Spindles Rock and This and That…

I’ve fallen in love!!!  The spindle is a spinner’s best friend, IMO.  Just recently Spinsanity commented to me that a lot of people see spindling as a stepping stone of sorts to the “real” spinning on a wheel.  I have to shamefully admit that, until recently, I was one of those people.  I really had a lot of trouble getting it together when it came to spindle spinning.  My singles were always lumpy bumpy and just not pretty.  Then I got Penelope

My baby...well, okay my second baby. Can

and after some rough starts, it all started to come together for me.  I felt like I was actually learning to spin for real.  This reinforced the notion that the spindle was a stepping stone and not a very good one at that.  Boy was I wrong.  Recently, I picked up a few more spindles from Spinsanity in exchange for some fiber at the Michigan Fiber Festival (I’m still waiting on my kokopeli one, but she’s busy and I’m not in a hurry) and when I got home I really wanted to try out the square one I’d been coveting for some time.

Tweaky guarding the spindle and fiber

For some reason, something just clicked for me at this point and all of a sudden, I could spin on a spindle.  So, in my case anyway, the spinning wheel was a stepping stone for the spindle.  Now I find that as much as I love Penelope, I spin more often than not on the spindles.  It’s a lot easier to control the amount of spin as well as being a hell of a lot more portable.  Right now I have a gorgeous soysilk/wool blend on one of my spindles from Flawful Fibers called Trinket that is spinning like a dream.  I’m spinning it at 30 wpi and trying to decide whether to keep it laceweight or to ply it into something like a dk weight.  I still don’t have a lot of experience plying fiber, but I’m willing to try.  On deck is a colorway called Teddybear Trio from DK Knits that is going to be Spirogyra mitts from Knitty.com.  There was a great article in the same issue about spinning for these mitts that inspired me and I’m going to give it a whirl.  This is the first time that I’ve spun something for a specific purpose and I’m thrilled and terrified at the same time.  Yay/Ugh.  I think I’m going to use a round spindle as opposed to my square one for this, though, as I have a tendecy to get fiber caught and ultimately broken on the square corners when winding on and I don’t want to do that.

As for the this and that…I had planned to go to Zombie Prom Date Knitting this past week, but it didn’t work out b/c of work on the new house.  I’m going to miss all the knitting activities for the next few weeks b/c we’re leaving Saturday morning for a three week trip to AZ to visit TJ’s grandparents who haven’t seen Jake since he was 4 months and then on to my mother’s for a visit and a trip to Sea World San Diego with Jake, which I know he’ll adore given his obsession with all sea creatures, but especially sharks and whales.  We’ll be back in mid-December and then will be busting our humps to get everything ready b/c I, like the dumbass I am, insisted that my mother in law and Tj’s aunts come to our house for Christmas this year.  I’m nervous as all hell, but I’m also really excited.  After that, though, I’d really like to host a knit night at our new house.  I’d love for the ZPDK people (are you reading this Holly and Shannon?!?!  What do you think?  I’d love some feedback and advice)  I figure since I haven’t been a very social knitter and I love my knitting peeps, I’d have them over, ply them with food and booze and knitting and get their love back.  Seriously, though, I just want to have my girlfriends over to knit and drink and eat the goodies I’m going to make in my new kitchen.  I’ve never hosted something like this, or anything really, so any advice about what to make etc. would be much appreciated.  It would mean the world to me to have you guys there.  So please, please, please say yes!!!!  Let me know what you think.  I’ll have access to the computer for the next few days and then (gasp) no internet access for the whole trip as this Toshiba piece of shit (that I’ve had since July) is going into the shop b/c the power cord doesn’t want to give me power.  My cell number, should you want to call to talk about the logistics is 269-779-4755 (If I get too many crank calls from putting it out here, I’ll just change it as it’s a new number and really no one has it yet, LOL) so let me know.  I’ll cross post the knitting night info on the ravelry board for ZPDK.

For those of you I won’t see/talk to before the holidays, have a great time.  Love you all!!!!

Life is good

Life is really good right now.  We just got back from spend a few nights at the new house while my father-in-law was in town to help work on the kitchen.  It was a nice, technology free few days.  Who thought I would ever use those words together?!?  No TV, no internet (unless I wanted to walk to the Dunkin Donuts which is practically across the street from us) no nothing.  I got to know my Hoyle Casino game well…LOL…and I sat in a chair and read quietly (I can’t remember the last time I did that – most of my reading happens at night in bed lately).  I got to spend some really great quality time with Jake.  We walked to DD for breakfast in the mornings and yesterday we walked 4 or 5 blocks to McDonalds for lunch.  It was such a beautiful day yesterday that it seemed a shame to waste it by going places in the car if they were close enough to walk to.

Something about this new house gives me a wonderful sense of peace.  It feels like we were meant to have this house.  Strange, huh?!?  I took a bunch of pictures, but haven’t uploaded them yet.  Will add them later.  I have a few older pictures we took when we were deciding.

I love the wood in this house

This is a view of the stairs.  The whole house is full of wood that someone lovingly and carefully stripped, refinished and varnished.  It’s my favorite thing about the house.

The bay window is another of my favorite things about this house.  I plan to set my spinning wheel up in this area and take advantage of the amazaing sunlight that filters through.  The other great thing about the house is that it’s full of windows.  I love the way the light fills the downstairs in the mornings!

Here’s a shot of the front of the house.  It’s pretty nice looking from the outside as well as the inside.  Please ignore the TERRIBLE picture of me…:)

Here’s a picture of Jacob from Halloween as well.  I meant to post it last week, but I was too lazy.  I’m working on it.  He was the most adorable little monkey and he cleaned up candy wise.

My Little Monkey

The whole week has been a great one, actually.  The new house, Halloween, and the best thing of all, Tweak came home.  Tweak is our youngest cat.  She got out the Sunday before Halloween and we had lost hope of finding her.  We took her picture with us when we took Jake trick or treating but no one had seen her.  Then the Sunday after Halloween TJ was taking Jake to the new house to check it out and there she was on the porch like she was waiting for us.  The poor baby was thin and dirty, but not hurt and she was happy to be home.  She’s pretty much been a little cuddler since she came back.  She sleeps next to me and follows me around the house, and I’m thrilled to have her home.

I just went back and read my last post and I realize that it was a pretty depressing missive.  Looking back I really have had a pretty rough few years.  I’m hoping that’s over now.  I’ve got a much more positive attitude and I’m doing everything I can to maintain it.  One of the things I’m doing is making a point to leave the house for at least a little while every day.  I’m losing weight and looking for a gym to join in Battle Creek to keep myself (and TJ if I can get him to join as well) healthy.  My girlfriend Deniece and I used to play raquetball three times a week and I loved that.  I’d love to find a place where I could start playing with TJ.  There is no better exercise in my mind, especially in the winter when you can’t get out and run around outside.  There is a great health center here in Kalamazoo that actually has a day care center, but of course now that we’re moving to Battle Creek that would be a 20 mile trip so it’s a no go.  :*(  There is a fitness center at Duncan Aviation where TJ works, but it’s minimal and there is no day care.  I don’t want to get a babysitter just so I can go and work out.  I will if I have to, but I don’t want to.  If anyone knows of a good gym in Battle Creek, let me know.

Moving on with my completely non-linear post.  I just got the most amazing knitting package.  Okay, it’s a package of yarn, but it’s amazing yarn.  I am making the Tidal Streams scarf for my mother-in-law for Christmas and I mangaed to lose the pattern.  I went back to Color Song Yarns to reorder the pattern, actually the kit b/c I really like the Silk Twist yarn.  So while I was there I went on a bit of shopping spree:  I got two skeins of the bigger sized 150g Sea Silk.

Seashore

Cezanne

Sea Silk is such a soft yarn and I’m thinking that both of these are destined to be shawl.

Here is the Silk Twist that came in the kit for the Tidal Stream Scarf kit.  The colorway is Rose Garden and I’m thinking that this is going to be…I have no idea what this is going to be.

The yarn to end all yarns, though, is Handmaiden’s Camel Spin.  OMG!!  I’m in love with this yarn.  I want to buys pounds of this stuff and roll around naked in it.  Seriously.  I fell in love with camel fiber after the Michigan fiber festival when I bought the camel down/merino blend.  I’m still working on the mitts from yarn I spun from that.  It came out kind of thick and thin but it’s soft as a cloud.  The Camel Spin yarn is just as heavenly.  I don’t usually spend the kind of money that Handmaiden yarns cost unless I’m buying a skein here or there to make something small.  This time, though, I splurged and got two skeins in the bronze colorway.  I’m planning to make a Clapotis out of it, I think.  Definitely a shawl.  I want to be able to wrap it around myself while I sit and watch TV or spin.  It’s so dreamy soft that I think it’s ideal for a wrap.  If I could afford it, I’d have bought enough to make the dressing gown or bed jacket from the Romantic Style book and then have been able to wrap myself in it’s luxury before bed and after rising every night and morning respectively.  Can you tell that I’m obsessed with this yarn? 

My precious...my precious...

Okay, time for me to go for right now.  Jacob is getting impatient to get outside and enjoy what is supposed to be the last nice day of the year.  We’re going to clean out the car in anticipation of our cross country trip in a few weeks and then off to Starbucks for me and McDonald’s for him.  I get yummy coffee, he gets to play at the Play Place and I get knitting time.  It’s totally win-win.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.  And Jana, I’m thinking of you and of Mark and hope he’s doing better soon!