I have been reading from many sources that to improve spinning skills, a spinner should spin many different fibers. Twist my arm. I have also read that keeping a record of each spin is helpful when evaluating fiber for future projects. Writing about fibers isn’t a problem, but putting together what is essentially a scrap book of fiber information is a little more daunting. I tend to think about saving bits only after the project is finished and most of the fiber is gone. That is going to change. I’m starting a fiber spinning book. I’ve designed a standard 12×12 scrap book page to hold a bit of unspun fiber, “spools” of yarn, and swatches of fabric made from the yarn.

This first page is about the fiber from an alpaca named Sugar Plum. The spine is made from paper my sister bought in Italy (look, I finally found a worthy project!) sewn onto two sheets of card stock and the holes are reinforced with metal grommets. The top sheet has slots cut using an electronic cutter to hold the information card, spools, and fiber drawer. The spools are cut from card stock and have slits one inch apart to make estimating wraps per inch (wpi) easier.

I made a clear fiber drawer so my fibers could be seen and not be flattened down. I used heated laminate sheet and card stock with some hot glue to make the box sturdier. That is the only type of glue in the whole project since adhesives can degrade over time; all the other connections are mechanical.

The fabric swatches are held on with metal brads, and information written beneath.

I used two sheets of card stock so that the back page can protect the next sheet from the exposed brads, but still allow access to the brads.

The journey has begun! I’ll blog about fibers as I complete pages, and I’ll do a tutorial on how to make this type of page (I was too excited to get started to properly document this first page.) And that plain scrap book cover needs some ornamentation and improvement. This should keep me busy and blogging for awhile!