Another ::sob::

Okay...this is just killing me. I have lost - repeat, LOST! - a most important spinning wheel bobbin. The 4th bobbin to complete a 4-ply yarn gift! This bobbin was a-l-m-o-s-t full. ::waaah!:: One more decent spinning session would have seen it done so that I could finally begin the plying. I am SO wanting to cry. Where, O WHERE could my bobbin be? I keep wondering if I didn't somehow lose it as I was transporting my wheel to/from Twist. If I lost it there, it probably rolled into the gutter. Maybe. And there're very few people who would figure out what the heck that strange thing was :-(. Oh, I am just beside myself! I can't believe I lost a dadgum bobbin! Full of yarn, no less - yarn that I NEED!

THIS has been a difficult week, I tell ya! What with that stupid dawg destroying all that fiber, my bobbin disappearing, no damn sleep, and some other things going on, I am ready to scream! THIS is not what I signed on for!!!

I wonder if that dumb animal TOOK that bobbin and hid it?!? Come to think of it, he did try to trot off with one of my empty bobbins about 3 weeks ago, carrying it like a bone. I had a heckuva time getting it away from him - he was evidently convinced it was a Good-To-Eat Thing. He is, like, soooo dead....

AUGH!!! My resident fiber gourmand

Did I ever mention that we're a Foster Family for the American Brittany Rescue organization? No? Neglectful of me perhaps, but generally not something one would post on a spinning blog. Not that my spinning and knitting buddies all of a sudden actually need to know that about me, it's just that...being a Foster Mum has suddenly begun cramping my 'style' (read: my personal spinning and knitting time) in a HUGE way lately, which is probably why I haven't been posting much. It's been an uphill battle for 5 weeks now. See...this dog we're fostering...well, he LOVES my yarns. And my rovings. And my fleeces. And batts. Not to mention my bumps. Anything soft and fuzzy, apparently, along with paper and books. He has destroyed (so far):

• 1 expensive knitting book (waaah!)
• 5 balls of SOCK yarn
• 5 rovings (or is it 6, now?)
• 3 batts. No...make that 4 (30 minutes ago)
• several knitting magazines ::sob::
• 1 luscious 'bump' of silk, alpaca and merino (that I know of)
• My Mother's sock (one of a pair that I was repairing!)

Um...what else? I'm sure there are other items, but my mind is just numb... It doesn't help that I generally get no more than 2 to 4 hours of sleep a night. Ugh. I HATE getting old!

He is the sweetest dog on earth - really, truly! - but total hell on this fiber-lover, for sure. His name is Sam (or "No, No! Bad Dog!"), and it seems that all he ever really bothers is MY stuff. Not my hubby's stuff. Not the kids' stuff. No. Just MINE. I feel like cussing a blue streak (out of sheer frustration), but that wouldn't be nice or helpful, so I won't do it on my blog.

SO...because of this dog's strange ingurgitatory habits, I have hardly been able to get anything done in the way of spinning! No sooner do I pull off a hard-won batt from my carder (it takes longer to make a really GOOD batt than one might think!), than the phone rings (or the door bell, or the kids need me, or hubby demands my instant attention, or, or...), so the batt gets laid down somewhere "safe". I come back 30 seconds later and it's literally shredded (and globbed with LOTS of dog-spit...yuck!) to itty-bitty bits of fluff on the carpet. :::sigh::: I'm past being mad about it. I give up. I don't know what to do about it, short of keeping the poor sap in his crate 24/7. Which I wouldn't do to even the worst dog, let alone this sweetheart!

So, I am sitting in my little corner and whimpering a bit. I am feeling so very sorry for myself at the moment. Another beautiful batt (alpaca, OF course) gone to hell. To make it worse, it was the final batt needed to finish off the 4th bobbin for a lovely (I hope!) 4-ply gift to Someone Really Special. I am struggling VERY HARD to be kind to Sam right now. And, of course, feeling guilty because I'm all upset with him :-(

Thanks for list'nin'. I am so bummed. Maybe someone will adopt this hoo-haw by next week?

Yes, yes, I'm still here!

It's just that I've been so freaking busy. I've been spinning as much as possible, but don't have a lot (yet) to show for it. I did get a bit of Polypay done, in this rather bright rose-pink color. NOT my favorite color by a long shot, but it was still fun to work with something not-naturally-colored. I love how soft it is to spin up, but the neps! Oh, the neps and junk buried in the roving was just awful. I finally gave up trying to get it all out, and ended up with a very lumpy, unevenly-spun yarn :-( I am NOT happy about that, but at least it went to a good home! Kris (a fellow spinner and knitter) bought it, and I really hope she likes it.

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!