So BritSpin is over for another year. The final team results aren’t in yet, but as our team were 9 members, instead of 10, and we do it for fun rather than competitively, I am thinking we are unlikely to win any marathon medals.
As a reminder, these were the Challenges:
- Team Marathon
- Individual Marathon
- Individual Marathon – spindle only
Plus Extra Events:
- Learn a new skill
- Breedathon
- Bakewell Bingo
- BritSpin Sprint
This year my own personal aims were to spin some new to me breeds, learning to use my Russian supported spindle and to practice using my Andean Plying tool (Handy Andy). So here’s how I did:
Individual Marathon result
I actually spun more than this, but I ended up with a snapped yarn on my handy andy, when plying it minutes before the 9pm deadline, so it can’t be included in the finished length as it isn’t measurable in time.
They don’t have a 1km badge, so the badge I achieved is the 800m badge. (Last year just 200m.). Next year I am going to aim for a 1 mile badge.
Individual Marathon – spindle only
88.5 BritSpin meters. I simply ran out of time to spin and ply all of the Whitefaced Woodland on my spindle, so only my first batch can be counted. (I plied the 2nd batch on my wheel.) If I’d had more time I could have got a 100m badge at least. So next year I’m going to aim for at least the 100m badge for spindle only.
Learn a new skill
I’m really pleased with how much more confident I am using my Russian supported spindle. By the end I was managing to draft a little at the same time as it was spinning, so very happy.
As for using my Handy Andy! Did I already mention a yarn barf?! Despite the mess, they still counted it as learning 2 new skills. So here’s my badge for that. I have learned in future I won’t load my Handy Andy so much, especially with such fluffy yarn as the WW, the other end is in their somewhere and I will find it!!!
Breedathon
I had a much longer list of breeds I’d hoped to finish, but learning to use the spindle obviously slowed me down a lot. In the end I finished 4 breeds. They allowed me to count all the Whitefaced Woodland, even though some is unmeasurable. This is because you have to spin at least 50g of the breed, and I did do that.
One lady in another team had a long line of her finished breeds, maybe a dozen! So I’m obviously not a winner, but these things all go towards team points as well and it is part of the fun experiencing new things.
My final measurements (BritSpin Meters (BSM) includes the singles plus spinning to ply):
Cheviot 42.27m 2 ply = 126.81 bsm
Rambouillet 79.46 3 (chain) ply = 317.84 bsm
Perendale 173.8m 2 ply = 521.4 bsm
Perendale mini 21.39m 2 ply = 64.17 bsm
Whitefaced Woodland 29.5m 2 ply = 88.5 bsm
Whitefaced Woodland mini 19.32 2 ply = 57.96 bsm
Total BritSpin meters = 1,176.68m
Plus a big yarn barf 
Here’s my list in order of preference:
- Rambouillet was my favourite, lovely and soft and nice to spin.
- Perendale was very nice, similar to a Blue Faced Leicester, very easy to spin, not as soft as merino.
- Cheviot is a bit scratchy and not something I’d wear next to skin.
- Whitefaced Woodland – I won’t spin this again, it seemed to get up my nose and leave a lot of fluff on my clothes, plus it isn’t super soft. It is a fairly rare breed though. Not sure how it felts. (When I find the end of the yarn barf I will finish plying it.)
I didn’t enter the Bakewell Bingo this time, the bingo card had things like spin with a vegetable and spin before breakfast etc. So lots of funny photos of people spinning with carrots, pumpkins and other veg!
I also didn’t attempt the Sprint, which is spinning, plying and winding off within 1 hour the longest length you can. This I think needs practice to see the proportion of time each part takes.
It is a shame our spinners Guild open day doesn’t fall on the same Saturday BritSpin is on, I’d have spun more more I suspect.
If you fancy taking part next year, you don’t need to be British, live in Britain or spin with British breeds (although the latter is encouraged) I encourage you to read some more in the Ravelry group and/or BritSpin website..
Overall, I am happy with how I did and have some targets to aim for next year. Now I need to catch up on this week’s blogs by my Year of Projects group and some other I follow. Oh and get the Mundane Monday chores done too I suppose.
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HighlandHeffalump 
Congratulations! Sounds like it was a real success, in the round. (Apart from that unfortunate yarn episode, of course!) It will be interesting to see how the Whitefaced Woodland wool felts.
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It sounds like you had a great time and learned some new things! That’s always a win!
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It sounds like such a fun event! Congrats on all you accomplished!
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Those are some gorgeous yarns you spun! 🙂
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Wow – very impressive! Congratulations! You got a lot of spinning done, learned 2 new skills and worked with some different breeds – that’s quite a set of accomplishments!
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[…] BritSpin is over and I reached my personal aims, to beat last year’s results and get at least a 1500m badge. I beat that and managed to get a mile badge, plus another 100m. Woo […]
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[…] Wednesday I found the yarn barf of singles spun during Oct 2019 during BritSpin. (I think I spun it on my Russian supported spindle.) I found one end, and spun it onto the wheel […]
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