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About eight years ago I had a lovely swirl of fiber to spin. It was very similar to this picture. I was a relatively new spinner at the time and hadn’t fully internalized the idea that if I just started spinning this pretty stuff it would turn to a mud-color. However, it became obvious quickly. I ended up physically separating each color as well as I could, before spinning them, and then trying not to lose that color separation as I plied the yarn. (Plying is the process of spinning two bits together. If they are two colors you might or might not like the result.)

I don’t have a picture of the yarn that resulted but here is the hat I knitted. The yarn was a supersoft merino. I did not overspin it so the hat stayed lovely and soft. (Overspinning makes yarn into twine.) Here’s the first owner from around 2018.

The second owner from around 2022. It’s a very stretchy hat. Up to a point.

And yesterday, the third owner and I went for a walk. But I don’t have a picture. I’m glad for every second I spent sorting those colors.