had some beautiful OOAK fibre go missing in the mail? Now imagine that's happened three times in the last month :(

Something's going very, very wrong with the mail in Spain lately... Beautiful batts from CountessAblaze - MIA. It's quite odd because I ordered from fibre the week after, and it arrived within a couple of days. Then batts and locks and rolags from Siobhan Crafts - MIA. And on top of it all, yarn for a sweater (that's like 6 skeins of sock yarn, guys!!) from Fondant Fibre, custom dyed - MIA. Screaming intensifies. I also had some face oils go missing but the replacements arrived - but whatever, it's not OOAK wool, yo.

Generally, I feel quite awful because these are all one-woman shops and I don't want to burden them with what's quite clearly a Spanish mail problem... A few more days until they're deemed officially missing by Royal Mail - and we'll see what happens.

On top of that - another disappointment! The Xisqueta wool I ordered is a let down. It's been washed so awfully that it's really felted together, and any attempts to card it result in a tube of sponge instead of a rolag. Maybe that's due to the natural crimp of the wool anyway, but it's still not what I expected. Maybe I'm comparing it to long and straight merino fibres... But I've really got no idea what to do with it next. Hmm.



Until then, I've been spinning some lovely superfine Shetland in Sherbert Dip by Fondant Fibre - I'm trying a fractal spin so should have some nice matchy-matchy bits and some lovely crazy barberpoling. I split the braid halfway lengthways and spun one bit as is, and the other half I've split into about 8 more thin strips which I'm working on today. I've plonked myself down in front of the telly, catching up on last night's X Factor, and sipping on a nice cuppa as I spin. Small pleasures.

I've been meaning to post this for a long, long time. But then I was moving house... And the lack of internet made it impossible... And then I started working... And then it seemed like TDF was all too far away for it to matter anymore. But, really, when I think about it, why should three weeks of solid effort be ignored? So here's what I managed to chuck together this year :)

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The last week of TDF, the spinning picked up! I actually got quite a lot done and I'm really happy with the results :) Lots of different techniques, colours and fibres made for a very busy but enjoyable week.

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This week's been fairly quiet... At least on the yarn front! I've been running around like a crazy woman, sorting out ID numbers and social security and bank accounts, not to mention viewing various flats around Barcelona. We actually saw one near the Santa Maria del Mar church - great location - that had zero windows. Not. A. Single. Window. I don't know how the tenants there deal with the humidity, and I don't even want to think about what happens inside the sweatbox when someone has too many beans on their toast in the morning. No escape.

Anyway! This week's project has been more spindle spinning at the mister's house, and working on Pigging Out, my combo spin of Cherry Bakewell and Pigs. By the end of Friday 17th, the end of the second week, I'd make a good start on the braid of Pigs, but not much more! Time for some more gratifying spins to finish up the last week, something nice and quick and chunky I think.

So far, we're off to a good start! Wheel has been turning, stash has been dwindling, and I've actually produced some rather lovely yarn!

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