I just passed a major milestone.

No, not a major birthday. Although I did have a birthday a couple weeks ago. I passed a real mile. Of yarn.

Back on January 1st, Dave Daniels started the Spinning My Wheel project for himself. No prizes, no challenges, except to himself. Just Dave and his goals of improving his skills, expanding the varieties of yarns he can make, exploring color, and spinning miles of yarn.

Dave asked his readers to play along, and so I did. I got a spreadsheet from Dave, grabbed a button to put over there on the sidebar, and started spinning. I had several goals: spin a mile of yarn this year, spin enough for a sweater, improve my skills, and use up some of my stash. No disappointment for not reaching a goal and no prizes for attaining one, other that bragging rights.

Last week, after I finished that first big bobbin on the Lendrum and filled in the stats on my spreadsheet, I realized that I had passed one of my goals: I had spun a mile of yarn this year. WHOOO HOOO!

Then I started on the rest of that green roving and headed for the second goal. So this week, I made this:



Another bobbin full of green 2-ply. Wait, here's a better picture:



Would you look at the SIZE of that baby? That's a regular bobbin on the right, the plying bobbin holds a whopping 8 ounces. And that's the last of the bright green roving.

When I counted the rounds on the skein last week, I counted 340 rounds. So that's what I put on the spreadsheet. Tonight, I realized that my reel is 2 yards around. So that skein last week wasn't 340 yards; it was 680 yards! And, I had also entered the wrong yardage for the skein from the batts Barbara has sent me. So not only did I pass that first milestone, I BLEW WAY past it!

After correcting the spreadsheet, my count to date is 2,257 yards, or 6,771 feet which is 1.28 miles. Since all my yarn, so far, has been 2 plies of spun singles, that means I have spun 13,542 feet, or 2.56 miles of singles. Dudes, that some spinning!

And I also got my knitting mojo back again. Look:



I have begun knitting off the top edge of the bamboo shawl. There's no pattern for this; I just found a leafy lace pattern, started at the bottom and increased up to the top, making a 3-stitch garter on the edges. Now, I'm knitting off the top with a 3-stitch garter edge so it'll be as stretchy as the rest. Oh, and I figured out how to knit those 3 stitches backwards, so no turning. It's still a little awkward, but certainly faster that all that flipping around.



And Inspector 37 says it looks good, so far.

Spinning in place . . .

Remember those bobbins of bright green from a couple of weeks ago? Well, I got two of them plied up yesterday.



Would you look at the size of that skein? Eight ounces! On one honkin' big bobbin - so no knots! Lemme tell 'ya, I am SO glad I got the plying head with the new Lendrum wheel. This is only half of this color roving, and I have another pound of a darker green, as well.

I bought this at OFFF last year from Ronnie's Handspun. It languished in the Stash Room since last fall because I thought it was too coarse to be anything but a cardigan or something felted. But now that it's been spun, plied, and given a nice soak, it is unbelievably soft and squishy.



Unfortunately, I found out that Ronnie passed away suddenly last Friday, from a heart attack. I had hoped to buy more from her at OFFF this year. She had such beautiful big braids of kettle-dyed roving last year, and at excellent prices. And she had a great sense of color. I mean, just look at that green!



It reminds me of new grass, fresh asparagus, and just-squeezed limeade. ToolMan says it's the color of Kermit.

Speaking of the Stash Room, Kathleen says she's insanely jealous of someone who has a Stash Room and wanted to see pictures of it. So here's a little tour of my own personal Bat Cave.

In our guest room, there's a small-size door into a small-size room,



Which is guarded by assorted goblins and monsters.



Actually, "Stash Room" is also the off-season repository for my assorted holiday decorations. Hey, where else would you store a witch who can't fly straight?

But it does also store my yarn and fiber,



in assorted plastic bins, bags, and cardboard boxes.



What space hasn't been taken up for fiber-related storage, gets taken up by extra comforters, appliances used only once a year, and camping equipment used even less frequently.



I take no responsibility for that singing fish plaque. It was a "gift" at the white elephant exchange at last year's office Christmas Party. And it's going back again this year. Unless one of my dear readers wants it. If you do, let me know; I'll gladly pass it on to you.

Oh, yeah, and I got some knitting done, this week, too!



Not much, to show, but this is slow-going work. It's gotten wide enough that I can only get 2 or 3 rows done each way on MAX. And then only when I get a seat with enough room to actually knit. With the price of gas going up exponentially, so has the number of riders on Tri-Met.



Just a simple leaf pattern, but the feel of the Bambu and the wine color make it really luxurious feeling.

And last, but not least (no, I haven't forgotten my promise to blog this, Monica), a pair of socks in progress. I was working on these last month, when the Harlot was in town, but Monica and Heide stopped me from starting my perverse heels until I can blog them. As you see, they are both now up to the heel part, so I intend to knit, photograph and blog the method over Memorial Day weekend.



And who says you need two circs to do socks two at a time?

May 5th

Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico.

But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York.

The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss.

Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as "Sinko de Mayo."

Hey, it's my birthday, I can make all the bad jokes I want to!

I'm not knitting . . . . .

'cause I'm sick; really sick.

The creeping crud has been going around and I was hoping that my daily low dose of antibiotics would keep me from getting it. But between people in the office being sick and riding MAX every day with the unwashed masses, it was only a matter of time before I was laid low.

It started with a little tickle in the throat on Sunday night; by Monday, it was a stuffy head; and by Tuesday night, the fight was over.

I went to Urgent Care on Wednesday with a headache, earache, sore throat, and cough. They said I had a viral infection, gave me pseudafed tablets and sent me home for 4 days. I was so sick, that I didn't knit while waiting over an hour to see a doctor.

I went back to Urgent Care on Thursday with all of the above, in spades, plus a low fever and yellow goo coming out of my head. They said I have a bacterial infection, gave me amoxicillan and vicodin, and sent me back home again. This time, not only did I not knit while waiting, I didn't read. I slept sitting up. In a waiting room chair. THAT sick.

What with all the drugs in my system, the only thing I've done for the last 3 (4?) days is sleep, drink water, and pee.

Here's all the knitting I haven't done this week:



Seriously. I have not knit a single stitch since Wednesday of last week.

And here's all the spinning I haven't done this week:



I told you I was sick.

Andy Rooney, on the other hand, is feeling better.

At least, we think he's doing better; it now takes both of us to hold him down for his shots. That's better, right?