There's nothing like frequent posting...

to bore your devoted readers, right? So...one shouldn't post too often...right? Sounds good to me. Too bad that Deep Thought doesn't square terribly well with Reality, however, due to the fact that I would happily read the Yarn Harlot's blog daily, even if she posted every hour on the hour. :::sigh::: Well, maybe it's for the best...at least I don't have thousands of readers depending on me for their daily dose of hilarity. I'd die under the pressure. Besides...that's her job - thank God! - not mine.

I can't believe how many days it's been since I've posted. I've had SO much fun with my new carder, but I've also been crazy-busy (but who isn't these days???) with this little thing called 'life'. Like, life with a hubby. And kids. And errands. And just stuff going on. I've hardly had time to spin, which really makes me Miss Grumpybutt. I'm embarrassed to admit that I can't survive without being self-indulgent. This also means that I'm STILL working on my Bumpy Stuff (alpaca/tussah/merino) and the contrasting superwash Merino lambswool - all from Leah at Yarn And A Tale. I had ordered 2 lbs. of both those fluffy concoctions, and they came in early this week - oh, joy! I now have a good start on the 2nd bobbin of the alpaca/silk, but haven't done any more of the merino superwash, yet.

Something NOT so joyful for me was yesterday's good-bye party at Twist for Angelique, a dear and darling little pixie of a lady. All who know her love her. Just being her friend is a gift. It is SO hard to say goodbye to such a dear person. Every time I think about it, I have to work at not crying. However, she's going on to a more fulfilling life in New Mexico, working as a Dr. (Radiologist) on a Native American Reservation. The climate should be more salubrious for her health, certainly, than here in the Land-of-Totally-Miserable-and-Wildly-Inappropriate-Weather (Kansas). Hm. Maybe I should go with her?? Just to make sure the place is safe for her, and all. Yes, that would be good.

The kindness and generosity of friends...

can never be quantified or replaced, can it? I guess that's a rhetorical question, because the answer is a great big "NO"!

The two lovely - and totally sweet, thoughtful, generous - girls who went to the Estes Park Wool Festival (remember Angelique and Shelly? I was almost sick with longing to go, of course.)...and look what they brought back for me!
It never occurred to me that they would bring home something for me, so the surprise gift just blew me away! I have never received such a glorious, beautiful and thoughtful gift as this - simply never!

I feel sorry for those of you who can only drool over, but not pet, this heavenly fiber. Oh. My. Gosh! It is to-die-for soft; it makes angora feel scratchy! Okay, maybe bunny fur would never feel scratchy, but you get the idea.

Angelique, Shelly...dearest girls!...THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, I thank you! I kiss your feet in gratitude, and I wish I knew what I did to deserve such a fabulous, unhoped-for gift! Because I'd do it again. Shamelessly.

I think I'm going to verrrry carefully blend it with some beautiful alpaca that Angelique gave me a few months ago (it's just gorgeous!: a fawn-colored 'paca from Alpaca With A Twist - oh, yum!). I'm just hoping that the paco-vicuna fiber won't be so short that it 'floats' to the bottom of the longer-fibered alpaca. That's a worry, so I'm going to think - hard! - about this before wasting so much as a single fiber of my p-v! Stay tuned...but first I have to get more of my Bumpy Stuff finished!

It's HERE!!! (another easy title)

Well, as you probably can figure out by just the title, my Howard Brush "David" model drumcarder is HERE! Wow - it's BIG! It's even nicer in 'person' than in the photo. I've been playing with it a bit, but Dave made me come eat dinner, darn it. Now I've got to let you all know about it before I can get back to working with it. I did some easy stuff just to 'break it in': some pre-dyed roving from the Yarn Barn that I really wanted to card up with some tussah and just a hint of sparkle. Trying to do it on hand cards not only gave me a major mess that was impossible to spin, it wasted some of my fiber! Good thing I wasn't using anything too precious, huh?

IT'S ON IT'S WAY!!!

Ha! I didn't have a problem coming up with a title this time, did I? Jane, from Howard Brush, just called to let me know my carder is shipping today!!! Of course, I'd cherished secret hopes (many of 'em) that it would ship on Friday, but it turns out they don't have Friday shipping (I didn't ask why). Oh, well - it's on its way, and my heart is going pitter-patter. I am sooo excited!

I hate thinking of titles!

I mean, I'm just not that clever. I wish I were. I wish I were a word-smith, like the Harlot or my very dear friend Marianna. Now, they can write - really, really well. They have wildly-differing writing styles (not to mention wildly-differing subject matters), but both can 'grab' me with what they say by how they say it.

Well, that's all I've got to say about that.

All that angst was by way of trying to figure out a title for yet-another-fiber-spinning post. After all, how many times can one use "What I'm Working On Today" as a post title?

I'm working on two projects here (which is so not fun when one has only one wheel). Now there's a post title for you: "I Need Anudder Wheel!" ANYWAY, I've been trying to make a companion single for that single 2 posts down. You know, the alpaca/tussah silk noil-y/merino bumpy stuff. The same fiber-pusher, Leah, of Yarn Or A Tale, ALSO has these fab superwash Merino laps (did I tell you this already?). You can see them here; just scroll down to the bottom and look for the superwash merino lambswool laps. I'm going to see if she'll let me "borrow" her photos to put in here. Warning: I've got dibs on 2 pounds from her, so I hope there're some left for youse guys :-). Nota bene: She said "Yes"!











Now, as a spinner, I'm very prejudiced against superwash fibers. Yes, I know - ugly of me. In all fairness (to me) though, many superwash fibers are horrid-beyond-words to spin. They're plastic-y feeling. They...squeek (yuck)...when you handle them. There's almost nothing ickier to a spinner than trying to spin plastic. But this superwash is incredible! Not surprisingly - it being merino (lambswool!) - it's as soft as a cloud and amazingly easy to spin. It flies through the fingers effortlessly and is very controllable. Providing one uses the right-sized whorl, that is. Unfortunately, I spun nearly half of the sample she sent with my 'bumpy' alpaca order (that's how she 'hooks' new converts to her superwash laps, don't you know) on a too-large whorl. When I went to 'sample' it with The Bumpy Stuff , it literally fell apart every few inches. This is a lesson I thought I'd already learned: one must - simply must - spin short, fine fibers with appropriate twist! Yes, indeedy! For the third time, I've learned that lesson. ::sigh::

The color contrast it provides with the bumpy alpaca/silk/merino mix is really, really nice. It isn't so high a contrast that it's going to look terribly marled. I'm hoping the contrast will be fairly subtle. If it isn't, all is not lost. I'll just spin a very smooth single of more fawn alpaca/tussah (from my own stash, probably) to provide a textural contrast, rather than a color one. Then, I'll just spin up the superwash into some glorious sock yarn. I do wish the color variations would show up in a photo, because it is truly lovely. Unfortunately, my photo-taking abilities are laughable. I can hardly turn the stupid camera on, let alone figure out how to use it :-(

My second project is using more Cormo, but this time I want to try to make a 2-ply worsted weight. Wish me luck, won't you? I'm going to need it. Not that I deserve it. I concentrated so hard (when first learning to spin) on learning how to spin very thin singles, that I can now only spin that way. I am NOT HAPPY with myself. I was warned. I can't say I wasn't. Books warned me. People warned me. I told myself that it didn't matter because that's the only way I wanted to spin: thinly! (do we see the operation of the devil's 'virtue' called PRIDE, here?) :::sigh:::

Just call me short-sighted (if you wish to be kind). I'm just going to call me 'stupid' and be done with it. Now, I know perfectly well that some of you at this point are saying, "Yes, but...! You can make a worsted weight yarn out of thin singles. Just use 3 or 4 plies." Riiiiight. That means filling up the requisite number of bobbins, and 3 or 4 times the amount of work. That's discouraging, to say the least! This isn't a special project (though it certainly could be, I suppose). I just need to make more yarn to pay for my rather expensive passion of spinning!

There ain't no humility...

without humiliation! I feel so chagrined. Here I was burning with green-eyed envy because Leah got to knit socks while working at the fiber mill. Turns out, she has to run this big ol' commercial sock-knitting machine, which is giving her major fits, as it doesn't seem to want to knit socks! She's got a high level of frustration at work because of a stupid hunk of metal. However, when it's working right, she CAN actually knit socks (for real) or even bring her spinning wheel! Wow - imagine a job like that! I think that's only fair, though, since she has to put up with stupid machines, don't you? I still kinda wish I could get a job like that...

Sinking to new depths...

of jealousy. I have just learned - via email - that Leah, owner of Yarn Or A Tale, not only has a job at a famous fiber processing mill...

SHE GETS TO KNIT SOCKS for her job!!!

I am trying not to be overtaken by sick, insane jealousy. I think I need to go lay down.