Spinning Eureka!

Spindle breakthrough!  I wrote in a previous post that I have been having trouble with yarn unwinding from underneath the whorl while I was spinning.  I stumbled upon an old message board post where people were discussing this common (whew! It's not just me!) problem when using notch-less spindles.  People suggested either wrapping the yarn around the shaft several times before passing the yarn through the hook, or leaving the leader yarn on the hook throughout the spinning process to create a ridge on the edge of the whorl.  I finished up my first spindle-full the other day, and wound it into a ball to wait for plying.  When I started spinning again I left the leader on the hook.  It worked!  I had no slippage this time, it went very smoothly.  I can feel myself becoming very addicted. 

Today I finished my five ounces.  I had intended to ply this first batch, but I may just finish it as a singles (this seems so, so grammatically wrong) yarn.  I don't think I would have enough yarn to make anything if I plied it, but then again I thought I might keep this first beautiful batch around as a souvenir of my five-ounce accomplishment.  Oliver is going to make me a niddy noddy tomorrow out of PVC pipe that he has. 

Next time I will buy cheap, plain Corriedale so I can play with Kool-Aid dye.

Other craft news:  I'm still truckin' on my ambitious purse project.  It's going really well, and I'm really proud of what I have so far, considering I learned how to knit a month ago!  This is my first circular project, first knitting pattern project and first time crafting with real wool instead of acrylic (thank you Hobby Lobby sale).  Here's a shitty picture that kinda-sorta shows my progress.  The color is really bad--in reality it's a dark burnt red-orange tone.

 

I plan to forgo knitting the button holes because I know it would be beyond annoying to have to unbutton three buttons every time I want to open my purse.  Instead I am going to sew on three adorable buttons for-decoration-only coupled with a magnetic closure.  Also, my sewing machine needs to come live with me before I get ready to sew in the lining. 

Huge cinnamon roll

 

Today we went to Lulu's Bakery & Cafe to eat the famous chicken fried steaks, and buy the famous three pound cinnamon rolls.  We left thoroughly impressed. 

I picked up the spindle once again today and found that I was able to create a more uniform yarn this time.  I felt like a great success!  I am still having difficulty keeping my yarn from coming unwound from underneath the whorl when I spin the thing--maybe I should create a notch on the whorl in which my yarn can rest. 

Too tired to think more at the moment.  I found some sweet Tevas at Ross today. 

And thus ends a BUSY week

Wow!  I have had a busy, busy, hectic week!  I'm still not sure how I survived it.  First of all, I have been given some actual responsibility at work.  It is now my job to run the Teen Night at the library, which mostly involves sitting at a table socializing while watching friendly teens play video games.  Last Wednesday was my first, and I really enjoyed it until young Benjamin became a Farkle Nazi.  We had pizza, ice cream cake, cookies, soda and juice.  In the future I will have them do some easy crafts as well as video gaming, but I admit that at the moment I haven't the strength to research this.  So--in summary, last Wednesday was a little chaotic for me, and a little nerve wracking.  I got off work at ocho o'clock.

The next day I had to wake up extra early, take the cat and dog to my parents house in Lytle, get my car inspected, eat some breakfast, pack for a four day trip and go to the bank all before ten o'clock.  THEN Oliver and I left for the University of North Texas in Denton which is five and a half hours away.  The GPS lady gave us some confusing directions.  Oliver and I were very cranky by the time we arrived in Denton.  SO, for the next four days I have had to attend an eight hour per day orientation for Information Organization.  This proved more boring than you originally surmised.  I created lots of doodles, and produced a six-foot-long scarf and a purse bottom. 

And now it is past nine o'clock and I have only just arrived home nigh on an hour ago. 

I have started knitting my "purse to aspire to".  It has been slow going.  First of all, it was challenging to even join my ends on the circular needle without twisting stitches.  Once I accomplished this feat, I knitted seven rows without a hitch.  The increase row had my hands shaking and my mouth spewing profanity.  The first time I did the increase row wrong.  Ugh.  So I had to undo two whole rows.  I had not understood what the pattern meant by "make 1", even though I had already practiced this stitch in days of yore (otherwise known as two weeks ago).  I had just been knitting the next stitch in line normally, so when I got to the end I had too few stitches.  When I learned my mistake, doing m1 correctly was even more difficult because my stitches were very tight and it was a struggle to be able to pull up a loop in between stitches, and even more of a struggle to insert the right needle into the loop in the right spot.  I was able to complete this son of a BITCH row in class today, so I should not have too much trouble with the rest of the bag.  I have succeeded at making cables before, so I just need to be sure about keeping track of my stitches when I do them so that I can correct mistakes shortly after they arise.

I almost got a bed frame at IKEA today...but alas, I drive a friggin' Mustang.

Novelty yarn

I have, apparently, spun novelty yarn.  It has many fat, lumpy bumpy spots in it.  Lovely.

So, I watched a video on youtube to capture the correct spinning motions.  When I scrutinized my yarn after spinning a long section, I realized that I had spun it in an S twist instead of a Z twist.  The girl in the video uses her left hand to spin her drop spindle, so she sets it spinning by rolling it down her leg.  I use my right hand, so the same motion set it spinning in the wrong direction.  So, I un-spun what I had on my spindle and set my spindle turning by rolling it up my leg.  All is now right with the world.

I have spun about 1/4 of my roving, and I have to say that I'm lovin' it.  But, like I said, five ounces is a LOT.  Unfortunately I'm not sure I will ever be able to spin enough to make any kind of knit/crochet project besides the "kitschy kerchief".  Still working out the kinks.

I believe in the power of fiber addiction.  When you go to the yarn store you get to choose your wool with varying prices according to the quality/fineness.  You tell them how many ounces you need.  They take out a scale and weigh it, and then put it in a little baggie for you.  I may be mistaken, but I do believe these are the same actions my brothers experience every time they buy some marijuana...

Spinning

Today I took my first trip to the local yarn store to buy some roving so I can try my hand at spinning.  I was definitely impressed!  As soon as I walked in the door there was a San Antonio Spinners guild meeting taking place.  A whole circle of old ladies with spinning wheels.  One had a cute German accent.  They were lamenting the way that scarves have become a hot accessory rather than just a provider of warmth.  In our defense--Texas women do not have very many opportunities to wear scarves for warmth.  The majority of the year it is too hot.  So as soon as the temperature hits 70 degrees we begin wearing scarves.  But I digress...

So, I asked the lady at the counter to show me the wool.  She led me to the back of the store and kind of explained about different ones.  I told her I was an absolute beginner, and she recommended a variegated (stripey) Merino/silk concoction because the colors would allow me to see the twist where a single colored roving would not.  Yes, I know this is a bit luxurious for the beginning spinner--heck, I've been crocheting/knitting with nothing but cheap acrylic hardcore for the past three months.  But I think I would benefit from being able to see the way the roving is twisted.  Next time I'll get some plain old white Corriedale (that I can dye...in my dishwasher?).  So anyway, I bought 5 oz (which turned out to be a LOT) and now it is sitting on the table staring at me.

I tried spinning a short section already, but did not thoroughly understand the instructions in my book and it came out overly funky.  So now I'm on to youtube to see the drop spindle in action.  And need more info on pre-drafting the roving because it is REALLY thick.

In other crafting news--I have enjoyed knitting so far, now that I figured out how to hold everything.  Yay!

Gatsby's dedication

I love that my cat is a little purr-box.  He likes to park on my chest and leave his motor running.  Love it!

Aging

Every so often in the library I encounter people who amaze me.  I talked to a lady last week who said something astoundingly profoundly simple, "It is wonderful to be able to get old, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."  This is true.  Our culture is obsessed with youth (and thinness, but I won't go there today).  You hear about "age-defying" products/procedures all the time: face-lifts, miracle creams, hair dye, chemical peel.  The elderly are continually mocked on television by being portrayed as senile or clueless. 

In college I took a class about the Roman empire.  The professor said that technology was changing in those days so slowly that three or four generations of people would share the same knowledge and the same fashion.  This would mean that a twenty-five year old woman and a sixty-five year old woman and a one hundred twenty-five year old woman would share basically identical language, beliefs, fashion and experiences.  There was no great generation divide like there is today.  The elder women would be revered because their extensive life experience had made them wise in the ways of the world. 

Just because grandma doesn't know how to work an Ipod or program her TV doesn't make her dumb or senile.  She still has way more experience with the world and human nature in general.  Her knowledge should be respected, even though it isn't the same technology knowledge that the young folk value.

There is no shame in getting old.  We should feel lucky to be able to get old because it means that we are experiencing the change that is life. 

Library patrons

There are a few types of people who come to the library:

1.  Ignorant people
2.  Crazy people
3.  People who pretend to be dumb so that you will do it for them
4.  Dumb people--the cogs are clearly not turning
5.  Smart, enlightened, interesting people.

Unfortunately it is usually only the first four categories that approach the information desk.  Number two particularly irk me.  I work at a library that is less than two miles away from a bonafide mental institution.  The public library draws escaping inmates like moths to light.  They just can't stay away.  The other day a guy came in the door and asked the girl at the circulation desk about how to get on the internet to find information about schizophrenia.  She told him he needed to fill out an application to get a library card in order to get on the internet.  He filled it out and brought it back to the desk.  The girl asks, "do you have an ID on you?".  He pushes up the sleeve on his sweater to reveal a paper state hospital identification tag on his arm and says, "will this work?"  He then proceeded to try accessing the internet from our self check-out kiosk.  We were hoping the devils would not tell him to attack us, because we would surely be goners. 

There used to be a lady who came in who we all called "Glove Lady".  She always wore the same outfit, complete with matching black gloves even in the heat of summer.  My first encounter with Glove Lady was when she asked me how to write a college thesis while simultaneously aiming the barcode scanner in her face.  I explained to her what a thesis was regardless of her behavior, and after my spiel she puts the scanner back and says, "huh?"  She then went into the childen's section and sat down at a table, alone except for the invisible person with whom she was having a heated discussion.  A few minutes later when I glanced at her again she was standing on the table moving her arms like a windmill.  I tried to ignore this, I really did.  I did not want to confront a crazy person because I might be dead afterward.  Later I heard a tearing sound.  It turns out that she had torn a poster of Stewart Little of the wall, crumpled it up, shoved it in the trash can, and sat back down like nothing happened.  We called the librarian over to confront her, and she denied having messed with the poster and left.  After a few more visits from this lady she finally did something that warranted a call to the policia, and now she's banned. 

We also have a few harmless crazies that come in.  One guy tells us outrageous stories, like how he is helping fight in a supernatural war beneath the Natural Bridge Caverns.  Or like how he has been working in a space station orbiting the moon.  Or how he has created a super computer that he intends to donate to the library.  Or how he is a police officer who can arrest military personnel, and that he is going down to Mexico to witness the execution of this dictator who authorized the genocide of over 600 babies. 

There is this other lady that wears the same outfit every day and comes in with a stack of papers that she must, apparently, cover with white out.  When she talks to you she says things like "yeah, ok", "geez" in between the thing that she is saying.  One time she told me that I remind her of her daughter because her daughter has gained weight recently. 

And this is why I am always VERY happy to be going home at the end of the day.

Because knitting is haaaard

I've come to the realization that I just really don't understand the basic mechanics of knitting.  I don't understand how you would make fabric as big as you want given the limited length of knitting needles (and those circular ones look scary).  I just don't get it.  I'm used to the mechanics of crochet, where you work a single loop at a time...ah, simplicity.  I am still working on the scarf I talked about yesterday, but I'm a little daunted about what to do when I want to make something wider than the needles.  My answer will come in time.

But again, I keep seeing knitted items that are absolutely gorgeous.  Today I looked at a book about Estonian shawls--sheer, lacy, complicated perfection.  I found a few crochet shawl patterns to occupy my time until I become a knitting genius....or become an Estonian grandmother.

Oliver tells me my tastes lie on the border of old lady as it is.  Today when I drove to work in my Mustang I had the music cranked up loud, the bass was booming.  I would have been cool, except that I was swaying to the Squirrel Nut Zippers and the bass was coming from the tunes of tuba and string bass.  Squirrel Nut Zippers are a swing/1930s nostalgia band that I'm OBSESSED with.  Plus I crochet, occasionally quilt and prefer classic literature over contemporary.  Perhaps this is not old lady-ish, because all the old ladies at the library seem to prefer cheesy romance novels over anything else...

Workaday

I worked today.  The first thing we do at the library each morning is to pull items from the shelf which patrons have requested to be sent to other branch locations to pick up.  I was looking for Pride and Prejudice on the shelf, only to sadly realize that it must have been stolen.  I have lost a sliver of faith in my fellow Jane Austenites.  People who are cultured enough to appreciate the subtleties of Miss Elizabeth Bennet's wit should not resort to the base act of stealing.

So, I'm playing with my size 17 knitting needles.  I have nearly mastered the knit stitch, but haven't made it to purl.  I am creating the Go Go Garter Stitch Scarf via Stitch 'N Bitch.

It's not that pretty, but I friggin' knitted it.  I think I have more fascination with knitting than with crochet because I learned to crochet when I was 10, and that became very natural for me.  Knitting twists my hands in very unusual ways, and I still can't figure out how to hold the yarn in my hand comfortably.

My hex quilt has been put on vacation because I ran out of dark green yarn.  I had not planned on using that color when I began the quilt, it was left over from my Maui Shrug.  But I do have forty-five middles in three different colors ready to made into little baby hexes.  My cat things they are loads of fun!

I read about sheep all day today--It was pretty blissful.  Especially since the book contained such paragraphs which described ram testicles in glorious, horrifying detail. 

Home-envy

I am trying desperately hard not to be envious of my many acquaintances who are buying homes.  Too bad Oliver and I cannot support ourselves.  I really need a full-time job...and a homestead with a ewe on it.  We are both FINALLY graduating next December, so with any luck we can buy a house some time soon.

I have started looking into the art of hand-spun wool, I think it's something I could really get into!  I have raided the library for books, and watched a few videos on Youtube.  At the moment I can not even afford to spend $5 due to last month's irresponsibility...but seeing as how I get paid on Friday I believe I can muster up a decent drop spindle with a dowel rod and a wooden wheel.  Getting the wool will be another challenge, as I have no clue where to find any.  I read about a fantastic yarn shop in San Antonio, and I believe it is the place to start.  They even rent out spinning wheels if that mood ever strikes me.

Another aspiration is to learn how to knit.  Once again, I cannot afford any knitting needles until Friday.  I've already checked out Knitting and Crochet for Dummies and Stitchin' Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook.  I should be headed in the right direction soon!

I am seriously truckin' on my hex quilt.  I've got eight, as in ocho hexes, but tonight I sat down and cranked out thirty middles as Oliver and I watched Paper Moon (which was very good, by the way).

Chicken kitsch

I am dangerously close to becoming one of those women who put up kitschy chicken decorations in their house.

I was thinking today about crocheting, which led to thoughts of knitting, which led to thoughts of hand-spinning, which led to thoughts of Alpaca herds and sheep in verdant pastures.  This is my idea of paradise:  living in the country with a herd of sheep whom I shear to obtain wool to card, spin and dye my own wool.  We'd have a few chickens in a coop and make lots of egg dishes.

A friend of mine recently moved with her husband to another state bereft of friends and family to live with (she says) hostile locals.  The couple moved so that her husband could pursue his doctorate degree and ultimately land a job making a six-figure salary.  She told me that she was so miserable that she had contemplated divorce, but that in the end, "I think I deserve to be rich."  Although some may believe that money is worth the misery it takes to get it, I have always believed old quip that money doesn't buy happiness.

I am sure I would be absolutely thrilled if I got rich doing a job I love, but let's face it, I'm headed to work in the public library, an institution funded by grants and taxes.  I have nothing more to hope for than to be healthy, happy, comfortable and content.  Another blog-writer put it best when she described this ideal as an "abundant life."  I am seeking my abundant life.  A life in which I could revel in family bliss, eat good homemade food, have the freedom to pursue a few harmless hobbies, thrive in the company of plentiful growing things, laugh often and have a warm cat on my lap and in my bed.
 

Seven Hexes

I started on the hexagon quilt yesterday.  I made eight hexes, frogged five and started again.  I now have seven.  I scrapped those five because I was not liking the color combinations--I decided that I did not like the pink and the dark blue so I got rid of those hexes that contained those two colors.  One of them became a Christmas ornament.  My table is chaos at the moment, which isn't altogether unsettling...but still.

You can see the staples of my existence:  books, yarn, crochet hooks, dog leash.  I WILL be cleaning house on Tuesday.