We had cake, jam, cream, icing and sprinkles on our cake.
Well, they're finished. I filled two bobbins and managed to ply off three skeins. Thought I could do it in two....how does that work?
The first bobbin, which was spun in long lengths of colour has meant that the 'background' colour stays the same for awhile but completely changes by the end of the bobbin, as can be seen from the very blue last skein. 
I used the skein from the red to make this neck warmer complete with buttons. 
The hat has already gone onto Etsy and the neckwarmer will today, after I take a couple more photos. I did feel that they needed to be worn, so a photo of me (yes, ME) is accompanying the entry. I just hope it doesn't scare anyone off!
This is a bundle of very mixed colours from First Editions and it will be interesting to see what happens. 
1. Big blocks of colour that I wouldn't need to work too hard to split, and I hoped would show up the effect gained by all that splitting.
2. Thick spinning. To be honest, I just wanted to spin something that wouldn't take too long. I ended up with a yarn at 4wpi, and it was quick!
So I spun my yarn, and I knit a hat. I just love it. It sits very nicely, even though this is just a bit small for me. That's OK, because I have a big head....and yes, I've heard all the comments about that one.......
I spun two skeins. Each created in the same way but with different chocolate crops. The first was some chocolate coloured tops. I just pulled a little out, made a soft knot and sandwiched these between two layers of the fleece, then drum carded, just the once. The second was drops of colour from some multi-coloured alpaca fleece tops. 
Spinning was a breeze, as I just wanted a rough, thick spun yarn. I'd like to knit a hat, but I don't think I have enough, so I might create a third yarn using the chocolate top with alpaca drops.
Whilst working on these, I have been delighted by the way the online community works. I've been reading the lovely Kat (www.thestoryofkat.blogspot.com) purchaser of my fingerless mittens from Etsy. Entering someone else's world, a world away, is just amazing.
...well it turned into this....
I was, however, disappointed. The tops that I'd bought were a beautiful colour, however the dyeing had caused some felting, not too bad and it may have actually helped with splitting the roving. However, the dye had not penetrated evenly through the roving which meant that there were a lot of pale areas which dulled the final skein.
This is a good lesson for when buying dyed tops or rovings, just check how well the dye is distributed by doing a little digging.
As this was more fractal spinning, I managed to split the second half quite a few times though my guessing of half was a little out, so you can see that I have a small skein that I Andean plied.
The next exercise with the fractal spinning that I want to try is to use distinct colours and see what happens. I have a bag of red in the garage!
As inspiration they have everything: beautiful to look at, luscious to taste, sticky to touch, I'm not always sure what smells of chocolate conjur up, and I must say that they are a bit silent, though descriptions of each of them do elicit 'mmmmmmm' sounds.
Chocolate itself reminds me of silk and of course, what delightful colours are dropped into the centres. The repetition of shape also can suggest pattern.
