Happy Dance!

I mentioned last week that I joined the Thrifty Swap on Ravelry and was filling a bag for my swap partner.  I was so enthralled with filling the bag and getting it sent off to April in Mississippi, that forgot to take pictures!  Good thing April saw fit to take a picture and put it in her Flickr album.  So if you want to see what April got, go here and take a look.  I sent her two skeins of wool, a skein of cashmere, a cute coffee cup full of hard candy, some Wade figurines, some knitting themed cards, some funny sticky notes, and a box of chocolates inside a large cotton print bag.

My turn to brag and do the Happy Dance!  Here's what was in the box that I received from April:

A veritable treasure trove!  There were two Vogue Knitting magazines, one with a collection of Scottish inspired knits; a gorgeous Vera Bradley bag, perfect for the sweater I'm working on; a skein of yarn she dyed, in beautiful blues, greens and purples; a sweater sleeve to unravel, which is soft as butter; a beaver toy for Andy Rooney; a couple skeins of bamboo yarn, destined to become a summer shawl; a little yellow minion monster; a pair of gloves made from a fulled sweater; and my favorite, a brooch that looks like knitting on the needles with balls of yarn dangling on the bottom! 

This is Kaori; she's one of the young attorneys in my office.  She had a hard row to go last week; she had 4 hearings in 3 days so we were scrambling to keep up with her schedule.  And she was puppy sitting for Riley. 

Riley was a well-behaved boy and so was able to come to work with her every day.  It's amazing how a few minutes to take Riley for a walk or a rousing game of tug-of-war could relieve the stress of preparing for a trial or the disappointment of not getting the outcome we expected.  Almost as good as baby snuggling.

Hello, Dolly!

This is Dolly; at least that's what I've been calling her.  She belongs to a co-worker, Laurie, who asked me to do a little repair work on her.  Laurie thinks Dolly might have been made by her grandmother; she's obviously handmade.  Her body and clothes are made of squares, about 4 inches square, handwoven of wool yarn.  Her body is very firmly stuffed with cotton and her features are embroidered with cotton floss. 

Unfortunately, Dolly's showing her age.  The back of her little booties and the top of her little dress have become brittle and the weaving has started breaking.  One braid has come undone and she could use a little freshening up. 

I'm almost finished with the socks that were started last week.  I've finished the first sock and only have about 25 rounds to do on the second one.  Today, I realized that I've been knitting these on US 1s and my standard formula for ToolMan is on US 2s.  So these may not turn out to be ToolMan socks after all; I may add them to my drawer instead.

ToolMan's been busy this week, too. The cold weather means he can't work as fast; pins have to come in to the house to warm up and get their finishes.  Here are a few he's been working on:

 His pins have been selling well at Urban Fiber Arts.  So well that we're closing down the ArtFire shop; the bother of getting good pictures, monitoring the shop, and shipping just aren't worth the trouble.  And there's no way to show on ArtFire just how special these pieces are; they're each unique little works of art that need to be held and tried on to find the one for you.  

This bag is something I'm working on filling up.  I signed up for a swap on Thrifty Knitters in Ravelry.  The swap has a $10 limit and has to have enough yarn for a project plus other goodies found in thrift shops. 



You can see from the bag that there are already quite a few things in the bag for the swap.  But you'll have to wait until it's delivered to the recipient before I can reveal what's inside.  I don't want to spoil the surprise!

O. M. G.

Holy smokes, I didn't realize that I'd been incommunicado, or in absensia, or incognito, or in deep s**t, or in whatever for so long!  Time for a quick catchup, I suppose, so here's the list, in no particular order:

1. The trip to the coast was great.  My seminars were good; I got to catch up with some old friends; and the weather was good.  ToolMan and I had a lovely dinner with one of the local judges and his wife which we really enjoyed. 
2. We probably won't be travelling anymore for quite awhile.  We can't leave Andy with a kennel because of his diabetes, and it's just too difficult to travel with him.  Any change in his routine or environment is just too stressful for him since he's become blind and deaf; it just throws his blood sugar way out of whack, and it's just too stressful on him and on us.
3. We bought a new digital video camera before the beach trip.  He tried to take some video, but with Andy's leash on one hand and the camera in the other, it's more than just a little jerky. 
4. I finished the short row scarf at the seminar and donated it to the BSD Project.  I have some more things planned to knit for this, but I'm working on something for myself right now.  I also cleaned out my stash and gave a big bag of yarn for the BSD Project. 
5. I'm working on a seamless sweater for myself, using EZ's Percentage System.  I'm going back to Elizabeth's writings on knitting and designing.  I'm hoping she'll spark the answers to some things I've had rolling around my head for the last few months.
6. The Secret Knitting still can't be revealed.  The original plan was to spill the beans in October, but that didn't work out.  Best laid plans and all that.
7. I'm still watching DWTS and have no idea who's going to win.  Jennifer has been wonderful through the whole season; Kyle is such fun and so energetic; Bristol has finally found her confidence and has worked really hard.  Who's going to capture the mirror ball trophy?  Your guess is as good as mine.
8. Work is going fine; I'm glad to be back in litigation.  I like working with the young attorneys and having the opportunity to mentor them.  I'm changing some of the office procedures, and in some cases creating protocols.  And I'm doing the ex parte appearances several times each week; that's always been something I enjoy.
9. ToolMan and I have been on diets since the first of July.  Nothing too stringent; just cutting down on carbs, watching the portion size, and eating salads nearly every day.  We've both managed to drop quite a few pounds; he's lost about 40 pounds and I've lost nearly 30.  Enough that we've both had to buy more pants, which is a very good thing!  Still lots more to go, but we're determined to reach our goals, sooner or later.
10. ToolMan delivered some of his shawl pins to Cindy for sale at Urban Fiber Works.  She's thrilled to have them in her shop, and we're thrilled for her to offer them.  I'm planning on going through my stash and possibly offering some of my handspun in her shop as well.
11. Next weekend is the Surprise Stash Sale at Blue Moon Fiber Arts.  ToolMan and I are planning on going over in the morning to have breakfast at the Scappoose Creek Inn before the sale.   Maybe we can figure out the new digital camera before then.

I think that's pretty much caught you up on what we've been up to.  Now that I have the laptop and internet access at work, I'm going to try doing shorter posts more frequently.  Maybe just a short paragraph or two several times a week.  I blog in my head all the time; I just need to get it out of my head and onto the 'net.  In the meantime, I'll see you in the funny papers.

Whistle-pig *

I was going to title this post with something cute about groundhogs and poking my head out of my den, etc. except Stephanie beat me to it. As Yogi Berra would probably say, "Groundhog Day is like Deja vu all over again."

The gall bladder was finally taken out last Thursday! Woot! Knowing that I always sleep much, much longer than most folks, they decided to wake me up from the anesthesia and send me home the same day. This turned out not to be the best plan. Apparently, it takes four full days for anesthesia to completely leave your system. So for someone like me, who is very sensitive to medications, this can be a problem when combined with prescriptions at home for pain. ToolMan called the surgeon on Friday, concerned that I was having very severe headaches and nausea with double vision and roaring in my ears. The surgeon issued prescriptions for changes in meds, but because it was Friday and the doctor was back in surgery, meant he had to go pick up the 'scripts and drive them to the pharmacy to be filled. He did and we changed meds, which worked for a day. By Sunday, the headaches, nausea, and roaring were back with a vengeance, this time with not only double vision, but flashing lights. Another phone call to the surgeon, a check of my blood pressure, and we were off the the emergency room. Turns out the anesthesia, combined with the increase in blood pressure medications before surgery, and the new pain meds were not all playing nicely together. My blood pressure was very low, my potassium was nearly non-existent, and I was dehydrated. A couple bags of IV with potassium and meds to clear out the lingering anaesthetic worked wonders. They did run a CT scan of my head to make sure nothing bad was in there (and to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure they actually found anything in there at all) and then sent me home where I continued to do what I had been doing for the previous four days. That is, sit in the recliner, hold the television remote in one hand, a bottle of water in the other, and stare off blankly into space, drooling occasionally. By Monday, I could actually retain a thought process long enough to choose something on the telly and by Tuesday I could actually track an entire one-hour program. Today, I went back to work and thanked all my co-workers for the lovely flowers which were outside our door on Saturday.

See, all those hand knits finally paid off.


* Another name for a groundhog.

Hand Outs

A few more hand knits were handed out last week. I had a handful of scarves and coffee cup snuggies. Alice picked a pink one; the color is perfect on her.

Christine picked a pretty lilac blue, and Katie liked the multicolor modular-knit one.

Felicia got a yellow green one scarf and I handed out a bunch of coffee cup snuggies but didn't get pictures of those recipients 'cuz my camera battery died.

ToolMan has been wearing his driving cap from last year, but we've been having high winds so he wanted a watch cap to keep his ears warm. I pulled out a skein my hand spun and whipped out a simple ribbed cap in just a couple of days.

It's 50/50 merino/yak, spun woolen long draw on the Lendrum; it's very soft so it won't irritate the skin graft on his ear but still has a lot of bounce so it shouldn't stretch out. It's also very warm; in fact, he said it was too hot to model for very long inside the house. There's just no pleasing some people!

I finished another watch cap out of scraps tonight; it's been washed and is drying now. And I did swatches tonight for more hats that are to be gifted but whether they're done in time for Christmas is anybody's guess.

I'm still spinning the pink/purple fluff; I'm on the third bobbin. It is a real joy to spin; very light and soft and still has just a touch of lanolin so it practically drafts itself. I think I know what I want to do with it, but can't say just yet. I'm hoping to have it finished in time for Christmas gifting. With just over a month until Christmas, I may have been just a tad optimistic in the knitted gift planning area. Or maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment. . . .

Cold hands, warm hearts

As requested by Duffy, I bring you co-workers in hand-knits.

From left to right: Lynn, Cindy, Lori, yours truly, Ashley, and Nic. Michelle was off this day, so she didn't get her baby blue mitts until later.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . . .

First, the update on ToolMan: The results of the endoscope were good. The colonoscopy, not so much; it showed colorectal cancer, in two locations. These are not the normal mushroom-shaped polyps that can be easily snipped off; rather, they are flat, growing directly on the wall of the colon and rectum, which means they'll have to take out sections of each. But the prognosis is pretty good; they think we caught it early. He had a CT scan last Saturday and met with our Internist on Monday. We meet with the surgeon on Thursday; believe me, if we could have gotten an earlier appointment, we would have. Both of us are anxious to get the surgery done, even though we know chemo and radiation will likely follow. Right now, all we want is to get that stuff out.

The last couple of weeks have been so tumultuous, that all I could do was knit simple patterns that didn't require thought. I finished up the Bamboo & Ewe socks for ToolMan, just in time for him to wear to the CT scan for good luck.

I used two balls of Sensations Bamboo & Ewe, size 1 dpns, Judy's Magic Cast-On, a stitch pattern based on this picture of Lifestyle Socks , and the no-wrap short-row heel from the same pattern. ToolMan doesn't like long socks, but he did say these could have had longer cuffs. I used two balls of yarn, but had plenty left over. The yarn was a little stiff to knit, but it sure softened up nicely after washing. I think I'll use the leftovers to make footees for me.

I also started, and finished another pair of socks for him this week.

These are the same basic toe-up and short-row heel recipe, in Kroy FX with a stitch pattern from the Gentleman's Fancy Sock pattern in Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush. The yardage is a little skimpy in Kroy, so I had to buy extra balls of yarn. I probably could have gotten by with one ball for each sock if I had skipped one repeat in the cuff. But I have almost two full balls left over. The colors are really nicely heathered, so I might use the leftovers in a faux isle project.

And just to make my plate a little more full this week, my office moved from downtown to the burbs. The commute is not as easy, but the new digs are definitely much nicer than what we had downtown. Here's my little corner of the big company:

Now, if we could just get all the computer systems to work . . .

Milestones and New Starts

Well, the first week of my new job went very smoothly! Even though I'm working for a very large international insurance company, it's a small branch office of 5 attorneys and 4 support staff. Everyone seems very nice, and they're weren't even freaked out when they discovered I'm a knitter and spinner. Confused, maybe; but not freaked out.

I did stop by the old office a couple times last week, just for a couple of hours on Tuesday and Thursday to take care of important items. Tuesday was my birthday, and after working a full day and then another couple hours, I was too tired to even enjoy it! I didn't get home until almost 8, and after feeding Andy Rooney and getting his insulin shot taken care of, I wolfed down a couple slices of cold pizza and collapsed in bed. I had originally offered to work a couple hours twice a week plus a few hours on Saturday to cover until a replacement was found; but after last week, I've decided that I just physically can't do it. Working just a couple hours means I don't get home until nearly 8 p.m., so I don't have enough time to eat and relax before going to bed; and that means I wake up exhausted the next day. I've offered to train someone, but I just can't keep doing the extra work; especially when they haven't even started running an ad for the job.

Now that I'm back to commuting 5 days a week, I'm back to commuter knitting. I pulled out the Heart and Sole that was in the swag bag from the TKGA last fall with the intent of making myself a pair of socks. Well, on the last row of toe increases, I found a knot. Dang! So, I did a Russian join, marked that side as being the bottom, and went on. Barely another inch knitted, and out popped another knot! Needless to say, I was really ticked off by this turn of events. Good thing I had the Harlot's latest book in my bag, or my fellow commuters might have been in danger. Knitting, in one form or another, has often kept me from maiming people.

Anyway, once I got home, I frogged out the sock and wound the yarn on the ball winder to find out if there were any more knots in there. Good thing I did, because I found 6 knots in one ball! Of course, there were none in the second skein. Well, 6 knots is just too many to deal with in a sock, so I wound both skeins into one ball and cast on for something else. I can't tell you what it will be yet. Yes, I know what it will be! But it's going to be gifted and I don't want to take a chance on spoiling the surprise for the recipient!



















I almost forgot; the spring TKGA conference is next weekend. I'll be going on Saturday to meet Kathleen after her class; we're going to have lunch in Chinatown and then back to TKGA for shopping. This year's marketplace looks even better than last year; I'll have a full report for you next week, provided I remember to bring the camera!

I've also been slogging away on re-designing that driving cap. It's going, slowly but surely. I'm not entirely happy with the way this one is turning out; or rather, not any happier with this version than with the first. I haven't discovered what works exactly the way I want it, but I have learned several things that don't work. To paraphrase Elizabeth Zimmerman, I'm "unventing" a driving cap, so I shouldn't expect success the first time around. It's a good thing the Traveling Stitch Markers arrived a couple weeks ago; I've needed every one of them on this project!



















Last week at Westside Wednesday, I started spinning the yak and merino blend. I did a little sampling of it, but I'm not entirely happy with the way it was coming out. It's so incredibly soft and I want to preserve that loft and softness, but I also want to stretch it out as far as I can. After sampling, I've decided to let it set for awhile and I'll go back to it. I'll go back to it in a couple weeks and see how it goes.



















After putting away the yak, I bought a braid of this beautiful merino from StitchJones in "Earth Angel." Yesterday was the May meeting of Portland Spinnerati and since the yak blend wasn't working out, I took the Earth Angel with me. I'm spinning it very thin; it should come out to a fine laceweight. I don't know what I'll do with it, but aren't the colors just beautiful?

ToolMan and I met our new neighbor this week and learned that she wants to learn to knit and spin! I'll be taking her to Westside Wednesday with me this week, and maybe to TKGA if she's game. And next weekend is TKGA on Saturday, and alpaca shearing on Sunday, so I'll have lots to report when next we meet. Until then, see you in the funnies!

Playing Prairie Dog

You know how people pop their heads up over cubicle walls to tell their neighbor something short? Well that's called "prairie dogging" and here's my version for this week:

Very little knitting going on. I'm working on another version of the driving cap but not much to show for it yet.

I got the coral/pink single plied up; it measured out at 210 yards of 2-ply sport weight and has been popped into the stash.

ToolMan and I went to Faire In The Grove yesterday, where we ran into pnwbookgirl and her DH and trtlgrl and her DH. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so no pictures. We only stayed a short while. Good thing, too, because right after we got in the car to come home, the skies opened up and it poured!

Last, but not least, I start a new job tomorrow. The opportunity sort of fell into my lap unexpectedly, but was just too good to pass up. I'll be a paralegal to in-house counsel for a large international insurance company and will be mostly working on defending customers in semi-truck and auto accidents.

Next weekend is another Spinnerati meeting and another field trip, so I should have some pictures for you then.

Bye, for now; I'm going back down into my prairie dog hole. See you next week!

Today was a bad day.

Everybody has bad days at work. I've certainly had my share. Today was another one. Today, we lost a client.

On August 13, he went in for a routine checkup. He told the doctors he’d had some slight digestion problems, probably stress related, and expected to get medication for an ulcer. He got a diagnosis. Pancreatic cancer. Stage IV.

Today, just 36 days later, the world lost a good man, this country lost a career soldier, a woman lost her husband, and three children lost their dad.

Playing catch up

That's what this is, playing catch up on all the stuff I should have blogged about in the last two weeks. I finished the Drops hat and the Fetching mitts; ToolMan snapped this as I was on my way out the door to work one frosty morning ( which is going very well, thank you!) I really like the design, even if it does mash down my hair. I'm going to block it one more time, stretching the daylights out of it, hoping for a pillbox that will keep my ears warm without giving me hat head. Since this was a cable pattern with a 24 row repeat, I had to stop or else have something so big that it would have made me look like a bobble head.



The Fetching mitts turned out to be too short over the fingers and they kept rolling backwards, so I frogged them off and reknit them into Voodoo mitts. I made them long enough to reach down to the first joint on my index and I picked up around the thumb to add about an inch of ribbing. I'm very happy with them; they're long enough to keep my hands warm, but I have my fingers free to knit or push MP3 player buttons.

I finished up the last of the Dragon Waste from OFFF, last week. Since the weekend was cold and blustery and we were getting snow flurries (which gladly didn't stick), I spent most of last weekend to ply and set the twist. Not all family members were happy I spent that much time without a suitable lap.



Isn't that the most pitiful thing you've ever seen?

No, wait, actually, THIS might be the most pitiful thing you've ever seen:



That's a boy who loves his mama. Or considers me to be nothing more than furniture, I'm not sure which.

Here's a shot of the Pollworth I'm spinning on the new wheel. Barbara brought me this bat last fall, along with the Country Craftsman. I've been so obsessed, er . . . . enamored with the Dragon Waste, that I hadn't tried anything else. Now that the Dragon Waste is gone, and I wanted to really try out the new wheel, I started that bat. This wheel spins fairly slow, which is a good thing, since it gives me very good control over the draft and twist. This was a small bat, but I'm getting miles, MILES, of length out of this wool. I'm thinking this natural light gray would be beautiful knit up into a lacy cowl or wimple, maybe with some tiny pearls. And even though this wheel only has the one bobbin, it holds a LOT of yarn. I'll just have to figure out how I'm going to ply this; maybe I'll do it on the drop spindle.



I also finished the green mohair shawl. Just a simple triangle shawl, knit from the neck down until you run out of yarn. I've woven in the ends, but it hasn't been washed or blocked yet. It's about 5 feet across now, so I won't have to stretch it too much when blocking.



I also finished this tam:



And this tam and scarf made out of my hand spun Dragon Waste:



The tams and scarf will get mailed tomorrow to a great-niece girl in Tucson.

Here's the last bits of Dragon Waste, all spun and plied and twist set and balled up. ToolMan asked for another pair of house socks and I started a pair with these. I had intended to use the brown for the toes and heels, and the gold/brown marl for the rest, but I didn't like the way the two interacted. These both came out of the Dragon Waste, meaning they are unidentified mixed fibers, so solid brown is very fine and very soft, but the marl is much coarser. After knitting just a few inches, I didn't think he'd be happy with the fabric so I frogged them back off.


ToolMan really likes this gold/brown marl, so I'll have to think of something to make out of it for him. Maybe a watch cap to keep his head warm while he's working in the garage. He's been a busy little bee lately; he finished a pair of sock blockers for Judy, has designed and is building a lazy kate for Duffy, and is trying to "unengineer" some bobbins for Melissa. He's contemplating an Etsy shop with a mix of ready made things like sock blockers and shawl pins, and custom order things like lazy kates and winding stations. I always rave about things he makes for me, but he's anxious to get some feedback from the local knitsibs on what he makes before he plunges into Etsy.



So, while I'm contemplating what the marl wants to become, I pulled out another skein of hand spun, wound it into a ball and am doing a squishy scarf: cast on a multiple of 4 plus 3, then k2 p2 across on every row until you run out of yarn.

Good things come to those who wait. . .

Ana (sadly blogless) waited until the end of the challenge to turn in her hats (she knitted 10 of them), and she's getting the second prize! There is a copy of Knitty Gritty Knits and a pair of bamboo needles working its way through a handful of knitters to her. Ana has to wait for her prize, but it'll get there!

When Ana dropped her hats off at my new office, Mamie (one of my co-workers) asked what they were for and asked if I'd take crocheted ones. I said of course I would; those babies need hats! Since she's going "above and beyond" by making 10 hats, I rustled up a copy of Crocheted Hats and a crochet hook case for her. Mamie has to wait for her "not a prize" until after she produces the hats.

I had to wait for ToolMan to finish my winding station. But what a great payoff in the end! Here's a picture once he got it finished:



It has pegs on the bottom for cones of yarn (I popped the spool of string I use for drive bands and leaders on one), two metal rods for spools, a vertical reel (which makes a 2-yard skein) on one side, and plenty of room on top for my ball winder and swift to clamp on. He's going to add a couple hooks on one side for hanging my orifice hook and WIP tool, and a pocket or basket on the other side to hold a bottle of oil, rag, etc. If you're interested in having him build a winding station for you, either like mine or to your specifications, leave me a comment with an email address and ToolMan will contact you directly.

To give you some idea of the size, here's a picture next to my spinning wheel.



This is where I spent the better part of Saturday afternoon; next to the big sliding door enjoying the sunshine, soft jazz on the radio, a dog lying in the sunspot on the carpet, and spinning.

Here's a picture of the tag ToolMan put on the winding station. I'll overlook that he spelled the name wrong; actually I think I'm going to leave it on forever.



Today, I had brunch with the girls from my old office. We did potluck: quiche, chicken salad, fruit, cheeses, crusty bread, chocolate cake, Mimosas and coffee. This is the first time we've all gotten together since the office closed in July.

We got to talk about what we've each been up to and got to hear about weddings, children and grandchildren, kids getting driver's licenses, kids going off to college, job searches, and how each of us is doing. It was like no time had passed at all; we picked up just where we left off.



I am so glad I know these women. We are, for each other, the sisters we wish we had.




These are women for whom I would go to the ends of the earth and once there, walk through fire to help them. And the best part is, I know they would do the same for me.

Curiouser and curiouser . . . .

Ok, for starts, I didn't make it to the KATU "Meet the Bloggers" shindig. It proved to be just too hard to get there from where I work on a weeknight on short notice. I know several knit bloggers did make it and some have posted about it, although no is sure what the whole thing was about, anyway.

Then, I woke up on Thursday morning with a raging headache, so I called in sick and went back to sleep. As it turned out, I'm glad I didn't go to work that day. One of the girls from my old office called to say our boss was intending to leave the next day. So Tool Man and I went over to see her and her SO one last time before they leave the country. She asked me to tie up a few loose ends for her, and I reminded them both to email and send pictures frequently. It was very sad seeing her this time; she's no longer the person I knew and loved. Oh, she knows who I am and who she is, but it's like someone took the core of her out. Her personality is subdued; as if the "thing", whatever it is, that made her who she is, has been removed. But I'm very glad I saw her one last time and gave her some big hugs to take with her.

I had intentions of getting this pile of fabric straightened out, inventoried, and photographed. Tool Man has been grousing about how the guest room looks. And I told Kathy and Chrispy that they were welcome to whatever is in here they can use. This is wonderful fabric from the boss, as she was cleaning out her house. I'll use some of it, but there's so much here and it's such nice stuff, I hate to have it sitting in boxes unused. There are wools, silks, linens, challis, suit weights, lining fabric, etc. in there. Enough to keep us all busy for quite a while.

I told Kathy and Chris there was a lot of fabric! We'll have to plan a day to get together and split this stuff up. Like I said, I intended to get this inventoried But, then . . . .

On Saturday morning, Tool Man suggested we go out to breakfast and drive to Carlton. You know what's in Carlton, don't you? That's right, Woodland Woolworks. Or as Duffy calls it, "Medina for fiber addicts." What could I say? It was his idea!

Tool Man wanted to look at the vertical reels.



He's plotting how to make one for me. I, of course, went straight to the stash room.



Then, I went to the weaving room to look at more yarn.



This place requires a strategy when visiting. Do not go directly to the yearn (er, yarn) sales room; it can cause sensory overload and lightheadedness. Instead, you must approach it cautiously and carefully, lest you become delirious from the fabulousness that is WWW.



So much yarn, so little time and money!



Hmmm, these drop spindles are really interesting.



Ahhh, look at the pretty colors of roving! Red and blue and purple and green, oh my!



Uh oh; I am almost overcome by fiber fumes! This is when one must depend upon their trusted companion to rescue them from certain destruction of the ol' credit card.

I retreated to the spinning room.



Which turned out to be not such a good idea. Because I found this little one that seemed really "cute." Then, I took my shoe off an tried the treadle. Bad, bad mistake.



It was as if my body had been invaded by some evil entity. I said, Look, it's scotch tension, and has several ratios. And a built-in lazy kate." Honestly, I don't know where that came from!

Tool Man looked at the price tag; then he looked at me like I had three heads. He gently suggested I might want to start with learning how to use the drop spindle and roving that I had been carrying around for the last 30 minutes. Later, he could probably build one of these for half of the retail.



Then, if I liked spinning (and was a very good girl) Santa might bring me a bigger one for Christmas. So, these came home with us:



A Schacht Hi-Lo Spindle with a 4 inch wheel, weighing 3 ounces; an ounce of purple merino top, combed 64s; and 3 ounces of navy heather top, combed 56s. Not that I understand what ANY of that means. I just bought these things because they spoke to me. Now, I just had to figure out what to do with them.

I did manage to restrain myself until I got the laundry done, some chores taken care of, and some resumes sent out. So, on Sunday afternoon, I read some stuff on the Internet and decided to try the spindle out.



Andy Rooney wondered, "What the heck is Mom up to now?"

People don't believe it, but I tell you, that dog talks up a blue streak when no one's around.



"Hmm, it seems to not be going very well."



"It looks like this might take a while. Better just settle in with a cold drink and a snack."

After several fits and starts, I made yarn! And even figured out how to ply it!

Cost: approximately $25.00

Product: approximately 10 feet of very uneven 2-ply yarn

Time spent: 2 days

Satisfaction: priceless