Thursday, June 22, 2006

Spindle assaulted!!!!!

I have to confess. I have committed a crime against my spindle. Here I was spinning along, making a decent amount of progress. As I start to work a join in the draft, it happened.

Let me just say, it was not pre-meditated in any way or manner. As anyone who has spun yarn on a spindle knows, part of the process is to occassionally drop the foolish thing. I have done this several times, and even managed to catch it a few times as it was dropped.

Well, I have hardwood floors that are not very forgiving if you bang things on them. The tile in the kitchen is just as difficult about this issue.

Anyway, the other night, was the final attack. I cracked the top of the spindle near the hook, but wasn't too worried at that time about it. Giving it a test spin, it seemed fine. About a half hour later, it was a totally different scenario. I was happily spinning away when the hook popped out of the top and the spindle just spun itself across my living room floor.

I was in shock! Oh, my! What do I do now? I tried to glue the hook back in, but the crack had opened up too much to hold it.

I knew my DH would rescue me when he got home. He went right to his massive stash of construction supplies and pulled out some kind of epoxy glue, re-assured me it would be fine in a little while, and proceeded to put everything back together again. My hero!!

The spindle has a few scars, but works fine. I am using it tonight to try to finish my first yarn so I can return to the shop next week for my plying lesson.

At least the cats don't seem to care about it spinning in front of them so far. Shhhh. Don't let them know I think I am safe from their paws.



Sunday, June 18, 2006

My Intarsia Sweater is finally finished.....

and guess what.... It fits!!!! I am very happy with how it turned out. Now I am trying to finish my bobble and ridge shawl. I have decided I do better being semi-faithful to one project at a time (with only small lapses to other WIPs occasionally) in order to complete things.

I also have been working with my spindle. Unfortunately, I dropped it so many times last night, I put a crack in the wood near the hook. It appears to be spinning o.k. though, so I can continue. I will have to try to stop by the shop and see if it all right to use like this.

I had a bit of a panic Friday night. I thought I saw a moth in my craft room. After checking all my yarn stash for unwanted invaders, and finding none, I checked in with a fellow knitting / fiber friend. She asked a lot of questions about the creature. After I described the loathsome thing, she asked if I had plants in the room. It was definitely not a baby moth, I have been told. According to her, it sounds like a plant pest called whitefly. Now I have to bathe all my foliage babies with soapy water and hope to rid them of unwanted guests. One of my cats, Rosebud, lives in this room and never was fazed by the foolish thing flying around. She's a very timid cat and was problably afraid of it. lol

Well, the weather is sunny and 90 degrees today so we went for a nice long ride this morning. Needless to say, my shawl accompanied me. I spent half the trip winding a skein into a ball, which was very relaxing to do. I never did pick up the needles.

Housework calls to me, so I must obey. Otherwise nothing will get accompished and I will have no free time to knit or spin tonight.

Bye for now. Happy Father's Day to all.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

My first spinning lesson was today!

I had my first lesson to learn how to use a spindle. It was a bit mind boggling to learn so much at one time. I have found an excellent instructor. He is very patient, explains everything in a way you can understand easily, and is very encouraging. I know my attempt was pathetic today, but he told me not to be critical of myself.

I did come home with "homework" to do. He wants me to spin a certain amount on the spindle and then call him so I can come back to learn the plying part. Yep, I"m so slow it will take me a month. Jonne said no - about a week or so. (I still think it will be longer than that, but I said o.k.) Right now it is not relaxing to do, as I was told. I guess once I get better at it, I will find it to be more soothing. I went through this with the knitting and stained glass lessons at the beginning too. I kind of lack self confidence when I start a new adventure. I will prevail!! I refuse to give in to a piece of fluff and a wooden stick!

My poor sweater is still not finished. I had wanted it finished before the spinning lesson. Unfortunately, I got a bit lazy about knitting some nights. I also have the excuse that I had to work a lot of late nights the last few weeks. Housework and DH also figured in there somewhere, too. It will be finished this week, though, at the exclusion of everything else (except the spinning). I only have about 3 or 4 inches to go on the sleeves, knit the neckband, and put in the sleeves. I can make it. (I hope)

I have gotten very interested in listening to different knitting podcasts lately. I have downloaded some including, CastOn, Knitting D and the City, PixiePurls, and KnitWits. I get my knitting out, put on the headphones and get comfortable in front of my computer for a while. Sometimes, I will laugh at a funny part and my DH thinks I am losing it. Then he realizes the headphones are on my ears. I really enjoy them and hope they are all around for a long time. I also loved the one Clara from Knitter'sReview.com did.

Well, the washer has stopped and the dryer is waiting for me. I have to go do the "necessary" stuff so that I can enjoy my "fun" stuff after.

Have a great day and thanks for reading my musings.