I have been spinning for several years, almost all of it various wools or alpaca. I have an Ashford Joy 2, a great wheel, a 19th century Saxony wheel, all in good working order, plus a variety of drop spindles and one supported spindle. I don’t spin for a particular project, I figure out what I’ll do with it once it’s made. I was recently gifted this lovely 4 oz. braid of 50% merino/25% silk/25% bamboo combed top. For those who have spun a blend like this before, what do you wish you knew before spinning it? Any special prep (steaming, pre-drafting, etc.) Any advice on whether it lends itself to a particular spinning method would be welcome. TIA

66 yo F, in the US: I have had smoldering myeloma since 2016 and was diagnosed with AL amyloidosis of the kidney in 2025. After having only a very good partial response to daratumumab/bortezomib/cyclophosphamide/dexamethasone (the ONLY FDA approved treatment for AL amyloidosis) last year, I entered the NEXICART-2 clinical trial and received CAR-T cell therapy. Today is day 100. I am thrilled to have made it this far and to be doing so well (MRD-negative, with undetectable light chains on the last two checks, and stable kidney function).

I was recently interviewed for a local news outlet, and thought I would share my story here. I am so fortunate to have been eligible for this trial. If you have the option to participate in research, find out the details and give it serious consideration. It may change your life and that of many others.

So I found a broken strand in this Noro scarf that's at least 10 years old. I happen to be spinning an art batt that has nearly the same color as this section. So I just pulled a bit of the fiber out, spun about a foot of yarn, ran it under the faucet to set it enough to use, and duplicate stitched the area. It helps that Noro has such color variations.

I've used handspun to make repairs before, when the yarn was a close enough match. But I've never spun a length of yarn just to make a repair 😍