Saturday, August 23, 2008

Evil, I tell you.

I don't think I mentioned one thing that Darcy taught me during our visit to southern VA. After years of stating that drop spindles were Bad and also Tricksy and possibly Evil (the internet can teach you a lot, but spinning ain't one of those things that is easily taught from text and photos, and I had a bad experience), she took me in hand and, well. She taught me how to actually use the damn things. Then the words "And you can do this in the airport, if you want a change from knitting!" fell from her mouth.

Surely you can see where this is going. If you guessed "Wendi was using a drop spindle in the airport on her way to C14", you'd be right. It also led to an amusing discussion in regards to the varying meanings of "spinning", especially when talking to a DJ. You can bet I'll be taking it with me to D*C, too. Because, yanno, sometimes it's nice to switch things up a little.

Another feature of the drop spindle is that if one has, say, a little chunk of left over roving that had no other plans for it, one can lose half an hour going *WHEE* *SPIN* *FEED FEED FEED* *SPIN* *WHEE!!*, repeat ad nauseum.

Clearly, portable spinning is Dangerous and Evil. (But really fun, of course, like all dangerous and evil things.)

Thursday, August 21, 2008

My pretties, let me show them to you.

Once upon a time, I promised pictures. Well, I just uploaded a crapload of them to both my flickr and my multiply accounts. Multiply has finished objects (I'll be uploading more later tonight, too.) Flickr shows my works in progress as well as why it is so bloody hard to stay faithful to a single spinning project. Look at those options, and can you blame me?

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Should have seen that one coming...

So, my project infidelity is not limited to knitting (or crochet).

I got some of the red/orange spun up and thought to myself "Damn is there a lot of freakin' roving in this colour. This will take forever. I want to try something else now!" On the upside, I've got four bobbins, so I can do this, to a certain degree.

Red/orange went back into the basket for later spinning and I grabbed the 60/40 mohair/wool blend that Colleen gave me for my birthday.

I swear, this stuff WANTS to be spun. It's incredibly addictive, despite the fact that mohair makes me a little itchy. Just the tender bits, like the bottom of my arm or face. Easily solved: I will not spin with my mouth. See? No issues! *grin*

I had to drag myself away from the wheel to have dinner, and I find I keep glancing over at it. Addicted? Me? Naaah.

Etsy has forced me to buy more fluff, as well. Two more fiery colourways (Wanna talk addiction? I'll soon be easy to spot, as I'll appear to be covered from head to toe in flaming knitwear.) and some obnoxious batts that I have a specific idea in mind for. We'll see how I do with it!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Busy busy; always busy.

This has been a crazy last couple of weeks.

Atlanta for a few days for work and socializin', followed by immediately scooting off to Blacksburg to visit Darcy (Daven's sister) and her hubby and her woofs. We spent a bunch of time knitting and spinning and generally fibre geeking in a most fantastic manner. It was lovely, and she gave me some great gifts, including a cria (that's baby alpaca for those not in the know) fleece that is still pretty darn raw. I'm bizarrely stoked about the concept of taking it from the raw format to a finished product.

As I had to get a niddy-noddy anyway, I went ahead and got a flick card and a new drive belt for my wheel. A snazzy rubbery one that means that the mother-of-all doesn't have to be waaaay over to keep the tension right. I know, I know, I lost the non-spinners. The part just below the top spinny bit that the yarn goes around, that allows tension adjustments. Just smile, nod and accept that it makes me happy, 'k? :)

Other crazy-ass purchase that arrived included my "A daily dose of fiber" tee from Ravelry (grey, not pink) and the ridiculously expensive shipping costs of a photo-copied lace pattern from Germany. Yes, it's in German. No, I can't read German. I'll figure it out.

Finished projects (at least in terms of knitting, not seaming up): the Baby Surprise Jacket and the garter stitch cardigan I'd gotten 3/4ths of the way done with on my drip to LA in May then put down. I suck at that. Both of these were in my "Next in line" basket, so I'm proud of myself for casting them off. The seaming will happen eventually.

I got a bit of sock knitting done (as evidenced here) in Tampa at Convergence 14. That was a fan-fucking-tastic time, and we had a blast hanging out with old friends (of mine) and making new ones (for us both). What, you don't go to goth conventions to knit? Slackers.

The knee is a bit better. I finally finished all of the purple yarn I'd been spinning for forever, ending up with 810y of 2 ply that I think flails about between lace weight and light sport weight. I'll do a WPI analysis and post it later. I'm just thrilled to be finished with that project! I immediately dove into the roving that I'd posted a while ago that I bought on etsy, and it's a totally different beastie from the colonial that the purple was. Much shorter staple, but less slippery. And with the fantastic new belt, I don't have to treadle like a hamster anymore. Yay!

I still have yet to find my camera cord, but a concerted effort will be made to rediscover it this weekend. I have pictures to share. Oh, yes; I do.

(Hey, HappyGoth? I believe you wanted to see Daven in the outfit he'd described on LJ? It's a crap photo, and I have better on my camera, but for the time being, here ya go.)