Thanksgiving 2010

I'm incredibly grateful for the best friends any person could have and for being alive today!

Pennies per Hour

I'm starting to spin singles suitable for lace weight 2 -ply yarn.  It takes forever!

I'm using a beautiful batt from Butterfly Girl Designs called Margarita

that is spinning up very thin.

 

 I'm using my Little Gem on the next to smallest whorl.

 

Although I've had some of the spun fiber drift apart, most of the singles are really fine.  I may switch to a smaller whorl, because the ratio is only 10.5 to 1 according to the Majacraft web site.  The switch should give me a better twist preventing any drifting apart.
 
I bought a Lace Kit from Majacraft to help me do this spinning.  I don't have to use it to spin the laceweight, it just makes it easier.  The Lace kit has 2 fat core bobbins,

a flyer with ceramic inserts on the yarn guide and orifice to reduce friction on the yarn

  and a teeny tiny whorl.

 

On the Little Gem this whorl only produces a maximum ratio of 21.5 to 1, but on my Rose  the speed is 31.3 to 1 (that's 31.3 twists put in the yarn every time the drive wheel goes around).

So why did I call this entry pennies per hour?  By the time I get done spinning, plying and knitting with Margarita the $15 fiber will have resulted in entertainment costing pennies per hour!  Just another reason to take up spinning!

(let's just ignore the cost of the wheels and attachments for this calculation ;-))

Retreat to the Fleece!

This past weekend I trekked to Pennsylvania for a Spring Fiber Retreat.  I found out I loves my fleeces!  Beth, the owner of the Spinning Loft, taught us all about different sheep and fleece prep and spinning at her mom's B&B in Linfield, PA.

We each had clean little fleece samples to try

 My faves to spin were Cormo and Lincoln. 

The coolest locks were on the Scottish Blackface - easiest to process too.  Just pull both ends!

I liked the Cormo so well that a pound(ish) of greasy fleece jumped in the car and followed me home.

But that's OK, because I learned a new way to wash locks!

We also shopped in the mini Spinning Loft.

These pictures of the shop were after the ravening hoards had plundered it for the piles that were adjusted (upward) each day.

We also spun on the patio in the sun, and tried everyone's wheels. Of course we also ate and drank exceedingly well.  Got to keep up one's strength for wrangling fleeces, and rolling on the floor laughing!

Kittens!

I work for the Chesapeake Humane Society, and have been loving up this cat for the last 3 weeks.  She came in pregnant and has been getting bigger and bigger.

Wednesday I noticed some things that indicated she might be close.  Sure enough, last night three kittens were born!

You can see how big they are compared to her (yikes)! The black one on the bottom in this pic  took over 3 hours of labor!  He wasn't born til the vet said c-section.

Happy Easter Mama Cat!

Perfect Day

It's spring in Tidewater, and yesterday was the perfect spring day!  Normally  my S&B meets at Barnes and Noble in Chesapeake on Thursday.  This week we all met at my house and knitted (and spun) on the front porch.  Lovely!

Wallisknits came with Fairbanks,  Macadoodle, and Betty E were all there.  Being the week before Easter we talked about those Easter bonnets that we wore as kids.  I don't know about you, but mine always poked me in the head and itched.  Not to mention the elastic that was specifically made to strangle little girls!  My favorite thing was always my new, shiny patent leather mary janes.  I knew they were as pretty as any ruby slippers!

Naturally I didn't take pictures when everyone was here, so this is a shot of my empty porch.

Next week I'll take one when everyone is here!

After that we went over to The Knitting Corner for the big birthday sale.  Sue, the owner, sold some of my handspun earlier in the week, so it was OK to spend a few bucks!

I also kept reminding myself I wasn't going to Maryland this year (but it looks like we may go to Sedalia)!

Off to complete the taxes - going to need some cash for the festivals!

OMG - I'm in LOVE!

Check out these socks!  Someday I will post something like them.  They are beauteous!

The Blog Builder was Sick

Not me - the computer.  The fan on the power supply died, so after 2 days of an external fan and frantically backing up, my computer went to the Computer Hospital.  All is well now, but it's absence did free up some time (ya think!?)

So what did the Artsy Fish do with this time? Spin? Nope - I went after the house projects I have been putting oiff.  I painted the excercise room and hung new curtains

(No room is free from fiber and fiber tools!)

and made new curtains for the fiber den

I did do some knitting - made a cowl from my handspun

finished up the Trevi Shawl I started at the Knitter's Review Retreat in November- again from my handspun

and started my Northern Lights Shawl from this Handmaiden Mini Maiden

As soon as this is done, and dinner is started in the crock-pot, I will be off to spin - finally!

Knitting Weather!!!!!

The weathermen (and women) were right this time! We had a lovely storm on Saturday.

After watching this as I knit away Saturday...

I went out to enjoy the sunshine on Sunday!

Unfortunately the roads are still the pits on Monday - I wish VDOT understood that plowing the roads before the snow stops actually does some good!

Bag O' Sheep

I'm going to try this again with some lessons learned.


Keep things short and sweet - no more long posts.


Yesterday I met Wallisknits' nieces, Katie and Becky.  It was really neat - I felt like I knew them a little, because of their blogs!


Beckie came to my house with Chocolate Pound Cake and cookies.  Katie came to my house with a big plastic bag - and there was a sheep inside!

I taught the girls to spin and tempted them with my spinning wheels, too.

Today I sat on the front porch and started to process the fleece into locks - I had to wash my hands 2-3 times to get the grease off.  It's going to be lovely!

 

Thanks Katie and Becky!